Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), better known by his stage name Kenny G, is a Grammy winning American saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986. Kenny G's main instrument is the soprano saxophone, but he also on occasion plays alto and tenor saxophone. He started playing the saxophone when he was 10 years old, in 1966. The saxophone he had as a student was a Buffet-Crampon alto saxophone. Now he plays the Selmer Mark VI Soprano, Alto and Tenor Saxophones.
Early life
Kenny G
was born in Seattle
, Washington
, to a Jewish family and first
came into contact with a saxophone when he heard someone performing
with one on The Ed Sullivan
Show. He learned how to play under the direction of
local trumpeter
Gerald Pfister and by
practicing along with
record
(mostly of
Grover Washington,
Jr.), "trying" to emulate the sounds that he was hearing. At
Franklin High
School he failed to get into the
jazz
band when he applied, although was accepted the following year
when he tried again. He also played for his
high school golf team, a
sport which he had loved ever since his older
brother, Brian Gorelick, introduced it to him when
he was ten years old.
Career
Kenny G's
career started with a job as a
sideman for
Barry White's
Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1973.
He was also studying for a
major in
accounting at the same time.
After
being rejected as a music major from Central
Washington University
, he went on to get a degree from the University of
Washington
and played with the funk band
Cold, Bold & Together before becoming a credited member of
The Jeff Lorber Fusion.
He began his solo career after his period with Lorber.
Kenny G signed with
Arista Records as
a solo artist in 1982, after
label
president
Clive Davis heard his
rendition of ABBA's "Dancing Queen". He has released many
solo albums and collaborated with various artists
including
Andrea Bocelli,
Whitney Houston,,
Peabo Bryson,
Toni
Braxton,
DJ
Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince,
Natalie Cole,
Steve Miller (which marked the only
time he appeared on a
rock and roll
album),
Dudley Moore,
Michael Bolton,
Celine
Dion and
Aretha Franklin.
Influenced by the likes of saxophonist
Grover Washington, Jr. and the
lyricism of
Barry Manilow, his own
albums are usually classified as
smooth
jazz.
He received success quite early on, with both
G Force and
Gravity, his second and third
studio
albums respectively, achieving
platinum status in the
United States. These sales were topped by his fourth studio album,
Duotones, which shifted over five
million copies in the U.S. alone. His sixth studio album,
Breathless,
became the number one best selling
instrumental album ever, with over 15 million
copies sold, of which 12 million were in the U.S. He broke another
record when his first holiday album,
Miracles, sold over 13
million copies, making it the most successful Christmas album to
date.
In 1997, Kenny G earned a place in the
Guinness Book of World
Records for playing the longest note ever recorded on a
saxophone. Kenny G held an E-flat for forty five minutes and 47
seconds in the Hopkins-Bright Auditorium (named after his two
friends) at J&R Music World in New York City. That same year,
Kenny G's song "
Havana", from his
album
The
Moment, was remixed by noted
DJs
Todd Terry and
Tony
Moran and released promotionally to dance clubs in the U.S.
These mixes went to #1 on the
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in April of
1997, giving Kenny G his first (and, to date, only)
#1 on
this chart.
Kenny G's 1999 single, "
What A
Wonderful World" was criticized by the jazz community regarding
the overdubbing of
Louis Armstrong's
classic recording. A common criticism was that a revered recording
by an artist such as Armstrong known especially for improvisation
should not be altered and especially not by a musician such as
Kenny G whose contributions to jazz were already in question. Jazz
guitarist
Pat Metheny responded to this
recording by saying, "With this single move, Kenny G became one of
the few people on earth I can say that I really can't use at all --
as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a
thing, and as a musician, for presuming to share the stage with the
single most important figure in our music."
