Kenny G discusses new record and new instrument line

Ed

Ed

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
As some people have reported Kenny G is partnering with Rheuben Allen to bring to market a new line of horns made in China. He's also left his long time label Arista and is bringing out a Latin album on Concord/Starbucks filled with original material. He's also doing a line of accessories with D'Addario.

You can read the complete article here: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolo ... be&k=81950
 
I've actually been thinking about that article.

Kenny G is in http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/ for the longest time playing a single note on a sax. Circular breathing, of course. 1 hour and 31 minutes, I think (I don't have the record book, I just Googled).

One would assume that there's someone on this website good enough, strong enough and skilled enough to take a run at that record.

Any takers?
 
You would think I would know better but I am hopeful that our members can discuss even Kenny G with respect.
 
I've always said that I respect the man for bringing the soprano back into focus and, by doing so, made the entire sax family more popular.

I wonder if there's a clarinet/flute/double-reed equivalent that those players love to hate.
 
I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm dying to try his new soprano. It looks like a Mark VI, but with better palm keys...I've heard nothing but good reviews of it also. If they don't make it too silly expensive, I might have to at least try one...
 
pete said:
I've actually been thinking about that article.

Kenny G is in http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/ for the longest time playing a single note on a sax. Circular breathing, of course. 1 hour and 31 minutes, I think (I don't have the record book, I just Googled).

One would assume that there's someone on this website good enough, strong enough and skilled enough to take a run at that record.

Any takers?
Click to expand...

I'd have to figure out circular breathing, but I think that I would be physically capable. But why Pete? Why? As far as his own instrument line is concerned, I'm more interested in the Polysax horn at this point...if it ever sees the light of day. Hey, who can't resist a modern Grafton?

And to be completely honest, I did like Kenny's version of Pickin Up the Pieces. His solo can't compare to the original though. That was one of the golden moments in tenor saxophone history.
 
There's no doubt the man has talent. The Pick Up The Pieces cover with Sanborn was pretty good. We'll see what he does now that he's away from Clive Davis and Arista.
 
After reading all the of the jokes about him on the web, Kenny will change his style into crazy experimental free Jazz. We'll all be shocked as he pulls out his "Pharoh Sanders" chops. :eek:
 
I read some info on him recently - I had no idea that he played in the Love Unlimited Orchestra. Any association with Barry White gives you a bit of coolness - even for Kenny. :emoji_smile:
 
Speaking of Barry White . . .

We have cheesy music night once in a while at the house since we don't do the babysitter thing too much for our son. One night I called for bad 70's music. The sad part is that my wife and I actually like what people term as bad 70's music. I threw some Barry White on and made the normal jokes one would expect to make. My wife turns to me and says that she really hates Barry White! I mean this from the woman who loves to dance to all the 70's stuff (and pretty much anything else). After ten years of marriage I was surprised to just be learning this!

When I was in high school I bought a Kenny G cassette. I couldn't believe that a sax player was getting played on the radio and wanted to support the guy. I think his tenor playing is better than his soprano. But then again I only like a handful of soprano players.
 
Kenny won't go down as a great player. But he will go down as an important player...he popularized the soprano saxophone and really invented the modern concept of smooth jazz. Before he came along, the soprano was a specialized instrument...I don't think we'd see as many people taking it up if Kenny hadn't come along.

The smooth jazz concept had been evolving through guys like David Sanborn and Grover Washington - but there wasn't a top ten hit until "Songbird", and then all of the sudden people started to play mellow, relaxed pop music in imitation of him. There were a lot of direct copycats too...anyone remember Najee? I also don't think that you'd see things like "smooth jazz" radio stations had Kenny not come along.

He may not be a great player - but I don't think you can debate his importance.
 
...he popularized the soprano saxophone and really invented the modern concept of smooth jazz. Before he came along, the soprano was a specialized instrument...I don't think we'd see as many people taking it up if Kenny hadn't come along.
Click to expand...

Respectfully disagree.

Grover Washington Jr.

Kenny G is making the saxophone popular in Asia in a very big way. They do not have the sensibilities to accept much of the saxophone playing we like and were brought up with. They simply would not appreciate Coltrane or Turrentine and can only handle Getz in full smooth Bossa Nova mode.

I would never expect an artist to give away that much influence to satisfy such a small community as us improvisational jazz fanatics. He is very well loved and admired among his fans all over the world and I think (opinion here) that his net impact on the saxophone world is positive.
 
