 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-11-30 03:38
It seems that Kenny G pocketed a quick $250,000 last weekend, but it didn't compare to the fees paid to the other "artists" who were booked to play at a 13 year old's bat mitzvah, reportedly costing $10 million dollars:
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/369994p-314735c.html
Sadly, no clarinetists were hired.
...GBK
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-11-30 04:25
I'd venture that no real saxophonists were hired either!
![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
DOH!
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Author: Bnewbs
Date: 2005-11-30 04:36
I'll say, Kenny G is a joke of a soprano player, it would'nt be worth $25 much less $250,000. And who on earth throws down that kind of money for "celebrity" musicians for a 13 yr old's party? Think of what else could have been done with that money, and I mean good causes. Even if they spent $250,000 on it, which could have hired much better musicians for the day.
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Author: Steve Epstein
Date: 2005-11-30 05:21
At least they didn't have a DJ playing the Brittany Spears stuff. ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
Steve Epstein
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-11-30 06:18
I haven't read the link but you wrote "at a 13 year old's bat mitzvah". Are you sure about that? Bat mitzva is for girls and it's when they are 12. Bar mitzva is for boys when they are 13.
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-11-30 06:32
Ooops - she was probably 12 years old. Even more unbelieveable ![[right]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie8.gif) ...GBK
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Author: allencole
Date: 2005-11-30 06:41
I feel much better about all of this knowing it was actually for a 12-year-old. Again, the best money is generally in private parties, although it looks like the horn player gets the usual short end of the stick.
I'd love to know what this Brooks guy makes for the government.
Allen Cole
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-11-30 06:45
allencole wrote:
> I'd love to know what this Brooks guy makes for the government.
http://www.dhbt.com/
...GBK
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Author: ned
Date: 2005-11-30 07:03
Gosh - what an outrage - somebody with heaps of $$$ actually employing live musicians to play! There ought to be a law against it!
How about a law against companies profiting from the sales of material to conduct wars?
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2005-11-30 10:51
Oy, Gevalt!
I can't understand setting the bar (or bat) this high for a kid... what suitor can possibly equal this largesse?
I still think kids should see their first hockey game from the top of the bleachers, not from box seats....
And still we wonder why the French hate us...
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-11-30 10:57
Synonymous Botch wrote:
> And still we wonder why the French hate us...
Yeah - we had Jerry Lewis first ... 
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Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-11-30 12:20
Synonymous Botch wrote:
> And still we wonder why the French hate us...
-----------------------------------
The question is "do we care at all about what the french can think?"
That's an unbelievable embarrassment that a family would spend money like that. The other day my 8 yr old son said to me "I want to donate my bar mitzvah money to charity like my cousin Amanda did."
Somehow I doubt that they did anything like that for their $10M shindig....
The kid will probably end up doing drugs (that's Gods way of telling somebody they make too d*mn much money as a comedian once put it)
Just read the article - my estimate on the kid's 1st in rehab center visit will be by 17.
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Author: Shorthand
Date: 2005-11-30 12:28
This is an episode out of Willy Wonka. Where are the oompa loopa's when you need them?
As for the French, its not like we really crave their approval, but at the moment anyone can understand why they might not approve, and it would be much easier to get along with them if they did.
OTOH, I sincerely hope they study our history of race relations as they work to tackle their own. As of right now, I don't think the French have much of a grip on the good the bad and the ugly of the situation.
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2005-11-30 12:38
You need to keep in their good books as you all generally use French instruments.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-11-30 12:50
Shorthand wrote:
Please, let's not wander into criticising other countries from this generally inane topic ...
As to caring what someone does with their own hard-earned money: they can throw it away for all I care. As long as I don't have to support their stupidity in their dotage.
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Author: marzi
Date: 2005-11-30 13:07
Must be oil money!!! at least some of it "trickled down" but i wonder how much the "serving people " on the bottom got..
