Music:

5 reasons we really don’t like Kenny G

Friday, July 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Chris Morris

What: Kenny G
When: 8 tonight through Sunday
Where: Orleans Showroom
Admission: $82.50-$110; 365-7111, orleanscasino.com

Kenny G: Ahead of the curve (1-20-2009)
G Wiz (3-21-2003)

Archive of Sun music stories

Last Friday, I made all the Thomas Kinkade fans angry. This week, I thought what the heck, I’m on a roll here; I’ll get the Kenny G lovers all riled up. They’re the same thing, after all.

It’s almost too easy to make fun of smooth jazz sax hack Kenny G, who is a sales phenomenon, having moved more than 48 million copies of his 30-plus albums. Although legitimate jazz musicians go begging if they manage to get a gig in Las Vegas, the G-man will most likely fill the Orleans Showroom all weekend — his three-night stand begins tonight.

If you’re likely to go to a Kenny G concert, you probably bought your tickets a long time ago. And, of course, trash-talking Kenny G isn’t going to change anyone’s mind.

It’s just fun.

Let’s begin with a popular joke among musicians:

“What did Kenny G say when he stepped into the elevator?”

“This music is smokin’!”

1. You can run ...

No matter where in the world you may flee, there is no escaping Kenny G. Pity poor Evan Osnos, who traveled to the other side of the globe: “Atop the Great Wall the other day, savoring the great silent woods below, I was assaulted by Kenny G,” Osnos writes in a “Letter From China” in the June 1 issue of The New Yorker. “His music was coming from a transistor radio clutched by a security guard, who smiled so graciously that I couldn’t bear to ask him to throw it over the edge. A few days later, Mr. G was at it again, serenading grim-faced travelers on my pre-dawn flight out of Beijing, his saxophone as cloying and unchanging as ever, raining down from overhead speakers like a vengeful, smooth-Jazz God.” Osnos goes on to note that the Chinese spelling of Kenny G’s name is “only one character off of Ken De Ji, the Chinese name for Kentucky Fried Chicken.”

2. You can’t kill Kenny!

Kenny G, born Kenneth Gorelick, was popular when he unwittingly started a brush fire among professional jazz musicians. After G released an unauthorized overdubbing of Louis Armstrong’s classic recording of “What a Wonderful World” as a single in 1999, guitarist Pat Metheny lit the match, responding to G’s desecration by calling it “musical necrophilia,” in a lengthy vivisection on JazzOasis.com. “With this single move, Kenny G became one of the few people on earth I can say that I really can’t use at all — as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a thing for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music.” English rock guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson later chimed in, writing and performing a song called “I Agree With Pat Metheny.”

3. G spots

A few, mostly neutral, factoids concerning Kenny G: He started playing professionally with Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1976. He has emitted five separate holiday albums, and released nine hits compilations. Golf Digest awarded him the position of No. 1 golfer in its December rankings of Top 100 in Music. He is one of the original investors in the Starbucks coffeehouse chain. In 1997, he earned a place in Guinness World Records for playing the longest note (a noticeably out of tune E-flat, for 45 minutes and 47 seconds) ever recorded on a saxophone. There are more than 10 anti-Kenny G groups on Facebook, including “Saxophonists Who Hate Kenny G” and the poetically titled and more inclusive “I Hate Music For People Who Don’t Really Like Music.”

4. The critics agree

Art is subjective, of course, and there’s no accounting for taste, etc. But if there’s any one thing that unifies the fractious, antisocial gaggle of disgruntled humans known as music critics, that thing is the music of Kenny G. In a review of “At Last ... The Duets Album” on AllAboutJazz.com, critic Mark Sabbatini explains why G is catnip to music writers: “Mr. Gorelick has never been the subject of a review at AAJ and probably never will be again, although I can’t imagine why. If there’s a better cure for writer’s block, it’s probably illegal and sold by the gram on street corners.”

5. Let’s talk about sax

We’ll leave the last word to saxophonist Branford Marsalis, arguably the most respected living U.S. jazz instrumentalist. Tempted by one of those scurrilous music writers into commenting on Kenny G, Marsalis took the high road, refusing to “fight that silly war between jazz and smooth jazz and all ...

“When all these jazz guys get in a tizzy over Kenny G, they need to leave Kenny alone,” Marsalis said in an interview with Jazziz magazine. “He’s not stealing jazz. The audience he has wouldn’t be caught dead at a real jazz concert or club. It’s not like some guy says, ‘You know, I used to listen to Miles, ’Trane and Ornette. And then I heard Kenny G, and I never put on another Miles record.’ It’s a completely different audience.”

Discussion: 5 comments so far…

By VegasBill

7/10/09 at 11:40 a.m.

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Your commentary on Kenny Gorelick made my day. I seldom use the word hate because it is so powerful but concerning Mr. Gorelick's so-called musical talent, I might be persuaded to use the term hate in describing my lake of interest in his instrument or style. It's just plane awful. Similar to fingernails on a chalk board, et cetera. Am sure you're getting lots of mail to the contrary but you obviously have very good taste in what you don't like. Keep the opinions coming...
By John Katsilometes (Staff)

7/10/09 at 10:33 p.m.

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Love the, "If You Must Go" box. Nice touch, Joe. This kills me.
By BobbyG

7/12/09 at 12:59 p.m.

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MEANWHILE, MY EMAIL TO THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE ENTERTAINMENT CAT:
___

Hi, David,

The band I promote just headlined the Salt Lake City Jazz festival on Friday night, Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns. See

http://santafeandthefatcityhorns.blogspo...

This was their first gig together outside of Las Vegas. They are all top Las Vegas casino show musicians (e.g., various of them are in the Bette Midler Show, Wayne Brady, Lion King, Donny & Marie, Jersey Boys, Legends in Concert, etc). They have this band on the side mainly for "mental health." They typically play only one night a week, in the Lounge at The Palms for the past three years. They also typically play to howling, jammed-in audiences full of other performers from Vegas and around the world. Their repertoire comprises by far the toughest "book" in town, and top players (uh, those who can sight-read and wail with the best) would kill to be in this band. They do this all for very little money. Nothwithstanding that they are all experienced top-shelf pros ranging in ages from mid 30's to early 50's, they are like garage band teenagers when it comes to this band.

They are now in the studio recording their 3rd CD. I can say without fear of hyperbole that it is going to reset the bar significantly higher for this genre (a raging mix of funk, soul, salsa, and jazz).

Beyond all that PR Dude stuff, the really big deal is that these are the most affable, least arrogant, and utterly dedicated people I've ever been around. To be around them is to be laughing all the time (except when you're sitting there listening and shaking your head in continuing musically tasered disbelief as they throw it down onstage).

We were thrilled and honored to be able to share this love with your city Friday night. I think we left a lot of people in shock. This band has mostly been a well-kept secret outside of musician circles (it is my job to help change that. You could not have a better "job," LOL).

My main point here is really just to express our sincere gratitude to everyone we came in contact with in SLC. To a person, they treated us fabulously. The event promoters and vendors are doing a world-class job. We wish them every continued success. Your fans are awesome. Your city is beautiful and friendly, and we truly hope to return to perform for you soon.

Sincerely,

Bobby Gladd ("BobbyG")

http://www.myspace.com/fatcityhorns
http://www.myspace.com/santafeandthefatc...
http://www.thefatcityhorns.com
http://www.fatcityhorns.com/The-A-List.h...
http://www.bgladd.com

"We had no idea, man. They just said we're goin' to hear some band." - Kenny Loggins' guitarist, Nov 17th, 2008, after his boss sat in with Santa Fe at The Palms.

http://santafeandthefatcityhorns.blogspo...
___

My Vegas friends, you want to hear music that is truly "smokin'"? You got the baddest band in the nation right here.
By geenab65

7/12/09 at 5:37 p.m.

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Judging by the millions of dollars I'm sure Kenny G brings home every year, he could care less what the author and others think.
By fusheeny

7/13/09 at 10:55 a.m.

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yes horrible sappy music..but he did play with jeff lorber fusion..got to give him some credit,although i would never go see him...

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