The new documentary “Listening to Kenny G” has everyone talking about Kenny G. I know scores of people who love Kenny G so I want to bring my own perspective to the conversation and hopefully not start an argument. I do not enjoy arguing with other musicians or alienating myself from non-musicians.
When I was in 10th grade I wrote a paper for English class about how much I hated Kenny G, so I had a strong opinion about his music even before I had much training on the saxophone. As a college student, I took a deep dive into the jazz masters—Bird, Stitt, Rollins, etc., but right after I finished grad school I was barely surviving financially. I was a conservatory trained artist and we artists are too good to “sell out” or pander to an audience so when I started playing weddings it was a tremendous sacrifice! One day, after playing a few weeks of weddings, I drove my old, embarrassing-looking Chevy to the Post Office and I happened to bump into a bass player from the wedding bands who had recently toured with Kenny G. He was a musician who could afford a brand new, luxury SUV! This was impressive to me! It was a bit of an epiphany for me when I realized that I might likely make the same life choice to “sell out” and tour with Kenny G given my beat up car would barely start and I had no life savings.
Today, I am still not very fond of Kenny G, but in all fairness, he is a skilled practitioner on the soprano saxophone. It is well known that he practices three hours a day and spends a lot of time on music. In my own experience, I have had hundreds (if not thousands?) of students and very few are able to play a simple melody with musical expression and Kenny G does this on a regular basis. He clearly has the capacity to connect with his instrument.
Why do so many jazz musicians despise his music?
What jazz musicians hear when they listen to Kenny G:
-no improvisation or interaction
Interaction and improvisation are central to the genre of jazz. One reason that groups like the John Coltrane Classic Quartet, Miles Davis Sextet, or Keith Jarrett Trio are celebrated is the tremendous amount of interaction between the musicians. A great example is the Miles Davis recording of Kind of Blue, which consists of unrehearsed tunes that the band sight read off the music stands and the album remains one of the greatest of all time. When we hear Kenny G’s music it is clear that the musicians do not improvise and live in the moment like the jazz masters do.
-musical language is not traditional jazz vocabulary
Kenny G’s phrases are not rooted in tradition, whether that be altered dominant chords or jazz articulation.
-lack of dissonance/music is not harmonically interesting
The best example that I could give would be Thelonious Monk’s composition “Round Midnight” played by Monk and as recorded by Kenny G. The lack of dissonance in the Kenny G cover of the Monk tune not only makes the music uninteresting but it downgrades this great jazz standard to background music.
-we do not hear the natural sound of the instrument
There is a tremendous amount of electronic processing of the sound of Kenny G’s saxophone. The reverb, compression, delay, etc. are so prominent that we generally cannot hear the core sound of the instrument.
The guitarist Pat Metheny famously has put Kenny G in his place with a well known article describing his posthumous duo performance of “What a Wonderful World” with Louis Armstrong as “lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing.”
Why do jazz musicians get so angry?
-Kenny G is not rooted in the jazz tradition.
He is not referencing jazz tradition melodically or harmonically and he is not making an attempt to do so. The only ties that he has had to tradition have been performing jazz standards but without idiomatic jazz style.
-He has had a tremendous amount of commercial success.
The unfortunate truth is that many great musicians do not receive accolades but are deserving of more widespread recognition. There are some well known artists (especially in the jazz genre) that are not affluent. Jazz musicians are annoyed by his ability to make vast amounts of money. Louis Armstrong was one of the greatest jazz artists but he was only able to earn a middle class income.
-Kenny G’s music is not attached to any greater or deeper narrative.
So much of the history of jazz music has been about systemic racism, oppression, Jim Crow in America, and the struggles that Black musicians have faced. Miles Davis was a victim of police violence. Bessie Smith died because a white hospital refused to give her medical treatment. John Coltrane wrote Alabama in honor of four young girls that were murdered in a church by the KKK. These are only a few examples of the egregious racism that Black jazz musicians encountered. Not all jazz musicians reference this (or attempt to reference this) directly in their music, but it is at least something that musicians are aware of.
Kenny G is a troubling figure because he is isolated from the tradition and style of jazz and admits that he has never considered his own white privilege. One could easily come to the conclusion that Kenny G is appropriating Black music in the same way the Rolling Stones “borrowed” from the American blues artist Howlin’ Wolf and made millions of dollars doing so.
I am personally troubled by both the aesthetics of Kenny G’s music and also the disconnect from the tradition. I do not mind the electronic aspect of his music, but I would like to hear deeper rhythmic grooves and increased amounts of dissonance. To me, the music lacks forward motion and intention. I find it deplorable that a white person has made so much money off of Black music without engaging in a greater understanding of Black culture and questioning his own white privilege.
Perhaps Kenny G is a symptom of our culture and not the problem itself?