 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Ted
Date: 2003-03-01 23:26
I hear that Kenny G is putting out a new remastered duet album with Benny
Goodman. They will alternate call and responce sections in Sing Sing Simgand add new solo material. Sounds great. What do you all think? - Ted
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-03-01 23:31
Don't tell Benny...GBK
Post Edited (03-02-03 00:48)
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2003-03-02 00:52
figures-the only way kenny g could even hope to keep up with benny is after hes,s dead
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Author: ken
Date: 2003-03-02 01:12
If it smells it sells.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-03-02 01:24
I would hope this is a rumor or if not, that Benny's estate thinks better of this. Kenny G wouldn't have been fit to swab Benny's horn.
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Author: Robert Small
Date: 2003-03-02 02:45
First Pops and now Benny? What's the "G" stand for anyway? Ghoul?
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2003-03-02 02:49
Is nothing sacred?
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-03-02 02:55
Ditto in triplicate, as far as I'm concerned.
Peter
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2003-03-02 03:26
At least, perhaps we'll see if Kenny G -- the world's largest selling recording artist (really) -- can play anything except lullabyes.
*<:oþ
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Author: Clarence
Date: 2003-03-02 03:45
> Kenny G wouldn't have been fit to swab Benny's horn. <
I'll have to agree with this statement. Benny would not have liked Kenny G.'s playing.
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Author: Bradley
Date: 2003-03-02 05:04
Who are we to tell? Benny might have really admired Kenny G's talent..... NOT!!!!
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Author: SJ
Date: 2003-03-02 18:02
Kenny "G"oodman.......
Post Edited (03-02-03 19:05)
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Author: Nate Zeien
Date: 2003-03-03 03:14
*sigh* Kenny G & Benny G... I'm not going to say Kenny G sucks or anything like that. He does perfectly fine at the style of music he plays. Still, I have no hesitation in admitting that I personally dislike his music. On the other hand, it shouldn't come as a huge suprise that I love Benny Goodman's clarinet playing, both classical and jazz. (I know few if any clarinetists who dislike Benny Goodman) I don't know exactly how well one could combine these two styles of playing. There's a lot of difference. I personally hope it's a rumour. Then again, I'm biased and admit it. My two cents worth. -- Nate Zeien
P.S. -- On a more humourous note, my Chemistry teacher in high school was quite into the "Mozart effect" so she played music sometimes in class. She had Kenny G and Yanni CDs that she would play, in addition to others. One day, I hid the CDs in one of the drawers in the room. Because those CDs were misplaced, we had to listen to other things more, such as a CD of Benny Goodman playing Mozart and whatnot. :-) Hiding the CDs isn't quite as mean as one might think, being as I knew full well she was going to in a month have to pull out all the drawers to do inventory. Heh heh...
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-03-03 03:19
Nate,
At this point in time, you can but hope that your chemestry teacher is not a closet clarinet player who frequents this BB under some weird pseudonym.
Stranger things have happened.
Peter
Post Edited (2003-03-03 04:32)
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-03-03 04:41
Imagine how many youngsters Kenny has inspired to play the sax.
This recording may do the same for clarinet.
Is there anything wrong with that?
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Author: msloss
Date: 2003-03-03 12:15
That A440 you hear is Benny spinning in his grave. I guess if Fred Astaire can dance with a vacuum cleaner, nothing is sacred.
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-03-03 13:20
Gordon,
This, of course, is a matter of opinion, but I see things like Kenny G (an excellent saxophonist with an awful style and crappy arrangements) playing with Benny Goodman as an impropriety. Overstepping the limits of good taste.
Like Walt Disney Production's current sequel to Jungle Book being written well more than a century after Kipling's death, or the James Bond stories written years after Ian Fleming's death. These other examples are tantamount to someone writing a new Mozart's Sonata at this late date for commercial profit.
I could almost stand Natalie Cole's singing with her father after his death, although I also thought it improper, but Kenny G's infringement on Benny Goodman's territory in this manner is an insult to me, and, apparently, to many other people as well.