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-11-30 13:13
For my bar mitzvah (1961) ...I took the gift money and bought a tenor sax....I still have the sax. I later played gigs on it, esp. Bar Mitzvot for folks who couldn't afford a "real" band. The drummer in our group just contacted me after many years....he is now a Rabbi.
Parents do these blow-outs for reasons other than spirituality. This ostentation is not limited to any one religious group. I suspect that if I were Christian, I would like to keep the commercialism/consumerism low-key at Christmastime , and keep the focus on the side of theology.
On Topic....what is Kenny's set up?....oh, who cares!!
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-11-30 13:44
Don't knock wealthy people spending big bucks to hire musicians! We need more of this. Remember that back in the old days, the majority of musicians were funded either by the wealthy, or by the churches (and sometimes both). Personally, I've played a fair number of bar/bat mitzvahs in the past and, as ridiculous as I find them to be, they do pay well --- this is nothing to sneeze at when you're trying to make a living (or even a partial living) performing music. In other words, don't bite the hand that feeds you.
That said --- Kenny G should have been paid about what you or I would have gotten for doing such an affair -- somewhere between $150 and $300 bucks. Though in his case I'd debit that by about $200 for his cheesy vibrato and phlegm-like tone quality, leaving.....how much? Gas money, maybe.
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Author: DressedToKill
Date: 2005-11-30 14:04
I find it interesting that musicians can be so vituperative towards other musicians who are so wildly successful.
Someone insinuated that he is not a "real" saxophonist (although it appears the person who hired him to play with Barry White when he was 17 years old disagreed)...what DOES constitute a "real" saxophonist, then, I wonder? Someone who only plays wildly improvisational jazz riffs and worships at the altar of Coltrane, or perhaps the staid classical saxophonist who sniffs at anything that isn't "L'Arlesienne" or the Debussy Rhapsody?
When one of our ranks makes it big and rakes in enormous piles of cash for spreading live instrumental music to the masses, we should be grateful to them for keeping this increasingly arts-dead society tuned in to what we all do. Maybe what they're doing with their horn isn't your particular cup of tea, but SOMEBODY likes it, and they should be commended for putting themselves out there like that.
In regard to the frivolous spending thing...who cares? It's their money, let them spend it however they want. I'm sure there are people who think that we're absolutely ridiculous for spending $400 on a silly, tiny chunk of rubber just because it's got the word "Kaspar" engraved on it, or $700 on a 4-inch long piece of wood whittled into a bell, or $4,000 for a tube of rosewood with some keys stuck on it, but WE have our reasons. So did they. I mean, I just bought a $23,400 flute. Could I have donated that money to charity? Sure I could have...I could have also bought my little sister a used BMW for her birthday last week, I could have paid my rent for the next year in advance, I could have bought decent instruments and donated them to an underpriveleged school, or tucked it away for a rainy day...but I didn't. It's MY money, I worked my tail off for it, and I wanted that flute. THESE people wanted their daughter to have a bat mitzvah she'd never forget, and so what if they also wanted to impress the hell out of their friends and colleagues? That's what money's for!
As some wise oracle once said... "Cain't we all just get along?" :-)
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Author: Ron Jr.
Date: 2005-11-30 14:07
Amazing!
The financial part of me says he can spend his money any way he wants. The ethical side of me asks: when America's position as the world leader is long gone (I venture to say that our slide has already begun and is certainly accelerating with our wartime expenditures) what great cultural, artistic, and social contributions will the United States of America be remembered for.
Certainly a 10 million dollar Bat Mitzvah is quite a cultural contribution.
And more on topic:
I think the Bat Mitzvah had a few party goers who are familiar with the general concept of what clarinets sound like.
Ron Jr.
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Author: jmsa
Date: 2005-11-30 14:34
To put it simply, this is capitalism at its best.
jmsa
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2005-11-30 14:35
Ron Jr. wrote:
> Amazing!