As much as I can't stand his soprano playing the re-popularization of soprano credit goes to Coltrane.

Grover gets major props for bringing it into the smooth jazz (or what became smooth jazz) realm. Kenny G pretty much defined the genre with it in the late 1980's. Now the soprano guy of the moment in smooth jazz seems to be Warren Hill.
 
I was listening to Warren Zevon this morning . . . I swear.

Now I need to put on some Mulligan.
 
Ed Svoboda said:
As much as I can't stand his soprano playing the re-popularization of soprano credit goes to Coltrane.
Click to expand...
I had heard of Mr. Gorelick before I had heard of Coltrane. I bet a lot of other folks would say the same, too. And I literally didn't know Coltrane played the soprano until my teacher asked me to transcribe "Giant Steps" from the original onion-skins and saw that the SUNY Buffalo music library had other CDs by Coltrane.

Coltrane died in 1967 and My Favorite Things came out in 1961. Arguably, there were still some jazz "things" going on, even in the late 1960's -- but by the time I took up the sax, in the 1980's, people were treating the soprano as some brand-new instrument. And I don't remember any big "reemergence" of Coltrane music.

Let's look at it another way.

Conn, Buescher, Martin and King (HN White) -- the American big 4 -- all discontinued their soprano models well before WWII. If you asked them for a soprano, they'd essentially re-engrave a 1920's horn and sell it to you.

A lot of European manufacturers (Couesnon, Kohlert, etc.) also stopped producing sopranos, completely, either right before or right after 1939. Yes, companies like Keilwerth, Buffet and SML would make a soprano for you, but it was kind of a custom make and really didn't track with the other models that a company had available -- plus SML's and Buffet's sax production was so low, that you can argue ALL their horns are custom.

What about Selmer? Remember: there wasn't officially a Selmer Mark VII (which was introduced in the early 1970's) soprano. I also think ... you ... mentioned that there really wasn't too much change in the Mark VI vs. the Modele 22.

The Selmer S80 soprano was released in 1981. I also remember Keilwerths (custom order), Yamahas and Yanagisawas sopranos, too -- and only pro line, no student line. And that's about it. The flood of CHEAP Chinese/Taiwanese/Vietnamese horns was in the LATE 1980's/1990's.

And Kenny G's first album came out in 1982. "Songbird" was 1986 on his Duotones release, provided that Wikipedia isn't lying. And I remember it being played every 5 minutes on the radio. I also remember seeing Kenny G on "The Tonight Show" and playing. I thought the dude sounded pretty decent for not putting the mouthpiece in his mouth right. However, after that, people would ask me what I played. I'd say "sax" and they'd INSTANTLY say, "You play that thing like Kenny G? I like that sound! Can you play 'Songbird'?" (Answer: I don't think you want to hear it on my bari.)

You COULD argue that the reason why Selmer USA, Martin and others in the 1960's started listing the Yanagisawa soprano for sale was because of the success of Coltrane, but your Yani page says those didn't come out until 1968 -- and they didn't overhaul the model until 10 years later.

True, I don't know of any significant soprano players until Coltrane ... but I don't know of that many significant soprano players, period. Sidney Bechet and ... Coltrane? Some other guy that mainly played something else? Hey Google, "Famous Soprano Saxophone Players". You get one entry.

I'm defending Kenny G and now I feel ... syrupy (reason to loathe Kenny G: what he did to Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World"). Darn you, Ed! Darn you to Heck!
 
Soprano was the ugly step child of the sax family for a long time. Sidney was the most prominent player and I think a lot of sax players felt that the instrument was only appropriate in dixieland/New Orleans styles of music. Regardless of the reasons the instrument was pretty much on life support. Coltrane picked one up and that started the first wave of resurgence. It seemed like every major jazz player had to have a soprano. Even Zoot Sims and Gerry Mulligan added sopranos late in their careers. It seems like every jazz player who was influenced by Coltrane also added sopranos. Selmer had to be shocked that the instrument was getting popular again. They hadn't updated their models since the 1920's!

From the 60's on you had a number of major figures in jazz playing soprano including Dave Liebman, Steve Lacy, and Wayne Shorter to name just a few.

During this whole period of time the soprano was still being played in major saxophone quartets. Remember Mule and Rascher were both accomplished players of the soprano.

