This trend is even bigger among Jazz musicians, I've noticed, where Kenny G is often called "a lie", "a hack", or something similar. In contrast, Kenny G is successful in sales, and is popular among other niches, just not among jazz musicians and some jazz enthusiast. This hate seems to go well beyond "I don't like his music" or "I don't like how he plays", so there must be something more to it.
Where did all this hate come from? Why is Kenny G so hated in jazz related circles? Are there objective reasons behind the hate? Personally, I find Kenny G's music as pleasant as does the next person.
But the hatred for him is neither solely because his music is bland, unchallenging, and largely outside traditional jazz idioms, nor solely because he is enormously popular and successful. It's because his popularity and success stems from the bland inauthenticity of his music.
Jazz is a unique form of music, created largely by African-Americans, fusing, against all odds, both African and European music traditions. In its pure forms, it is immensely challenging to play, demands constant creativity and innovation, and actively moves the listener out of his or her comfort zones.
Kenny G is immensely technically proficient, but his music lulls the listeners, instead of challenging them, and he hasn't done much, if anything, to advance the art form. Nevertheless, he has been rewarded with enormous wealth and popularity, and is synonymous with "jazz" in the minds of many. Fairly, or unfairly, his prominence makes him a symbolic exemplar of countless white artists who have been idolized by the same mainstream audiences that ignore and reject the artists of color who created the genres and styles in the first place.
Thus, he is regarded as an undeserving appropriator of the creativity and artistic risk-taking of others. The white jazz artists who have escaped this contempt typically a have done more personal artistic risk-taking and creative work and b have been perceived as more visibly respectful of the genre's originators.
It's unclear exactly why Kenny G is the object of so much vilification, particularly from jazz musicians. Kenny would probably never claim that what he plays is jazz. I get the impression this is like the weaker kid in a school class who gets picked on by a couple of pupils, and then everyone jumps on him. There seems to be no objective justification for the hate, even if one assumes it's possible to be objective at all about music beyond the most basic level e.
There's an interview with Pat Metheny where Pat covers some of this. He would have been prepared to ignore Kenny G, but what really sends him off the rails is Kenny G overdubbing himself on top of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World".
This is a simple pop ballad, and probably the least musically interesting thing that Armstrong ever recorded, but the interview turns into a rant:. But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks even one of his lesser ones , he did something that I would not have imagined possible.
He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician.
The question is garnished with a photo of Miles Davis sitting next to Kenny G and looking somewhat less than happy.
The claim that this is evidence of Miles' dislike of Kenny G doesn't hold up. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of Miles smiling except on the cover of his album titled, with a touch of self-irony, "Miles Smiles". Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.
Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why is Kenny G so hated among jazz musicians? Ask Question. Asked 1 year, 9 months ago. Active 23 days ago. Viewed 1k times. Improve this question. Anton dB. Anton dB Anton dB 4, 1 1 gold badge 21 21 silver badges 55 55 bronze badges.
You're basically asking the users here for their opinion on other people's opinions. There is a harsh joke about Kenny G by Clare Fischer here: youtube. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Rick Hirsch December 15, am. Doron December 15, am. Bret Pimentel December 15, pm. I have to admit, I would steal some of those licks. Incidentally, I was in Beijing, China a couple of years ago and met some saxophonists from the band at Tsingua University. I asked what saxophonists they like, and they immediately said Kenny G.
I think this is faked. Actually, most the YouTube comments say that this is Trane……and that the video is actually some other song. Doron December 15, pm. Ummm…guys, this IS totally a joke. Bret, that video is pretty impressive. Kenny is definitely in a class of his own when it comes to the smooth jazz style of playing. Almost like trying to pass off Benny Golson as Wayne Shorter.
Doron Orenstein January 1, pm.
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