>
> The financial part of me says he can spend his money any way he
> wants. The ethical side of me asks: when America's position as
> the world leader is long gone (I venture to say that our slide
> has already begun and is certainly accelerating with our
> wartime expenditures) what great cultural, artistic, and social
> contributions will the United States of America be remembered
> for.
Generally individuals, organizations, and their patrons are remembered for their contributions - countries are not.
Please keep the politics out of the discussion.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-11-30 15:18
"On Topic....what is Kenny's set up?....oh, who cares!!"
But it is very important! How else would we know what setup to avoid?
I wonder how succressful will be a mouthpiece called after Kenny G. I'm guessing very.
I think spending so much money shows what the character of the person is. For example, I know some people that barely has any money at all but they buy a really nice car because they want people to see how nice their car is. I also met a very rich person who donated a lot of his money and doesn't really have anything prestige.
I remember when I was about 7 and visited our friends in the USA. We went to Toys Are Us and after we put a bunch of toys for us in the cart my mom's friend put another Lego spaceship in our cart and she intented to buyh it for me. I took it out of the cart and said we already have enough toys. She couldn't belive I did it, and probably thought it was some kind of strange dream....
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Author: clarinetwife
Date: 2005-11-30 16:36
David B -- I would like to meet your kids. I think it is important to teach kids what is important, and that more "stuff" does not equal happiness. There is no question that this family can spend the money as they see fit, and it is cool to hire musicians. But, the message this situation sends to a kid who is supposed to be thinking about how to live rightly in the future as an adult is questionable.
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2005-11-30 16:51
I once was hired to stand around and play soprano sax at a wedding reception while people entered the hall....I got $25....Kenny G must be 10,000 times better than me !
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Author: SolidRockMan
Date: 2005-11-30 17:03
I agree with DressedToKill. The musical snobbery evident in so many postings about the Kenny Gs and Acker Bilks of the world is hard to understand.
Much has been said about the plight of live music and the struggle it is to make a living - yet some who have made fortunes playing their instruments and bringing pleasure to many are constantly ridiculed because their playing is 'wrong'.....doesn't make much sense to me.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-11-30 17:25
I don't dislike Kenny G because he's rich and famous -- not at all. I dislike him because MUSICALLY I cannot stand his sound, his choice of material, his musical production, his improvisation; and I'm very disturbed that, to most Americans at least, HIS music represents JAZZ and represents SAXOPHONE PLAYING.
If you were a good chef, wouldn't you be frustrated if everyone thought that McDonald's food was the greatest? And that your restaurant MUST serve hamburger's and fries? Especially if you had worked your butt off for years developing the finest cuisine you could, and the hamburger joints were making ten thousand times the money than you were, eh?
Nobody is saying that fine art should be compensated as well as popular art -- that would be unrealistic. But you can't expect me to love popular music just because it's lucrative -- if I think something is crap, then the fact that thousands of other people like it doesn't change my mind about it being crap. I don't like Kenny G for the same reasons I didn't like the pop group Air Supply, for example (remember them?) --- syrupy, sappy pablum.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2005-11-30 18:54
Regarding extravagent expenditures, how about $10 for a four-inch long sliver of cane also known as a contrabass clarinet reed?
Regarding Kenny G., my opinion is much the same as Dave S's. Kenny G. has a great deal more technical ability on the saxophone than I'll ever have on my clarinets. And a large number of people enjoy listening to his music. But, to most of us, we don't particularly care for it because to us it sounds like schlocky, syrupy elevator music. A parallel in the visual arts would be Thomas Kinkade. The public eats up his idealized idyllic paintings, but most true art afficianados get chills down their spines when looking at them, because they too are schlocky, syrupy works that have no "edge". For this reason, in many cases, I'd prefer to listen to or look at the work of a strict amateur that's not going to send my blood glucose level sky high. So, in my case, success has nothing to do with it; their are plenty of highly successful musicians whose music I enjoy.
On the other hand, anyone who enjoys Kenny G., Acker Bilk or Thomas Kinkade has a right to. Listen and look to your heart's content, but just don't make me do the same.
