Kenny G: A Brief History Of Jazz

April 21, 2011
Kenny G

In the history of Jazz, musicians have always found ways to come up with new groundbreaking ideas that cause Jazz to evolve and ultimately increase in complexity. However, not many musicians took the simple, listener friendly approach. Kenny G was one of the few musicians who took this approach. His style has caused for much controversy between other Jazz artists, but in the end, he is still looked upon as one of the most successful Jazz musicians in the world.
Kenny G, (Kenneth Gorelick) was born on June 5 1956, in Seattle, Washington. His first encounter with a saxophone came when he heard a performance from “The Ed Sullivan Show.” His teacher was a local trumpet player named Gerald Pfister. Along with Pfister,
In general smooth jazz is down tempo, and does not require your full attention to be able to understand it. It is a genre that is “easy to listen to.” Even though Kenny G re-structured smooth jazz in the 80’s and 90’s, it can actually be traced all the way back to the 60’s. Wes Montgomery who was an innovator as well with his electric guitar recorded three records that had some smooth jazz incorporated into them including A Day in the Life and Down Here on the Ground and 1968 's Road Song. What separated these into a different category was the fact that he got away from the complex improvisation. Like Kenny, Wes found much success with this listener friendly music. Smooth jazz groups or recording artists such as Kenny G and Wes Montgomery did in his 3 records tend to play their instruments in a melodic fashion so that they are recognizable within just a few measures. Recently there has been a decline in popularity of smooth jazz. Some people believe that it is because there is a lack of new music. Also there has been a reduction in artists recording tracks, which could in a way correlate to the first factor. However Kenny G even today is still producing quality
It was called Heart and Soul, and was nominated for a Grammy award and many songs were on the Jazz billboard top 200 songs. He is currently still touring the United States and is selling out almost everywhere that he goes. This Just goes to show that if you give the people what they want and you will receive as Kenny G has.
Kenny G is currently 54 years old. He resides near Seattle currently and is married to Lyndie Benson. They have 2 children (Max 13, and Noah 9). Along with his record breaking album sales, Kenny also owns a world record. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone. He successfully held an E flat for forty five minutes and twelve seconds.
Kenny may not be the most exciting saxophone player, but he brings to the table something that many Jazz musicians rarely possess and that is the ability to appeal to the general population, and do it for as long as he has been able to do it. However, his success will always be overshadowed by the critiques that deemed him as “not a musician.” When it all comes down to it, Kenny is just like any other musician. He enjoys what he does, and as the numbers show he does it very