Yup, you read that correctly. And I know what your thinking. First, let me say that I don’t purposefully listen to Kenny G and have never purchased any of his music, so that probably disqualifies me from membership in the fan club. But, like just about everyone, I’ve heard plenty of his music over the years. As a saxophone player I feel a certain connection and understanding. Some might call it “sympathy”. It occurred to me today, while pondering the G, that there’s a double-standard in music and he may not have gotten a totally fair shake over the years.
One example of a double-standard that really sticks out is between guitars and just about every other instrument, but certainly between guitars and saxophones. Modifying the natural sound of a guitar is completely acceptable, even encouraged, while the same does not hold true for saxophones. I can’t remember the last time I played a gig with a guitarist who just plugged into his amp and played. Most of the guitarists I share a stage with construct a short but wide wall of effects pedals in front of them to get “their sound”. My favorite is the guitarist who shows you his vintage axe, brags about the year it came off the assembly line, the serial number, how it has that magic tone that you can’t get with today’s guitars… Then they proceed to completely bury the sound of the guitar with six effects pedals and an overdriven amplifier. How much did you pay for that guitar again?
Enter Kenny G. Kenny took a similar approach to his instrument in the 1980s and continues today. What I hear when I listen to Kenny is a lot of reverb, compression, maybe delay. Possibly some kind of harmonic exciter or enhancer effects. His sound does not have that raw tonal quality that we associate with players like Branford Marsalis, Jerry Bergonzi or Chris Potter. It doesn’t sound exactly like a saxophone would sound in a room. But when was the last time you really heard the sound of a guitar in it’s raw form?
A key component to guitarist worship is facility. People love to hear guitarists ripping up and down the fretboard playing fast. I can tell you as a saxophone player that Kenny G is an accomplished player with terrific facility on his instrument. Like his music or not, he’s a solid saxophonist. But when Kenny G plays fast sweeping phrases on his horn it doesn’t seem to elicit the same kind of appreciation, at least not from most of the people I know. Then again, most of the folks I talk about music with are musicians so maybe that’s where the issue lies.
Kenny G has sold millions of albums and will probably sell millions more, so there are obviously many people who do see him in the same light as the guitar-worship crowd sees guitarists. But the haters are strong (see Pat Metheny’s rant on Kenny G from several years ago). Here’s a large part of the problem and I believe that the general public and the record/retail industry are mostly to blame for this. Because Kenny G plays a saxophone he’s been housed in the “Jazz” sections of many record and online stores. This speaks to fact that Americans have lost their connection with one of the true American art forms and somehow any music played by a saxophone is now considered “Jazz”. That said, folks who have an appreciation for the history and progression of that art form, including many musicians, take strong exception to this categorical error. Does Kenny G consider himself a jazz musician? Not sure, but I would guess that he doesn’t.
In 1997 Kenny pulled together a publicity stunt where he played one note for 45 minutes making it into the Guinness Book of World records. He was using a technique called circular breathing which isn’t especially difficult on many wind instruments including the saxophone. What most people don’t know is that this technique has been around for ages and employed by many musicians in the East. This was a cheap stunt and I cringe at the fact that people are impressed by it and somehow equate holding a note for a long time with talent. Pat Metheny’s issue with Kenny G stemmed from the fact that his sax was overdubbed on top of an historic Louis Armstrong track. I didn’t personally find it offensive, just not very good. He did nothing to improve on the original. Nobody could. So if you’re going to get down on Kenny G, don’t do it because of how he plays a saxophone or his tone. There really isn’t that much of a difference between him and the flashy guitarist. His character, on the other hand…