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Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2005-11-30 19:42
A few years back my klezmer band was hired to play a bat mitvah at a synogue in Patomac, MD. This DC boasts many 1-7 million dollar homes and is one of the richest communities in the country. This Bat mitvah was for the daughter of the lawyer who brokered the aol-time warner merger so this guy had some bucks.
This affair was totally over the top. Everything was super expensive to include the main show of the evening. On my band's second brake, NSync, that totally manufactured boy band, was flown in from a tour to perform a half hour set, lip syncing to a cd that was pumped through this overly large sound system. The reported cost to have them appear was $500,000.
My keyboard player was in a funk the entire evening because of the treatment other musicains and staff were experiancing from the "Party planner and Nsync handlers" at the end of the night I asked, " what have we learned tonight" to which my keyboard player replied, " That I was wasted my money getting a DMA in composition when all I needed to do was 1000 sit ups and learn to sing and dance?" To which I relpied, "no, tonight we learned that Nsync will do a bat Mitvah, that they are everybit the prostitutes that we are, they just get more money for it."
In a side story, years ago when Kenny G first was on FM radio, I use to play my soprano sax on song bird as a solo on school shows with the US Army Field band. One year there was a wedding, and someone from the band recomended me to the bride. She called and said she heard me play with the Field band and thought I sounded just like Kenny G, and wondered if I could play the "Wedding song" That Kenny had released a year or 2 prior. Filled with the proper indignant artistic rage, I said sure it will cost you $1500, to which she replied with the date of the wedding and the name of the keyboard player and how much I was going to make her wedding.
So we can dish on the Kenmeister a whole bunch, I've never made so much money for transcribing 32 bars of music and playing in someone elses style in my life. I've never made that much on a klezmer gig, for a recital or in the Army. Even considering how many notes are in a typical Kenny lick that dollar to note ratio has yet to be equalled.
So long live Kenny G, I hope he has another 17million copy album full of tunes brides all over the country feel they need to hire a live musician to play. I always have a great reed on my YSS-62 and a cell phone.
Tom Puwalski, former solosist with the US Army Field Band, Clarineitst with Lox&Vodka, and Author of "The Clarinetist's Guide to Klezmer"and most recently by the order of the wizard of Oz, for supreme intelligence, a Masters in Clarinet performance
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-11-30 20:06
Hey, Tom, I've got a soprano too -- can I get paid boodles to do 32 bars of the G-man?
I was once asked to join a relatively high-paying Top-40/wedding band which played every song note-for-note like the original recordings. The condition of my employment was that I must play the various sax solos from guys like Phil Woods and Pete Christlieb (both of whom I idolize) but also Kenny G, note-for-note. I turned down the job on the basis of the latter requirement. Maybe I was a fool, but at least I can sleep at night.
On the other hand, if I were a full-time player I probably would have bitten the bullet and taken the gig. Gotta pay the rent........
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-11-30 20:30
Check out this story from today's NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/dining/30kitchen.html. Top chefs hire themselves out to cook dinner for your guests, at a modest $1,000 per person. One big banquet went for $500,000 plus travel and expenses.
Older threads on Kenny G say he's a monster jazz player. He does the circular breathing bit, holding a note for 10 minutes, because it makes him lots and lots of money.
Frankly, I hold a good-paying job I don't like much to earn the money for my music. In the long ago days of my youth in Chattanooga, every musician in town scrambled to play the Ice Follies when it came through. If Lester Lanin was brought in to play a society wedding, the local hires were overjoyed, since it paid for the long down times.
Sure it's whoring yourself out. If you want to make a living as a performing musician, you do that or starve. Everybody does it, and everybody gets used to it.