Somehow it seems to contaminate my memory of Benny Goodman and is distasteful to me.
Peter
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2003-03-03 13:39
What is the legality of this sort of thing? Who "owns" those recordings? The record company? The Goodman estate? Maybe musicians will have to start stipulating in their contracts ( or wills) that people down the line will not be allowed to desecrate their recorded works.
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Author: Fred
Date: 2003-03-03 14:03
As many of you know (especially those that frequent the SOTW site), Kenny G's ability has been questioned and discussed extensively. How good is he? Frankly, I don't know . . . I've never heard him really tested. Granted, many musicians do not care for his recorded works. After all, he has the audacity to play music that sells millions of records (oops . . . CD's) and appeals to a broad audience.
While many musicians consider his music beneath consideration, many of the same people have taken playing gigs that payed the bills but did little to inspire them artistically. I don't think that is wrong; I think that is part of being an adult professional. I guess I have a problem with taking shots at a person who is wildly successful and has inspired more students to take up the saxophone than anyone in modern history. Not to mention that he breathed new life into an instrument that seemed to be fading from the scene. (I know . . . he wasn't the only one playing soprano sax, but I went through six years of public music education and six years in a university music program without ever seeing one played. That was in the 60's and 70's; now they are everywhere. Why is that?)
So I guess I appreciate Kenny G more than most posters. I'd really like to hear a CD of what the guy is capable of. Will that happen on the BG/KG recording? I don't know. But two things I'm pretty sure of:
1) It ain't going to bother Benny Goodman one bit; and
2) Benny Goodman's estate and those that hold financial interest in the music won't say no to the money it generates.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-03-03 14:47
FrankM wrote:
> Maybe
> musicians will have to start stipulating in their contracts (
> or wills) that people down the line will not be allowed to
> desecrate their recorded works.
Impossible once a copyright expires (except in England ...)
Wonder what Bach would have thought of William/Wendy Carlos' "Switched on Bach" ...
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Author: msloss
Date: 2003-03-03 15:03
Understand that the dynamics of mechanical licensing rights for recorded music are the same in this instance as in the rampant sampling that is part of the rap/house industry. It is a tried-and-accepted practice (musique concrete, Frank Zappa, etc.) of taking existing sounds and recordings and recycling the material for use in the creation of new work. You are obligated to compensate the copyright holder until said copyright lapses and the recording moves into the public domain (as per M. Charette).
If Kenny Gorelick's writer/arranger/producer was borrowing Benny Goodman's material for use as compositional elements in a new piece, I could accept that. If he is truly giving it the Natalie Cole treatment (and if I recall, he did it with a Louis Armstrong track for the Millenial new year as well) it is artistically offensive. It isn't creating new work -- it is riding the coattails of someone else's brilliance for profit. Sadly, it is entirely legal.
I'd like to think somebody with as many producing resources and dollars as Kenny G could commission some new work. For that matter, if he is that much in love with Goodman's work, he can perform his own interpretations of the Goodman book (done and done again, but if it sells...).
Gotta go. I've got a date with the Mona Lisa to spraypaint some eyebrows on her.
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2003-03-03 15:14
There will be no inspirations arising between the two performers, which is
the essence of duets. What he does is a Karaoke.
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Author: William
Date: 2003-03-03 15:18
I like Kenny's artisic scalistic tours via soprano sax (actually, I like most music if it isn't too loud and I can understand the lyrics), but 'B'enny still comes first in my musical preference alphabet. And, like Forrest Gump, "that's all I have to say about that!!"
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-03-03 15:19
Hiroshi wrote:
> What he does is a Karaoke.
Excellently put.
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Author: msloss
Date: 2003-03-03 15:21
I see a whole new market opening up. I can repackage public-domain recordings of popular work and sell it as:
"Music Plus One".
Yes, you too can skronk your way through the classics with your favorite artists. Order now. Not available in stores.
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Author: Peter
Date: 2003-03-03 16:00
Ditto Mark's comment on Hiroshi's view. That's exactly what it is, but I wouldn't have thought of it, in that respect, on my own.