The "duet" was produced by David Foster who also recorded the
Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole duet. Kenny G stated at the
time,"...I didn't want to spoil the original. I said, 'Whatever we
do, if we're not going to make it better, let's throw it away and
we won't do it.' So (Foster) guaranteed that it would be better,
and I hope that we did a good job on it." Some columnists countered
the criticisms suggesting such a recording would bring classic jazz
to a wider audience. Nevertheless, Kenny G fans considered the live
performance of this duet with Armstrong on a video taped backdrop a
"show stopper." Some pop critics reviewed the album
Classics in the Key of G as
possibly his best specifically because of his choice of classic
covered songs. Kenny G has stated that all the proceeds from "What
A Wonderful World" go to his Kenny G Miracles Foundation which
"funnel(s) the money to charities to purchase musical instruments
and to supplement funding for the arts in schools."
Kenny G has recorded some Chinese songs, such as "Jasmine Flower"
(茉莉花) or "The Moon Represents My Heart" (月亮代表我的心). His music is
noticeably popular in China. His recording "Going Home" is often
played at closing time at public places or the at end of classes at
schools.
Mass transit systems in Tianjin
and Shanghai play these songs when trains approach
terminus stations.
As of 2003, Kenny G was named the 25th-highest selling
artist in America by the
RIAA, with 48
million albums sold in the USA as of July 31, 2006. In 1994, Kenny
G won the
Grammy Award for
Best Instrumental Composition for
Forever in
Love.
In October 2009, Kenny G appeared with the band
Weezer in an
AOL promotion of
their album
Raditude by soloing
during "I'm Your Daddy". Kenny G said he knew nothing of Weezer
prior to the performance. Though some music critics thereby
rejoined in the common criticism of his work the unlikely
combination was fairly well received by AOL's magazines
Spinner.com and
Popeater.com.
Personal life
Kenny G is
married to Lyndie Benson, with
whom he has two
sons, Max (age 16) and Noah (age
11).
He frequently plays golf and has a playing
handicap of +0.6. He has participated in the
AT&T Pebble
Beach National Pro-Am tournament seven times as of 2009, and
Golf Digest awarded him the
position of number one golfer in their December rankings of Top 100
in Music.
Kenny G is a qualified pilot and has been known to fly to many
events. He flies the De Havilland Beaver seaplane. He is also one
of the original investors in the
Starbucks
coffee house chain.
Discography
References
- Kenny G Biography
- Mark Sabbatini Kenny G: At Last...The Duets Album All About Jazz,
December 30, 2004
- George Varga Kenny G: Changes His Tune JazzTimes May 1999
- Mike Joyce Who's overrated? Who's Underrated?
JazzTimes,
September 1997
- Ben Ratliff MUSIC; Jazz Can Take Itself Too Seriously
New York
Times, July 16, 2000
- JazzOasis.com - Pat Metheny on Kenny G
- Thompson on Kenny G -- and Janet Jackson's breast
Audiofile, Salon.com, March 16, 2005, Retrieved September
2, 2007
- KENNY G "Classics in the Key of G" Arista, Mike Joyce,
The Washington Post, August 27, 1999
- ABC Good Morning America, July 9, 1999
- Gee whiz, give Kenny a break. (Arts and Lifestyle),
Shirley Maldonado, The Boston Herald, August 10, 2000
- Parrotheads flock to Merriweather: Nesting with Buffett;
Kenny G at Nissan, Irish at Wolf Trap. (Washington
Weekend)(Riffs), Raymond M. Lane, The Washington Times, August 26,
1999
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine Classics in the Key of G AllMusic, retrieved October
30, 2009
- KENNY G PRESENTS SOME OLD FAVORITES FROM YESTERYEAR.
(Entertainment) Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 27, 1999
- Charley Rogulewski Weezer Run With Chamillionaire, Sara Bareilles and
... Kenny G? Spinner.com, Oct 23 2009
- Tom Breihan Weezer Team Up With Kenny G, Chamillionaire, Sara
Bareilles Pitchfork, October 23, 2009
- Mike Burr Weezer Breaks Out Rolodex, Brings Kenny G.,
Chamillionaire, and Sara Bareilles To AOL Session Prefix
Magazine , October 23, 2009
- Kenny G Steps Back Into the Spotlight
popeater.com, 26 October 2009
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search