Ken Shaw
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Author: 3dogmom
Date: 2005-11-30 21:17
Gee - it must be the "Mom" in me that reacted to the choice of musicians. Did anybody ask this 13 (or 12, or whatever) year old what musicians THEY wanted? Doesn't sound like it. Sounds like a party for the parents. Tom Petty, the Eagles and Aerosmith are from my generation, not my kids'. The only person she had probably heard of was likely to have been Fifty Cent.
As far as the rest of it, let's look on the bright side and commend them for having live music. If they chose to pay those prices for it, it's their business. Ten million dollars obviously wasn't a big deal for those parents.
Sue Tansey
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Author: SolidRockMan
Date: 2005-11-30 22:33
I have no problem with people disliking Kenny G or anyone else. What gets wearing is how every time his name crops up the cheap shots start flying.
Some examples from this thread alone:-
"I'd venture that no real saxophonists were hired either"
"Kenny G is a joke of a soprano player, it would'nt be worth $25 much less $250,000"
"Kenny G should have been paid about what you or I would have gotten for doing such an affair -- somewhere between $150 and $300 bucks. Though in his case I'd debit that by about $200 for his cheesy vibrato and phlegm-like tone quality"
David Spiegelthal said:- "and I'm very disturbed that, to most Americans at least, HIS music represents JAZZ and represents SAXOPHONE PLAYING"
David you are easily disturbed! I'd say you could ask 100 people on the street any day what they think 'jazz' is and I reckon very few of them will have given it a minute's thought in their lives. I'd also venture that if you asked 100 people whether Kenny G plays a sax, a clarinet, or an oboe most wouldn't have a clue...
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Author: Shorthand
Date: 2005-11-30 23:00
Standing by in a huff will rarely if ever communicate your objections to anyone.
We're all here because we've been bitten by the music bug and enjoy it for its own sake. It makes us all sad and angry to see a great player using his or her skill for entertainment but declining to make "true art" of any kind - that is something that reveals the human condition more fully to us. However, failing to engage your audience is just a criminal IMO.
God himself makes great efforts to meet us where we are; we should do no less. (OK, so I'm not Jewish, well at least not by faith; the point still stands.)
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Author: ken
Date: 2005-12-01 00:00
The most expensive cover of "Color my World" I ever heard of. Last time I toured Europe/Scandinavia I stopped for a cold one at a typical village pub in Aalborg, Denmark. I bellied up and ordered a mug of the house draft (I don't recall the brand) about 5.00 USD and surprisingly good brew (satisfying, full-bodied Pilsner, about the quality of Molson, Moosehead, or Lowenbrau.) I took notice of three local Danes on stools next to me. They were toasting their friendship drinking Miller Lite in bottles while rolling their eyes proclaiming the superiority of American import beer. One raised his bottle and trumpeted, "12.00 USD is surely worth the price!"
After picking up my partial from off the floor, I shook my head in pity but soon realized it was not only a matter of personal experience but of preference rooted in marketing and product identification. These dudes wanted to drink American beer as it was American and it tasted better because of it. Similarly, I was reminded how we clarinetists tout our brand loyalty of Buffets, Selmers, Leblancs, Eatons, Wulitzers, etc.
Comparatively, Kenny G (to me) is the Miller or Coors (okay, Blatz and PBRs) of light, commercial music … the ABC Lounge of serious jazz (and, if you have to ask what "serious jazz" is you answered your own question.) But I say, god speed to the man; let him enjoy the niche he's so dutifully carved and stuff his bank box to the brim. As well, I give him all the credit in the world sticking with the business all these years and having the staying power to perform and record the total crap he does. There's a market for it, and there's money to be made so it's legitimate. I've been there in my own diminutive circles and can attest; it takes more character, musical integrity and core professionalism to endure playing/performing music you can't stand or sick of, and still earn a living then playing only music out of principle and not make a dime. I venture, Mr. G is quite aware of his dubious reputation and relentless scorn and panning among industry elites. He's a good businessman to ignore it, and certainly his own affair, but if he really was that great a jazz improviser and cared one iota, he could handily silence his detractors with one easily banged-out CD. Or is it out there already? An offering of this depth may yet be on the horizon; hey, if Rod Stewart can show the guts and moxie to "buzz saw" his way through two wretched CDs of American jazz standards Kenny can't be far behind.
