Klarinet Archive - Posting 000450.txt from 1999/01

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Kenny G Concert Review
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 14:49:41 -0500

GrabnerWG@-----.com noted re KennyG:

<<<<Guys.......99.9% of the population out there doesn't CARE about all the
things we strive for. Music is, at best, an entertainment for the "public".
For most it's just background noise, Kenny G is just making a bundle
providing EXACTLY what the public wants. >>>>

I envy Kenny's money . . . and his technique. I'm the one noted in another
post that went to college with Mr. Gorelick, and have attested here on a
number of occasions as to his sax chops, jazz chops etc. Kenny is the
saxophone equivalent of Charlie Neidich--from a technical standpoint, there
is very, very little that he can't do. His jazz chops are seriously there,
too--he just chooses to market what sells. Perhaps you may scorn him for
this; your loss.

Kenny is an extremely bright man who did test the waters as a jazz musician,
and got tired of playing to empty rooms. Face it; very few people can make
a living as a jazz musician, and breaking into the field is even tougher if
you're a short white guy. Many, many, many more people wanted to pay Kenny
to play fusion, and were willing to ship him suitcases of cash to prove it.
Now, Kenny can count--he's a CPA--so it didn't take him long to decide not
to live in poverty and to provide for his family by giving his considerable
fan base the music that they pay him oodles of money to play. Bummer if you
don't like it.

Now, other than the Christmas album (more crass commercialism--Kenny is
Jewish), I haven't purchased a KennyG album in probably 20 years. When he
comes home to plays a jazz gig for fun, though, I race to Jazz Alley (local
watering hole) to hear him, because when he does play straight jazz he is
such a monster. I won't deride him because he chooses to eat well, however.

Is Kenny selling out? Of course. Do you think for a minute that this is
news to him? Is he selling out any more than any studio musician that plays
jingles? Any more than Gallodoro or Lurie for playing CARTOONS for heaven's
sake? I think not. (An aside--with my kids, I would much rather watch/hear
an old Warner Bros. cartoon with that FANTASTIC woodwind playing than the
TeleTubbies--but I digress).

Lots and lots of people make a living playing music that is somewhat less
"artistic" than the snob police would like. Not all of us can get that gig
with the NY Phil, or play nothing but straight-ahead bebop. The attitude
of most professional musicians I know is truly "professional"--you get to
the gig, play what's put in front of you as well as you can and otherwise
shut up. The only difference for Kenny is that he contracts himself, for
what is obviously the highest bidder. What's so immoral or unprofessional
about that?

kjf

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