Kenny G discusses new record and new instrument line

Pete: I didn't include any mention of economics (mainly because I am not an economist and could very well be wrong). But, I will say this . . . I think the increasing economic vitality throughout that period (say after WWII up to now) had a bearing on how many sopranos were sold. I know that as I aged and improved at my adult career, my spendable income increased a lot.

When I was a young policeman, I lived paycheck to paycheck and buying any saxophone was a BIG event. But as the years went on, I become more able to afford to "play" and bought and sold a large number of instruments, increasing my experience and knowledge levels. I suspect many others were in a similar boat. To many, a soprano saxophone is an extra horn and the ability to buy one is a benefit of increased spending power.

To me, Kenny G is a recent phenomenon, but his popularity certainly cuts across the limited numbers of trad-jazz and modern jazz fans. I'll bet more of the general public knows about Kenny G than both trad and modern jazzers combined. DAVE
 
Definitely, Dave, but my point was that there were, oh, 60 (40, at the very least) years where there were all of two or three companies that actually made sopranos in any quantity and then, all the sudden, in the late 80's, everyone made one. Hey, I think I even produced a few!

So, I'm agreeing with your 2nd-to-last post without reservation. As my last couple rambling posts say, if Coltrane really did all that, how come there weren't a zillion new soprano manufacturers in 1963?

Of course, it's all just a theory and you could be completely right that the 1980's were a time where sax players had more spendable cash and just decided to start buying sopranos or, by some other fluke, companies just started coming out with sopranos. Hey, I bought my baris in the 1980's: the $800 Keilwerth Bundy in about 1987 and the $1850 YAS-52 in 1989.

"Greed is Good." Yah. I remember the 80's quite well.
 
for the record...

This has been the most polite and sober discussion of Kenny G I have ever read.
 
Toby, I appreciate that. I think Jim and Ed will, as well.

==========

BTB, as a kind of coda to this, I relate the following conversation I had with my 13-year-old daughter. Mind you, I've never played sax around her and she lives with my ex-wife, who's a trumpet player/drummer.

Pete: I've got an experiment I'd like to perform with you.
Daughter: <Dubious look.>
Pete: Do you know who John Coltrane is?
Daughter: He's dead, right?
Pete: Yup. Anything else ...?
Daughter: He's a guy?
Pete: Mmmm. Yah. How's this: do you know who Kenny G is?
Daughter: He's some dude that plays the saxophone.

Theeeereee ya go.
 
I'm playing through the new Kenny G today. I had to take a small break but only have two songs to go. A review will be forthcoming.
 
Long before Kenny G and his much disputed "style" were au courant, long before Coltrane did his limited amount of performance on the horn, and long before I bought my first such horn (a Selmer, of course) back in the 1960's, there was...

Charlie Barnett

Ol' Swingin' Charlie, when he wasn't screwing around (either hidden, with one of his many soon-to-be-ex-wives (one marriage is mentioned in his autobiography in the dismissive "Then, after another brief marriage, ..."), or with his "open marriage" during the Sixties in Paris), spending money like water (his family included several heirs of the Vanderbilt fortune from the New York Central Railway), or breaking up and reforming bands, was the sole apostle of the instrument for many, many years. Playing something in between swing and modern jazz, he was the reason I bought one, and I think that his music still holds up well after all of these years.

Barnett was also one of the first in the world of music to break the color barrier; guys like Clark Terry got their start with him, and for a time he employed (and dallied with) Lena Horne.
 
Interesting. So in this clip Charlie not only picks up the tenor sax by the neck, but he plays it au natural (sans neck strap). I guess it's all about lookin' cool. That hot soprano sax riff at the end was a shocker too; woke me up. Cool stuff.
 
I play the baritone that way on occasion if it's a very short section with another horn change coming up ASAP. Not something that would go on as long as Charlie did in Sidewalks of New York, though.

I'm going to have to get that version; nothing like a cute band vocal to make swing more palatable to the modern day listener. I've heard the recording before, but never saw the Movietone reel until tonight.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of chicanery involved in the reel. The opening features the tail end of Cherokee, the classic brass "wah-wah" accompaniment tenor solo that he made so famous back in the day. He is, of course, playing the alto in the visual.

(On one of my many Barnett albums, there is a drop dead gorgeous version of Redskin Rhumba, an "extension" for Cherokee that is even more evocative than the original. A wonderful showpiece for a tenor player who likes channeling the 1940's, it adds about six minutes to the total length of the other tune, and is good for a "set breaker". In addition to the solo, there's lots of neat section work underneath the tenor soloist. Just make sure that you have a drummer who can count bars accurately before you try to run it...)