It's no big deal: I come to "expect" Kenny's golden tones when riding elevators, digging though a department store bargain bin, matching pitch to the faint whine of a dentist drill or the duet of Metro rail screeching breaks; all in good fun. v/r ken
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-01 01:38
Kenny G's better half perhaps??
see jpg next reply:
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
Post Edited (2005-12-01 01:54)
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-01 01:55
Attachment: plumbing.jpg (147k)
Here.
trying again
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-12-01 04:23
SolidRockMan,
I realize this isn't supposed to be a G-bashing thread, but I'd like to defend myself a bit against your remarks. If you had any idea how many people have said to me over the years, "yeah, I love jazz, Kenny G is my favorite" or "I love the sax, Kenny G is my favorite" --- you'd understand what I meant. I can't speak for anywhere but my little corner of the world (the Washington, DC area) but around here, the average person has zero awareness of actual jazz or real classical music -- talk to people around here, play gigs (what few are left), and you'd discover this. There is only one classical music station left, and they play Top-40 classical -- Mozart and Vivaldi, day in and day out, round the clock. No full-time jazz stations left -- none, zero. People around here are too busy fighting the horrible traffic, getting to their Beltway Bandit jobs milking the Government, to care about music. It doesn't enter their lives at all, EXCEPT for the Kenny G crap they play at the Wal-Mart and in the supermarket.
In the words of Dave Barry, "I'm not making this up". It really is that bad in DC. So the closest most people come to jazz around here is your best friend the G-Man. If I'm overreacting, so be it --- I am fed up. And no, G is not a great improviser --- I've heard some of his attempts at jazz, and they're pretty mediocre -- not bad, but not good.
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2005-12-01 04:36
Spiegelthal,
I live in the same town as you, and i hear jazz all the time. Take a drive to "an Die Musik" on charles st. in baltimore. I just heard Rosco Mitchell there, and it was only a 45 minute ride. Mitchell couldn't be more different than Old Gorlick (Yeah, Kenny's real name). An Die Musik has a lot of really great live music, reasonable prices, and you can head up charles street to the Brewer's Art and drink some yummy belgian ale, all the while checking out the Balti-morons. I also heard the real Kenny G, Mr Kenny Garrett on Wisc. Ave, Blues alley. So i don't know what ur talking about when you say there is no real jazz up in here. Also, if you just tune your radio to 91.5 FM you will here one of the best classical music stations in the country, and its range probably extends all through maryland, and i know it still works when i hit the beltway in springfield, VA.
You want to here some real jazz, come over my apartment, I'll play you some.
Best
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-12-01 05:29
Maybe he's not what we call "ideal", but he's the sound that people want today. Much like other things have changed over time due to people's tastes (everything from the current pitch of our instruments, now A=440), he has changed with the times. There was a time for disco, a time for hair bands, a time for big band jazz, and now, whether he has conformed to it or not, it's a time for kenny G style sax playing. I don't see why bashing is necessary. He probably pays his bills pretty damned well. And if you don't feel comfortable playing that way, just don't do it!
As for me, I find nothing wrong with the way he plays. It's different than the jazz I normally listen to. That's for sure. If I had a choice to be able to play like him or not, I'd probably choose not to play like him. But I certainly applaud him for selling his stuff.
And he's doing what he wants to do. If he didn't WANT to play that way, all he has to do is stop. I only WISH I could get paid that much for doing what I wanted to do, my way. So the next time someone wants to pay $250,000 to watch a mediocre (at best) mountain biker struggle his way through an difficult trail, someone shoot me an email. I won't even ask for traveling expenses!
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Shorthand
Date: 2005-12-01 06:04
Jazz is a real challenge to listen to.