What Kenny G is doing in this endeavor is amateurish and should be beneath the dignity of a musician of his supposed standing.
I, too, would have more respect for the effort if he just re-wrote Benny Goodman's book into the awful style more suited to what he does.
Peter
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Author: Todd W.
Date: 2003-03-03 17:03
Some randumb thoughts (with apologies to Synon B.):
What if turns out good?
Hiroshi hit the nail squarely on the head.
Oh boy! I can't wait for the Kenny G. and John C. sax duet album!
Todd W.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2003-03-03 21:24
I'm just thinking of the sacrilege of hundreds of thousands of less-than-perfect clarinet players playing on clarinets with prestigious names written on them - Buffet, Le Blanc, Selmer, .....
Some may even be making money by doing it!
What's that about the kettle and the pot?
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Author: Benni
Date: 2003-03-03 21:33
*screams in sheer terror*
Shh! Wait, what's that noise? Oh, I think it's just decades of real jazz musicians rolling over in their graves.
Well, if the CD actually comes into being, I guess I'll have to listen to it once just so I can give it a proper bashing on my website . . .
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-03-03 21:45
msloss- thanks for impressing us all with your knowlegde of Kenny's full name.
Kenny G plays his kind of music exremely well. If none of you like that kind of music- that is your own taste. But maybe you should all listen to the album once before slamming it?
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2003-03-03 22:38
did someone mention kenny g and dignity in the same post?
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Author: mikeW
Date: 2003-03-03 23:26
Not quite on topic, but someone mentioned Karaoke, and it occurs to me: Music used to be recorded pretty much the way it was performed with everyone playing at the same time. Sure, different parts were recorded on different channels, and could be adjusted in the mix, but there was still the communication among the musicians and some degree spontaneity as in live performance (with the safety net of a do-over if someone really screwed up.)
Nowadays, you lay down a few tracks and decide that you really could use some sax in there. So you call in a sax player and he listens to the tape and plays something that you can use (or you change your mind and leave it out).
So, issues of ownership or the significance of Goodman's (or Armstronng's or Nat Cole's) recordings aside, how is what Kenny G doing any different? And if it's not different, why aren't we railing against much of how the recording industry operates?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-03-04 00:19
mikeW wrote:
> And if it's not different, why aren't we
> railing against much of how the recording industry operates?
Or why do some of us really enjoy the Sgt. Pepper album (which, nearly 40 years ago, made some very active and artistic use of multi-track mastering, mixing, and all-around goofiness).
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Author: jbutler ★2017
Date: 2003-03-04 00:33
I suppose Kenny G has the right to cut this CD if he wants and has all the "legal" details processed. It doesn't mean that you have to buy the CD.
jbutler
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Author: jim lande
Date: 2003-03-04 05:29
>>> I guess if Fred Astaire can dance with a
vacuum cleaner, nothing is sacred.
I also thought about Fred Astair dancing with the vacuum cleaner. Only I thought maybe they could rework the commercial to fit the new version of sing sing sing and then release it as music video.
One thing for sure. Kenny G sounds better playing along with Benny than I do. But I do it anyway.
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Author: msloss
Date: 2003-03-04 13:47
Liquorice,
Exactly true -- Kenny G does play "his kind of music" extremely well. I'm not making any judgments about his core repertoire, technique, sound, etc. He puts out a product that a lot of people like. More power to him -- he's selling a lot of albums and filling a lot of halls and stadiums.
My comments have nothing to do with his talent or my taste for what he does. I am saying that Benny Goodman's albums are complete works of art that do not need a revisionist treatment. Just because Kenny G can doesn't mean Kenny G should. Imagine the outcry if Michael Jackson had decided to add his voice to the Fab 4 when he owned the Beatles catalogue.
Let us also remember that this is in the realm of conjecture right now. Nobody has cited a reliable source that such a project is underway.
