[Dixielandjazz] Kenny G calls it . . .

[Hal Vickery]

I think the problem lies with the way the music is marketed.  Record stores
and radio stations call it "smooth jazz," and I think that's where a lot of
us make the mistake of pinning it on the players.

Whatever it's called, it's still elevator music.

Hal Vickery

-----Original Message-----
From: dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com
[mailto:dixielandjazz-bounces at ml.islandnet.com] On Behalf Of Steve Barbone
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 3:53 PM
To: DJML
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Kenny G calls it . . .

Bob Ringwald doubts my information on Kenny G and asks if I know for sure
that he does not call his music it jazz. Well, I wouldn't bet my life on it,
but I would bet the Farm.

Maybe, like Eddie Condon before him, G calls it "music". :-) VBG.

No, he calls it "instrumental pop". Why we call it jazz, and/or judge it as
jazz mystifies me when so much information about how he defines it exists.

Here are a few quotes from bios, and interviews. No doubt you can find these
and MANY more like them on the internet. Or from other sources.

-----begin quotes

"Kenny G is often quoted as defending his crowd-pleasing sound as
instrumental pop, not jazz"

"Kenny G himself says he doesn't play jazz."

"Though he claims not to be a jazz musician, Kenny G has been criticized by
some jazz players for what they regard as pedestrian, soulless playing."

Even the NY Times (see Below) in 1993 was careful not to call it jazz.

"NY TIMES - by STEPHEN HOLDEN - June 24, 1993"

"If the music of the popular soprano saxophonist Kenny G is lightweight and
shamelessly crowd-pleasing, it is also hard to dislike. This 36-year-old
instrumentalist from Seattle, whose full name is Kenny Gorelick, has
invented his own brand of amiable mood music. Ceaselessly melodic and gentle
in spirit (even when driven by a rhythm-and-blues backbeat), it evokes
idyllic Pacific Ocean vistas, and birds curling and dipping into
picture-postcard sunsets."

---------end quotes

The list goes on and on. If inquiring minds do not wish to believe what I
wrote about it, dig out the information yourself. So we don't have to pee on
that 3rd rail to see if it carries electricity.

Cheers,
Steve


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