I think you almost have to be a musician on some level as it requires active listening of the same type that one uses while playing in an ensemble. To enjoy jazz to its fullest, you really almost have to imagine yourself playing it.
It requires effort for me and my friends, who have of similar musical talent. I dare say its beyond most people. When jazz began, many people were serious musicians on some level as it emerged with the advent of recorded music.
I don't know where its going, though. Most stats show that the Gen X'ers watch much less TV and are more involved in their music than the Baby Boomers, for sure, but I haven't seen anyone with a seriously deep relationship with Jazz since I was hanging around the school of music in college. I wouldn't say I have one - it takes a lot of time, effort and commitment.
However, I made sure to get the one Kenny G CD that was in the house out discretely as fast as I could.
For right now, though, I'd say less is more. Look at Morphine - though their sax player (Dana Colley) is clearly very, very good, the fact of the matter is that they achieved great levels of expression with a slide bass guitar, bari sax, vocals, and drums - 3 guys and all that music.
If we want to make Jazz or Classical more accessible, I really think that's the way forward for the moment - boil down what we've learned in the 20th century and create a foundation for more intricate forms in the future as audiences become more involved.
I actually think Peter Schickele's serious works are a good example, they are as clear and transparent as we wish our government was, but that's another discussion except that Kenny G's work is also clear and transparent - if only there were something worth seeing!
FYA along these lines: http://www.schickele.com/cgi-bin/playlist.pl
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2005-12-01 06:41
Kenny G's music is not jazz, it is pop music.
For the person who mentioned Kenny G's impressive circular breathing (I can't find the exact post now), there are many people doing it at least as good if not better, and more importantly use it in a way to contribute the music (for example the solo soprano saxophone CD I have, with a 23 minutes piece without stopping once).
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Author: allencole
Date: 2005-12-01 07:30
Kenny G. and Richard Stoltzman remain the most controversial figures here on this BB. Massive threads always guaranteed. I think that they should make a CD together and call it the "Sneezy Variations" or something similar.
For those who don't like Kenny, let's remember that he made only $250,000 where we see another band at this shindig get 2 mil, and Nsync get $500,000 for a half-set (at another event). That should certainly put him in his place. <g>
But I do think that many of us do owe Kenny a debt of gratitude for helping to make sure that there is some instrumental pop music. You don't have to call it "jazz"--that's what sets people off. Call it 'easy listening' and I think that most tempers should cool down.
I owe Kenny for one of my biggest audiences ever. The manager of our local minor league baseball team decided to get married during a pregame a few years ago, and I was hired to play "Forever in Love" on my trusty soprano as the bride marched out to the mound. You haven't lived until you've played your horn into the PA system at a baseball diamond with nearly a second of delay until your sound comes blasting out of the speakers!
Thanks Kenny!
Thanks for the link, GBK. According to the website, Brooks just sold $10.1 million worth of stuff to the Army---perfect timing, I'd say. I think I'll send him a list of Kenny G. songs I know, in case he throws another party.
Allen Cole
Post Edited (2005-12-01 07:35)
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Author: Markael
Date: 2005-12-01 12:05
Good radio is getting more rare and it isn't always found in the largest markets. It does exist, though, and web streaming has made it more accessible.
For alternative music in all genres, check out WTJU. http://wtju.net/
Wynton Marsalis quit doing circular breathing because people were more interested in the technique than in the music.
Post Edited (2005-12-01 12:09)
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-01 13:53
http://www.wduq.org/prog/default1.html#saturday
WDUQ Pittsburgh
Has streaming audio.
Link above is for that treasure M. McPortland's Piano Jazz show.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2005-12-01 14:32
It's hard to listen to streaming audio in my car while I'm driving to work -- which is about the only time I have to listen to music. So I guess I have to buy Sirius or XM service and equipment in order to hear actual jazz or classical music in my automobile?
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2005-12-01 14:50
It is an NPR station and some of the licks are syndicated.
They also carry Cahhr Tawk from Bahston.
Former creator of CUSTOM CLARINET TUNING BARRELS by DR. ALLAN SEGAL
-Where the Sound Matters Most(tm)-
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Author: Markael
Date: 2005-12-01 15:21
David's dilemma is not to be minimized.
Good music of all types is not hard to find these days. With just a few clicks of a mouse, you can, for instance, order CDs on the internet that just a few years ago would have been practically impossible to locate.
But--unless you have some means of being exposed to the "good stuff," there is no easy way to review it and know exactly what it is that you like. Busy people who have a life need a good radio station to present a variety of music.
It's a bit paradoxical that we like to hear 1) the familiar, 2) something different. Often it is necessary hear a piece of music, or perhaps a particular genre or style, several times before learning to like it. On the other hand, even a great song like "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" becomes tiresome when it repeats constantly. It is that mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar that keeps things interesting.
And our tastes are influenced by what we hear. Being a musician, I consider myself to be a discerning listener. But I, too, need a certain amount of airplay to remind me of some of the music that is out there. The phrase "out of sight, out of mind" applies to the ears as well.
If that is true of us as musicans, it is true in spades for people who may like music but keep it further from the center of their interests.
Those who made posts bashing Kenny G don't really hate him; he is a lightning rod for the frustration that public taste is so easily manipulated.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-12-01 17:19
Sirius has 3 classical channels, Symphony Hall, Classical Voices and Sirius Pops. They do, however, carry Performance Today. Their writers, at least, don't know much. See http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/Page&c=Channel&cid=1104779639987&s=prog, where, on 12/3, they say they will broadcast Beethoven's "rarely performed Piano Concerto No. 6." I'd say such performances are perhaps something more than merely "rare."
XM has the same 3 channels, called Classics, Vox and Pops, but I've read that they have a broader variety. Perhaps someone who has tried Sirius or XM can tell us more.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2005-12-01 20:46
Another alternative to listening to good music in your car (other than a CD or tape player) is to get an iPod and load it with the music you want, either from your CD collection or legally downloaded music, and one of the devices available for listening to the iPod through your car's stereo. Some are FM transmitters, but I understand the sound quality is much better if you use one that directly connects to your stereo, such as those made by Dension. This will also provide you with the opportunity to download free music podcasts and play those in your car as well. A lot of NPR programs are available as free podcasts.
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Author: Bob A
Date: 2005-12-02 02:31
"This ostentation is not limited to any one religious group. I suspect that if I were Christian, I would like to keep the commercialism/consumerism low-key at Christmastime , and keep the focus on the side of theology."
Jesus IS the reason for the season---But Oh How I wish It Were True.
Bob A
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2005-12-02 03:04
I actually employ all of Don's ideas directly above. I bought an iPod, connected it to directly to my stereo with a cable bought from Crutchfeld, and use it to play my CDs (converted to AAC through my computer), various itunes downloads, and subscribed to Naxos podcasts (heard some very interesting ones, such as Stravinsky's Firebird).
And I'll tell ya.
I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!! (While listening to music in the car anyway . . . )
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Shorthand
Date: 2005-12-02 04:57
I'd have to agree, iPod integration in the car is going to be much more flexible (and cost effective in the long run) than satellite radio. Welcome to postmodernity, folks!
I haven't made the leap, but I don't have big commutes and we have a 1st rate classical station here that dares to play the odd and exploratory.
Depending on the car, though, it can be an electronics challenge which means either you have an EE degree or you pay money to the pros to do it right.
It can be done with any car for some price, and the VAST majority can keep the factory head unit (though that may not be the most cost-effective way to go in many cases).
The dominant cost we pay for music is increasingly becoming the search cost (the time we spend looking for good new stuff). It used to be that the recording establishment did this for us (and we were fat and happy and didn't know better), but now we're left to search for ourselves. Reading reviews takes as long as hearing the music.
[ We've reached the end on this thread. It is now closed - GBK ]
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The Clarinet Pages
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