Cheers,
Mark
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-03-04 13:54
I'm waiting for Kenny G, John Tesh, and Yanni to team up ... for those nights I have a hard time falling asleep.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-03-04 14:23
Actually, Kenny G's circular breathing makes me feel suffocated rather than drowsy.
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Author: Ted
Date: 2003-03-05 02:36
<<Let us also remember that this is in the realm of conjecture right now. Nobody has cited a reliable source that such a project is underway.>>
You're absolutely correct. I had the flu this weekend and was suffering from high temps. It disturbed my brain enough to start this post, just to see what the fall out and flames would be. It's actually been very polite, I'm impressed by the manners of my fellow clarinettists. If anyone has been offended by the mere thought of KG mentioned in the same sentence as BG,
my appologies. The devil made me do it, but it did help my recovery. Thanks to all. and, I hope for GOD"S sake it never happens. - Ted
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Author: Webmaster
Date: 2003-03-05 02:44
Ted wrote:
> You're absolutely correct. I had the flu this weekend and was
> suffering from high temps. It disturbed my brain enough to
> start this post, just to see what the fall out and flames would
> be.
Troll again like this and it'll be your last time here.
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Author: Ted
Date: 2003-03-05 11:24
Ted wrote:
> You're absolutely correct. I had the flu this weekend and was
> suffering from high temps. It disturbed my brain enough to
> start this post, just to see what the fall out and flames would
> be.
Troll again like this and it'll be your last time here.>>
Once again , my deepest apologies. The flu really did cloud my judgment, it wont happen again. - Ted
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Author: ken
Date: 2003-03-05 12:16
Ted wrote: "I hear that Kenny G is putting out a new remastered duet album with Benny Goodman. They will alternate call and responce sections in Sing Sing Simgand add new solo material. Sounds great. What do you all think? - Ted"
--don't flatter yourself pal, there's no less than 10 industry pros on this thread who knew you were pulling people's leg from the very start. By the way, in jazz it's called "trading 4s" NOT "alternate call and responce sections". Have another tissue. <;-)
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Author: Ted
Date: 2003-03-05 17:25
<<--don't flatter yourself pal, there's no less than 10 industry pros on this thread who knew you were pulling people's leg from the very start. By the way, in jazz it's called "trading 4s" NOT "alternate call and responce sections". Have another tissue. <;-)>>
Frankly, I expected everyone to get it from the get go. And Ken, I am a jazz player, so I tried to make it sound a hoaky as possible to reinforce the joke.
Again, I humbly apologize for any offence taken. - Ted
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Author: Stroll On
Date: 2003-03-06 20:32
Sense of humour failure? Oh dear...
I agree with Pat Metheny
Kenny's talents are too teeny
He deserves the crap he's going to get
He overdubbed himself on Louis
What a musical chop suey
Raised his head above the parapet
Well Louis Armstrong was the king
He practically invented swing
Hero of the twentieth century
He did duets with many a fella
"Fatha" Hines, Big Hoagy, Ella
Strange he never thought of Kenny G
A meeting of great minds, how nice
Like Einstein and Sporty Spice
Digitally fused in an abortion
Kenny fans will doubtless rave
While Satchmo turns inside his grave
Soprano man's bit off more than his portion
Oh brainless pentatonic riffs
Display our Kenny's arcane gifts
But we don't care, his charms are so beguiling
He does play sharp, but let's be fair
He has such lovely crinkly hair
We hardly notice, we're too busy smiling
How does he hold those notes so long?
He must be a genius. Wrong!
He just has the mindlessness to do it
He makes Britney sound like scat
If this is jazz I'll eat my hat
An idle threat, I'll never have to chew it
So next time you're in a rendezvous
And Kenny's sound comes wafting through
Don't just wince, eliminate the cause
Rip the tape right off the muzak
Pull the plug, or steal a fuse, Jack
The whole room will drown you in applause
Yes, Kenny G has gone too far
The gloves are off, it's time to spar
Grab your hunting rifle, strap your Colt on
It's open season on our Ken
But I await the moment when
We lay off him and start on Michael Bolton
....thanks to the god-like genius of Richard Thompson for the song
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