Speaking of alto playing, Barnett did a whole album of solo pieces where he was playing "against type", mostly on alto. Among the other gems on that album, there is a wonderful rendition of Earle Hagen's classic Harlem Nocturne, with a nice rumbling baritone line under the first part of the solo alto line. I'd love to find that arrangement some day.

Even more fascinating than the Barnett stuff are the videos of a 78 rpm record playing with the audio containing the music from the record.
 
SOTSDO said:
(On one of my many Barnett albums, there is a drop dead gorgeous version of Redskin Rhumba, an "extension" for Cherokee that is even more evocative than the original.)
Click to expand...
Recently removed from YouTube. Sorry :(.

I was able to find the recording of "Harlem Nocturne" on a website of ... *ahem* questionable legality. No arrangements, tho.

Hey, I checked for ya!
 
This is, I think, the most interesting KG thread ever. I didn't think that was possible till now. Heck, I just just picked up my soprano 'cause of it after not touching it for a few weeks. I wonder what kind of accessories he'll market with D'Addario/Rico.
 
I resisted the urge to post something moderately amusing about Kenny G endorsements. I've REALLY been good this entire thread.

Anyhow, a brief Google search only seems to indicate the saxophones. Rico still does sell mouthpieces, so that might be a tie-in, too. However, Mr. G has a rather ... different ... soprano embochure, so I'm not quite sure how that'd "sell". He endorses Rico reeds, obviously. (Aside: ricoreedsuk? Marketing didn't notice this?)

Oh. Websiteage: http://www.kennygsaxophones.com. Altos and tenors will also be available.

I'm not sufficiently interested to go through the instrument catalog to find out what make the G instruments are, but it might be a little bit difficult: one-piece instrument with kind of an odd G# cluster.
 
Might his embouchure quirks be due to a dental problem with his front upper teeth? I've seldom seen footage of him without the horn firmly planted in same, but I recall seeing one "smiling" shot a few years back that indicated that the famous crooked embouchure might have been due to poorly aligned front upper teeth.
 
SOTSDO said:
Might his embouchure quirks be due to a dental problem with his front upper teeth? I've seldom seen footage of him without the horn firmly planted in same, but I recall seeing one "smiling" shot a few years back that indicated that the famous crooked embouchure might have been due to poorly aligned front upper teeth.
Click to expand...

Yes, he has some sort of problem with his teeth. I read an interview with him on this subject.
 
pete said:
I resisted the urge to post something moderately amusing about Kenny G endorsements. I've REALLY been good this entire thread.

Anyhow, a brief Google search only seems to indicate the saxophones. Rico still does sell mouthpieces, so that might be a tie-in, too. However, Mr. G has a rather ... different ... soprano embochure, so I'm not quite sure how that'd "sell". He endorses Rico reeds, obviously. (Aside: ricoreedsuk? Marketing didn't notice this?)

Oh. Websiteage: http://www.kennygsaxophones.com. Altos and tenors will also be available.

I'm not sufficiently interested to go through the instrument catalog to find out what make the G instruments are, but it might be a little bit difficult: one-piece instrument with kind of an odd G# cluster.
Click to expand...


It's a Mark VI with better palm keys. I HATE inline palm keys on soprano, the G# cluster on his horns is the same as the one on the Mark VI. Now, it probably won't be as high quality as a VI, but that's a different story.
 
Yah; they're VI keys. It's just finding another horn that uses them. It's also possible that they get the body from one place and the keywork from someplace else.

I'm somewhat interested in the reason for not posting pics of the tenor and alto. Interesting marketing move that didn't work with the Infinity Q35 and it's not going to work with this horn :).
 
Yeah, what is up with hiding the Tenor and Alto? I know that Kenny is known for his soprano sax playing above all, but why hide the product?
 
SuperAction80 said:
Yeah, what is up with hiding the Tenor and Alto? I know that Kenny is known for his soprano sax playing above all, but why hide the product?
Click to expand...

I have a feeling that they aren't ready yet. I'm not 100% convinced that the pictures of the sopranos are real...I think they are renders.

The alto and tenor aren't pro models either.
 
The soprano is real . . . I played two of them. There is a so-called "pro" line and a "student" line. I thought the pro-line was terrific - they replaced the VI-style palm keys with the more standard forked-style palm keys common to other types of saxophones and modern sopranos. They kept the on-top bell pads including a low C# on top of the tube (a neat feature in my opinion, lessening stickiness). The left-pinky table was typical VI (or like the previous Yanagisawa curved sops SC902, etc.).

The downside is that they have a "Kenny G" engraving on them, but while I am no fan, I don't see that as a fatal flaw when considering how well the horn played.

I'd buy one if it was available on the market - and was reasonably priced. DAVE
 
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