Kenny G came along and it became the smooth jazz sax of choice. The great thing is that there are a lot of talented musicians who now play soprano as their main instrument and we all have much better instruments to choose from these days.
 
I'm gonna do the same thing for the C-melody.

I gonna make the C-melody an essential instrument in today's saxophoning.

I'm going to do it by causing a huge resurgence in a much under-appreciated and maligned musical form...

KLEZMER!

Oy!
 
I think much of anyone's "take" on who did what for the soprano is based on their age AND the style of music they like. Those who dislike original jazz never listened to it . . . and still don't (probably). So anything before Coltrane remains a mystery to them. And, events that took place during and after Coltrane, especially outside of modernistic jazz, remains a mystery, too.

Oh, modernists may have knowledge of Bechet and Buster Bailey and Hodges (not that Hodges used soprano as a first-choice, but he DID play it well and studied with Bechet) and the revivalists of old jazz from the late '30's/early'40's era, but an appreciation for it doesn't exist (or at least isn't wide-spread).

Conversely, those of us who cannot abide modern jazz (even though I respect the modernists' control of their instruments, their music leaves me COLD) rarely if ever listen to Coltrane and all the other soprano players named in other posts. I didn't even know about Coltrane and especially his soprano until Ken Burns' Jazz series of DVD's. To tell the truth, I suffered through the last few DVDs in the set.

I first became aware of soprano saxophones when, at age 16 (1956) I saw two played at a dixieland concert in Los Angeles . . . Joe Darensbourg with Teddy Buckner's band and then George Probert with the Firehouse Five plus two. George brought down the house (a packed SRO Shrine Auditorium) with his playing of Canal Street Blues. George still plays, by the way; I played with him last year when he subbed in our band!

Based on those performances, I asked my Mom to buy me one and I ended up with my first saxophone, a Conn C soprano (soon traded for a Bb Conn). I played it in a high school instrument training class, for two weeks in the marching band (I quit that), in a dixie combo several friends put together, and then in private lessons for two years. I had no idea of who made them or what was available except for Conns.

While in the U.S./ Army in Germany ('59-'61), I bought a new Buffet soprano (coulda had a Mark VI for $30 more!!! - big mistake) and played it in a rock-a-billy group throughout the Stuttgart area.

And those two sopranos took me onto life after the military. As far as I knew, there weren't many choices for new sopranos.

Sidney Bechet died in France just before I arrived in Germany. I was greatly disappointed that I was unable to see him play.

I later upgraded to a Dorado 600 (Yanagisawa stencil) in the early '70's, then a new Mark VI in the late '70's.

In all this time, I never knew about Coltrane. But at the same time, I'd hear a lot of Bechet recordings and many other dixie players were using soprano as a first-choice reed in trad jazz ensembles.

My whole point is that I'm not so sure that Coltrane could be credited with anything to do with the soprano except that he played one when they weren't all that popular. But he wasn't the only one. While he may be the first soprano player that many folks knew about, there were/are a whole bunch of other folks that knew about Bechet and the trad-jazz revivalists from the 1940's who played soprano. I know several who played soprano as a first-choice before Coltrane. I will agree that sopranos seemed to grow in popularity as more and more brands came to market and jazzers discovered them, but what caused that? Attribute it to Coltrane, but I'm not buying it. It is all a matter of perspective. DAVE
 
VINDICATION!

(Yah. That's gonna be my new catch phrase here :))

Thanks, Dave.

I didn't mention sax quartets and such because, outside classical quartets/ensembles, very few people care -- and a lot of the works available for ensembles/quartets are transcriptions. Hey, ask a jazz-head in the 60's who Sigurd Rascher is. He'd probably say it was some kind of cheese. Heck, I wouldn't know who he was if I didn't study under one of his students.

You also have to note that Selmer probably carried a soprano because ... they could. Buffet probably carried one because they used to carry an entire line, from sopranino to contrabass.

I can't necessarily discount the fact that Coltrane made the horn more popular, but the production numbers really don't look like they support that theory. The Kenny G theory is supportable because of all the sopranos that popped into the market slightly after he came onto the scene. I doubt that so many Asian companies decided to flood the market with cheap sopranos just because it was the soprano's "time". I think it was because $parental_unit would go to a shop and say, "I want to get the same kind of sax for my kid Kenny G has" or some such. Hey, it's simple economics: high demand, low supply, so let's increase the supply.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom