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♪ (THEME MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Kenny G is the best-selling instrumentalist of all time.
He's probably the most famous living jazz musician.
And I made this film to find out
why that makes certain people really angry.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
PENNY LANE: How are you feeling?
Um...
Underappreciated in general.
-(PENNY LAUGHING) -But other than that I'm fine.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
KENNY G: I never get to go anywhere without playing the sax.
Honestly if I get invited to a party,
it's only because they want me to play.
So I'm never really invited anywhere
-just because of me. -PENNY: I disbelieve that...
It's like, "You're gonna play, aren't you?"
-...I don't believe that at all. -Oh. It's 100 percent true.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
KENNY G: I think people
don't know me very well, because it's a...
You know, they know my music. They don't really know me.
I'm not a-- I don't think I'm a personality to people.
I think I'm a sound.
♪ (UPBEAT SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
-♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES STOP) ♪ -I almost had it. Shit.
(BLOWS)
I think you got enough of this backstage right now.
Don't you think? Yeah.
Thanks, guys.
TECH: Stand by for house lights.
Ready?
(CROWD CHEERS, APPLAUDS)
(APPLAUSE CONTINUES)
PENNY: We're gonna start by listening to some Kenny songs.
-(CHUCKLES) -PENNY: Um, you can talk as much as you want,
or just listen, it's totally up to you.
♪ ("SONGBIRD" PLAYING) ♪
♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪
PENNY: Do you remember the first time you heard this song?
No.
Absolutely not.
♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪
When you first called me and said,
"I'm doing a Kenny G documentary,"
I had to think about my own relationship
to Kenny G and to his music,
um, 'cause I don't know anyone out there
who's like a Kenny G scholar per se.
Um, so I had to really think about, like,
what is my intellectual... (CHUCKLES)
...artistic relationship to Kenny G's music?
He's just sort of part of the musical furniture
of American culture since the late '80s.
♪ ("SILHOUETTE" PLAYING) ♪
BEN RATLIFF: I'm sure I heard a lot of Kenny G
while waiting for something.
At a dentist's office, for example, or in a bank.
And so, I think I associated his music
with a corporate attempt to soothe my nerves.
And I didn't like that. You know, I don't like that.
(CHUCKLES)
No, I'm being treated like an ant or something.
♪ ("FOREVER IN LOVE" PLAYING) ♪
It feels like he's pouring a sidewalk,
and the music is just, like, layered in there,
and it's just this thin, and it's shiny.
He makes "nice" music for nice people,
and I don't suppose I should begrudge anybody
coming home from their job and relaxing to that.
What it makes me feel is that it's just wallpaper.
I don't know, I just want to believe I'm better than that.
I get a little knotted up and confused when--
If I have to talk about Kenny G.
With Kenny G's music, what can you say?
I don't know. What can you say?
Want me to sit in this chair and you can check it out with--?
-PENNY: Yeah, check it out. -With the real vibe here?
Um...
Sweater on this, over this, would you like better,
or do you just like this shirt?
-PENNY: I love that shirt. -Great then.
PENNY: Um, so my first question for you is,
what do you love about music?
What do I love about music?
I don't know if I love music that much.
I do...
What do I love about music?
I guess, for me, when I listen to music,
I think about the musicians.
And I just think about what it takes to make that music
and how much they had to practice,
and how good they had to be.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
KENNY G: I practice every day, three hours every day.
Could I practice two? Probably.
Could I practice five? Probably.
See? I get more excited about that.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
That's a hard lick. I just played it really well.
I don't think there's anything wrong with hard work,
practice, preparation,
and... not "perfection,"
but at least trying, striving for it.
Trying your best to strive for that.
I don't think anybody can say
there's anything wrong with that.
That can't be wrong.
I think that's why my career's lasted this long.
I'm hoping so,
because that way I'll continue to do it.
Put your hands together for Kenny G.
(CROWD CHEERING)
♪ (MELODIC SAXOPHONE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JASON KING: The 1980s and 1990s represented a peak moment
for a kind of mass monoculture.
There was an attempt
to try to sell artists, superstar artists,
to the widest possible audience,
and Kenny G is one of those artists.
PAT PRESCOTT: He was this white boy with the naturally curly hair,
you know, who looked very ordinary.
Almost a little nerdy, even.
But he had such a beautiful tone on the saxophone,
and captured the imagination of people.
Play that funky music, white boy.
♪ (JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
WILL SMITH: He's one of the very few jazz artists
to move from the jazz to the pop charts.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the number-one-selling instrumentalist of all time,
Kenny G!
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
Are you sure this is right?
Are you positive?
CHRIS WASHBURNE: The fact of the matter is,
Kenny G, in the 1990s,
was one of the most well-known musicians on this planet.
TV HOST: How does it feel knowing that
you are the favorite musician of President Bill Clinton?
-Well, what can I say? -TV HOST: I know.
I mean, I'm flattered that anybody likes my music.
CHRIS: If you'd ask people,
"Name one jazz musician,"
it's not gonna be Miles Davis or John Coltrane.
Many times, it's Kenny G.
REPORTER: Billboard Magazine's Jazz Artist of the Decade.
-That's amazing. -Amazing.
What do you think about that?
Because you were an accounting major in college.
TV HOST 2: I would like you to demonstrate
the circle breathing technique that you have patented.
Could you describe it and then do it?
Well, I don't know if it's my patent, but...
it's basically--
TV HOST 2: You don't breathe, is basically it.
KENNY G: You breathe while you play at the same time.
♪ (HOLDING SINGLE NOTE) ♪
And a new honor today for sax superstar Kenny G.
He's made it into the Guinness Book of World Records
for holding the longest sustained note ever.
♪ (LOW QUIET NOTE PLAYS) ♪
Forty-five minutes, forty-seven seconds.
Now, that undoubtedly is a new world record.
-Congratulations. -Thank you. Thanks.
PAT: Such an interesting person,
because at the same time that he is one of the most
loved characters in jazz,
he is also one of the most hated people.
And I won't say-- I can't-- I shouldn't say "hated."
Kenny G has a Christmas album out this year.
Hey, happy birthday, Jesus. Hope you like crap.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS, APPLAUDS)
I remember hearing those songs,
and I also remember that the...
denigration when it came after Kenny G
that was, you know, really, like, over the top.
♪ (OUT OF TUNE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
-No! -No!
-Kenny G? -♪ (SAXOPHONE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
And I don't remember exactly
what my reaction to it at the time was.
I mean, I myself, might have like,
joined in with... (CHUCKLES) ...with the choir.
♪ ("SONGBIRD" PLAYS) ♪
JOHN HALLE: Even today you can go on the Internet
and just google "Kenny G,"
and find all sorts of abuse.
♪ (KENNY G SONG PLAYS) ♪
-We going all night with this one! -(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
I don't-- I don't care for Kenny G. I'm not into it.
I don't like all that...
(IMITATES SAXOPHONE)
-NEWS ANCHOR 1: Oh, It's awful, that's awful. -(NEWS ANCHOR 2 LAUGHS)
NEWS ANCHOR 3: Some people might think this is easy listening.
-It's "Songbird." It's my-- It's ringtone. -(NEWS ANCHORS LAUGH)
NEWS ANCHOR 4: There's nothing easy about this.
Oh, I was about to pick up my phone.
I thought suddenly it was KG calling.
-Make it stop, Mel, please! -(NEWS ANCHORS LAUGH)
KENNY G: When you hear that word, "easy listening,"
it almost sounds bad like...
Well, I don't see anything wrong
with something that's easy to listen to.
But, that said, I'm not writing music
so it's easy to listen to.
I'm writing music that just appeals to me.
These are songs from my heart. This is the way I just hear it.
The fact that what appeals to me also appeals to other people...
that's the beautiful thing.
Most of the music critics are not kind to me,
because most of the music critics
aren't happy with my style of jazz.
They think I've decided to play these kind of songs
because I knew they would sell well
and I could get rich and famous.
If only I was that smart.
(PLANE ENGINE WHIRRING)
KENNY G: And we are now...
Now we're flying.
-(PENNY CHEERS) -How about that.
That is pretty cool.
I'm gonna make this flight, you know, stellar.
And I feel the same way when I do a concert.
It's like, when I get on stage, I don't want it to be just okay.
"Yeah, he did all right."
No, it's gonna be my fricking best.
And it's gonna be, like, not just my best,
it's gonna be the best.
And now you can see downtown Seattle from here.
Never thought I'd be flying my own plane
over my old high school, that's for sure.
KENNY G: See, I just think, walking in with the sax is--
It's-- It's more iconic.
PENNY: Okay, fine, do it with the sax.
KENNY G: I don't think I ever came in this way.
The band room is on the other side of the school.
I would come in that way every morning,
'cause we started at 7:00,
and school didn't open till 8:00.
Hey!
-This is the principal. -Yes, right.
You know, here's what's weird.
I'm older than the principal.
-(KENNY G LAUGHING) -PRINCIPAL: Yeah, well, I'd love
to get you to sign the wall here.
-We've got the signature wall. -KENNY G: Hey. It'd be my pleasure.
I've got to think of something inspirational.
PRINCIPAL: An inspirational note, if you can.
-Not to put you on the spot. -No, no, it's just--
PRINCIPAL: But we'd love to...
KENNY G: I want-- Now this is a lot of pressure
to put the right words down, okay?
'Cause you know how long it takes me to make a record.
Okay, I got to think of something. Gosh.
-This is hard! -(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
Um...
(CLICKS TONGUE)
Hmm.
Let me see, I got to picture what it's gonna look like.
KENNY G: Okay. Uh... (CLICKS TONGUE)
Okay, here we go. You ready? Okay.
Yeah, I like that. I think that's good.
-That okay? -PRINCIPAL: That's awesome.
-That's really cool. -Whew! Oh, my God.
Okay, Drew, that was a lot of pressure.
Thanks for allowing me to do that.
PRINCIPAL: Of course, it's a beautiful message, thank you.
That's really... I'm honored.
I really am, I'm really honored to be on that wall.
It means a lot. It really does.
KENNY G: Yeah, look at that. There I am on the stairs.
♪ (SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Unofficially, Seattle is considered
to be the jazz capital of the northwest.
Officially, the Franklin High School Jazz Lab
is the grand champion of high school bands
for the west coast.
This 18-piece ensemble has pushed itself
to an incredible list of achievements.
This is the Franklin Jazz Lab.
♪ (UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
KENNY G: The Jazz Lab. Loved it, just loved it.
And we had a composer in residence.
This guy, Jim Gardiner.
And all the guys in the band,
we all really loved Jim Gardiner.
When you're teaching somebody,
you really don't know if you're gonna be
affecting them, that makes them do something
for the rest of their life.
Kenny was quiet, shy,
and very, very smart.
He didn't have any girlfriends.
The only girlfriend he had was that new soprano sax.
♪ (UPBEAT SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
JAMES GARDINER: Kenny was an incredible reader.
I mean, read anything.
So I would write some stuff out for him freehand,
and I'd pass it to him.
Then all of a sudden... (IMITATES SAX NOTES)
And he played, these sight reads and stuff.
I said, "Okay, okay, so let's move this up a notch."
♪ ("UNTIL IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GO" PLAYING) ♪
There was an artist by the name of Grover Washington.
And I had gotten the album,
and I brought the album to school
and I gave it to Kenny and said, you know,
"I think that you should check this out."
KENNY G: And that was what really got me going,
'cause his sound was so beautiful to me.
And I said, "I'm gonna sound just like him."
"That's my sound."
♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪
KENNY G: Every night, I'd put on Inner City Blues
and I would go to sleep to that record.
Every night, probably for at least two and a half years
of my high school life.
So, I tried to become the white Grover Washington, Jr.
And I tried really hard.
♪ (UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
But every time I played my saxophone,
it just sounded like me, it didn't sound like him.
And I was so frustrated.
But, in the long run,
it's good to have your own sound.
The very good kids,
I would invite them to sit in,
you know, with my professional band.
And we had a concert at the Opera House.
So, I said to Kenny, "You get to have a solo at this gig."
Kenny walks out in front of the audience.
He's supposed to do a cadenza, like... (IMITATES SAX NOTES)
You know, with the stuff you hear him doing today, right?
So instead of doing that, Kenny decides to hold a note.
♪ (SUSTAINED SAX NOTE PLAYING) ♪
Not just a note.
I mean, he took Mother Earth and was holding a note.
And he's holding a note for ten minutes.
(IMITATES SUSTAINED SAX NOTE)
I looked over my shoulder, imagine Kenny's playing over here.
And all of a sudden, a light is shining on this kid.
I'm going-- And a big old light. Whoo!
I'm going, "What the hell?" and stuff.
You know, and all of sudden he holds that--
Standing ovation.
-Whoo! My God. -(AUDIENCE CHEERING FAINTLY)
And that was, at that particular moment,
when the gates of heaven opened up
and gave Kenny the other elements
that he was searching for,
which is his soul with his instrument.
That was the moment
little Kenny Gorelick became the G-Man.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
♪ (SOFT PIANO MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
♪ (SENTIMENTAL NOTES PLAY) ♪
(AUDIENCE CHEERS, APPLAUDS)
(EMERGENCY SIREN BLARING IN DISTANCE)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
FAN: I have Alexa in my house,
and every morning I wake up at about 7:00.
And before I make my coffee,
I always ask Alexa to play Kenny G.
It just, like, makes me feel, you know, calm.
You know? It calms me out, you know?
I had a big crush on him since I was 12,
and my dad introduced me to him.
-It's from our childhood. -Yeah.
Our parents listened to Kenny G.
And I don't know how we ended up finding the tickets,
but we're like, "Oh, shit, do you want to go?"
-Yes, we do. Yes. -(CHUCKLES)
(IN SPANISH)
He makes playing an instrument really cool,
so growing up, when we were forced to play instruments
and, you know, it wasn't the coolest thing to do.
He made it cool.
-There's no one like him. -We love the show.
I've been listening to him since I was a baby.
Thirty-five years, because of her.
Yes.
It always makes me angry that people, you know,
sometimes mock him, sort of,
because, you know, they call it easy listening.
But he's a really serious, excellent musician.
-I mean, they wish they'd have the success that he has... -Yeah, right.
-Right exactly. -...in terms of instrumental records.
Right, isn't he the world's leading...?
Instrumental artist, I'm pretty sure, so...
Kenny's got a wide range of styles.
He plays everything.
Salsa, jazz, he plays everything.
Pop. He's the number one instrumentalist in the world.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
♪ (MELODIC SAXOPHONE MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
-♪ (MUSIC STOPS) ♪ -KENNY G: So, I'll do the same thing again.
One thing that's interesting is that
when people hear me play live,
they're usually hearing it
through a microphone and speakers.
But here in the studio,
if I were to record my saxophone,
you would hear it sounding like this in the room,
and then I'll turn it on and see what it really sounds like.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
Sounds pretty nice, but when we actually hear
what it will sound like on the recording,
it adds all the beauty, and I'll show you what we do.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
So that sounds all so beautiful.
Usually the same three or four reverbs in combination...
-KENNY G: Yeah. -...to make the whole sound.
Without being egotistical and no conceit here,
when I hear my sax recorded,
like when I give it my stamp of approval,
I sit back and go, "That's fucking beautiful."
I just say it.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
Cool.
I can just select this note right here...
right there.
If I press record,
I will go in at the beginning of that note,
out to the end of that note.
So let's hear how it sounds now.
♪ (MELODIC SAXOPHONE MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
I'm going to record myself playing that note again.
So watch this.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
Now let's see what it sounds like.
You can see how seamless this recording is.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS) ♪
You can't tell that there's even an edit in there.
Perfect. Okay, so, how many edits are there?
Well, let's see. There's an edit.
There's one right there. There's one right there.
There's another right there. There's one right there.
This section right here was an edit.
This little part of this note was.
This section was an edit.
-PENNY: That's part of a note? -Part of a note, right there.
I mean, it may look like it's sterile,
the way we do it, but it's not.
It's actually-- It's from here.
It's like, "Why doesn't that sound right to me?"
"Hmm, it's just that one note."
So when you fix that one note,
you're not making like a laboratory thing,
and it doesn't take away the feeling.
It adds to it. That's how I do it.
Some people just wanna do a take from start to finish,
and they believe that a live take is the way to go.
For me...
it's-- I'm gonna hear it forever.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
This album we've been working on about two years now.
The album is called New Standards
because I like old jazz standards.
And these standards have been played so many times.
So, I don't want to do an album of those standards.
I want to do an album that sounds like
I'm doing those standards, but they're my new creations.
So it's called New Standards.
This is the inspiration, right?
Because there's Charlie Parker, that's Dizzy Gillespie.
I'm pretty sure that is Dexter Gordon.
And then, this keyboard player,
gosh, I'm not 100 percent sure who that is.
-PRODUCER: It's Monk with the hat. -It is Monk!
-Yes. (CHUCKLES)
Perfect. That's great.
This is the paradox of Kenny G's musical world.
It does come from a tradition.
♪ (TRADITIONAL JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
And yet, Kenny G's music
seems to want to have nothing to do with a past.
♪ (SMOOTH JAZZ PLAYING) ♪
Jazz has been a chronological development.
And each stage of its development
has built on what went before.
♪ (UPBEAT JAZZ PLAYING) ♪
BEN: What is jazz?
Well, it's a music that has this element
and that element. Sure, fine.
♪ (TRUMPET SOLO PLAYS) ♪
BEN: But also, way up on the list of things
that are central to jazz is the fact
that it's a hundred-year continuity.
♪ (JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
People playing jazz currently
are always in a kind of dialogue
with people who played jazz 50 years ago or whatever.
In the music of Kenny G,
that continuity... is absent.
I'm from Seattle, and I live in a musical vacuum.
I don't really listen to much music, I don't read the paper,
I don't read magazines, I don't watch the news.
So I don't really know what's happening.
INTERVIEWER: Are you influenced by the great saxophonists of the--
You know, we've had so many.
I think I would say I was influenced--
-Or is that more of a jazz...? -Well, it's real jazz sound,
but it's the technique of it.
The John Coltrane and the Charlie Parker,
I mean, their technique was phenomenal.
But that music was never heartfelt for me,
so when I went out and gigged,
it wasn't anything that I wanted to emulate.
You know, Kenny G is playing music
that is sort of related to jazz but isn't jazz.
Jazz is a very complicated art form,
and to master bebop harmony,
and let's not even go into what that is.
I mean, it's really like getting-- it's like getting
a PhD in mathematics, in a lot of ways.
It is not the same as just picking up your horn
and playing what you feel.
♪ (UPBEAT JAZZ PLAYING) ♪
Part of what makes jazz interesting
is this sense of call and response
and dialogue among the musicians.
And what you hear in Kenny G's music
is no conversation at all.
This is a solo project.
This is not sex. This is masturbation.
♪ (SAXOPHONE PLAYING) ♪
CHRIS: The model that he's using is not a jazz model
where everybody gets to have a kind of an equal voice
within the jazz unit.
It's much more of a pop act, where he is the star.
KENNY G: Somebody asked me, "What kind of music do you do?"
"Uh, I play sax." "Well, what kind?"
"It's instrumental music." "Well, is it jazz?"
I don't know. You might think it might be jazz.
"Well, is it pop?" I don't know.
You might think it might be pop.
Those labels are tricky.
I mean, my songs were played on pop radio.
They were played on jazz radio. They were played on R&B radio.
Am I an R&B artist?
Am I a pop artist? Am I a jazz artist?
I think maybe the answer is yes, just to everything.
Now that we're taking a break, tell me, how is it going?
PENNY: It's going great!
I mean, seriously, are you getting what you want?
-Yes! -Am I talking too long?
-No! -Am I animated enough?
Am I too animated?
That's my problem, is that I always wanna be too good
-at everything, and so-- -I think you're doing great.
I want to be the best. See, my problem is,
I wanna be the best interview you've ever had.
And if that means sitting here for 12 hours
and not eating or drinking,
I'll do it. That's my problem.
So I would give you whatever you want,
-as long as you want. -We're doing great.
Okay, good.
KENNY G: There's a picture of me as a baby, this one, up there.
That's me as a little baby.
I was a very happy baby.
I've been a happy kid my whole life.
I really have.
I might worry, or we call it kvetching.
You know, it's a Jewish word called kvetching.
It's like, okay, you might be kind of complaining
about this and that, but it doesn't last,
it just kind of... (WHISTLES) ...and I'm back to normal.
Oh, there's my grandpa. Lived to 103.
And he was always happy. Never complained.
Like my father, my father never complains either.
And my dad now is 98.
My dad started off as a plumber,
and then he created a wholesale company for plumbing,
hardware stuff called Thrifty Supply Company.
It was always kind of expected
that I would end up working at Thrifty Supply.
I graduated from college, and we had a talk.
And I said, "Dad, listen...
I've done a bunch of gigs."
♪ ("SOMEBODY'S GONNA BURN YA" BY COLD, BOLD & TOGETHER PLAYING) ♪
I played for different people that would come to town.
Like, Sammy Davis Jr.
So, I played with Sammy Davis Jr.
Liberace. I played with Liberace.
The Ringling Bros. Circus would come to Seattle,
I'm in the Ringling Bros. Circus band.
I'm also with an R&B band, Cold, Bold & Together.
So I'm becoming well known in Seattle
as a guy that can play.
"Dad, I'd really like to give this a couple more years."
"And if nothing works out, I'll come to Thrifty."
He says, "No problem." I said, "Great."
One, two, three.
♪ (UPBEAT SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
In Portland, Oregon,
this guy named Jeff Lorber is putting together his band.
So I drive down, audition,
I get the gig,
and now I'm playing with Jeff Lorber.
♪ (SAXOPHONE SOLO PLAYING) ♪
Jeff Lorber's record company, Arista Records,
and the big man there, Clive Davis,
would come down to see Jeff Lorber play.
So Clive Davis saw me play many times.
And after five years
and watching the audience react to my playing,
which was positive,
he said to me one day,
"Would you like to have your own record deal?"
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
NARRATOR: The resident genius of Arista Records,
Mr. Clive Davis.
REPORTER: Davis's track record of success began in 1967.
Back then as president of CBS Records,
he sensed a revolution in music
and signed up artists such as Santana, Janis Joplin,
Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Chicago.
CLIVE DAVIS: I went to see a tour performance
of the Jeff Lorber group. And...
there was Kenny, standing up and doing his magic.
I was very impressed.
He had a very natural gift of relating to the audience.
♪ (FAST SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
KENNY G: Clive Davis, he's just a music man.
It's a puzzle, I think, to him.
He puts pieces together.
He sees it
and he can put it together. Like he's-- for example,
he would find a Whitney Houston
and then he would think,
"Who should write the songs for her?"
And then he puts the people together,
and then he puts the producers together,
and they come out with this record.
And, of course, she becomes an international superstar.
♪ ("SAVING ALL MY LOVE FOR YOU" BY WHITNEY HOUSTON PLAYING) ♪
JASON: Popular music doesn't just show up.
It's constructed, it's mediated.
Often, we make assessments or evaluations
about what an artist has done, or what their intentions are.
But we fail to realize that those artistic choices
are being made in a much larger context.
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
So to talk about Kenny G properly,
you have to talk about the business aspect.
♪ ("MERCY MERCY MERCY" PLAYING) ♪
KENNY G: My first album was produced by Jeff Lorber.
Clive Davis is basically saying,
"We're gonna have the Jeff Lorber sound,
but now it's just gonna feature you."
It's the one where I look like Richard Simmons.
That one did not so great. Sold about 40,000 records.
JASON: Clive Davis's approach was to put an album out
and if it didn't quite hit,
you would re-jigger it a little bit,
change the sounds, alter the marketing.
CLIVE: It was dawning on me
that although he's a soloist
in what was a jazz band,
that his primary appeal
would really be pop.
So they said, "We'll have you work with Kashif."
♪ ("STONE LOVE" BY KASHIF PLAYING) ♪
JASON: Kashif was a legendary R&B performer,
producer, a songwriter.
They were interested in results and getting hits.
Kashif was the hot producer at the time.
He had a song out with Evelyn "Champagne" King.
♪ Love come down ♪
♪ Ooh, you make my love Come down ♪
He did that song.
And that was huge.
Clive Davis and Arista were trying to find the formula
that would work,
and they were mercenaries
at doing that, whatever it took.
♪ ("HI, HOW YA DOIN'?" PLAYING) ♪
PENNY: I want to talk about your first music video.
-KENNY G: That's awful. -I think it's great.
KENNY G: If you show that in this film,
I'm going to boycott the premiere.
(PENNY LAUGHING)
PENNY: Okay, if I show it, it will be in the context
of you saying how you feel about it.
-Good, I'm glad. -Okay.
It's just ridiculous, that thing.
♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪
The philosophy of the record company was,
there's no format for instrumentals,
so we're gonna do vocal songs.
That's what is going to get radio airplay.
You're going to play the sax solo.
They'll discover you through this.
And I thought, "That sounds awful."
People are gonna be tricked
into thinking that I'm the singer,
and who knows if they're gonna like sax stuff?
Can't we just put out instrumental music?
"Nope, not gonna to work."
There's a point where I'm break-dancing on the floor
like some weird, like, rotating. And then I come up,
and I start playing my sax solo.
♪ (SAXOPHONE SOLO PLAYING) ♪
And that is supposed to change everybody's mind.
Like, oh, all of a sudden, "Oh, he's the artist?" Yeah.
Never worked.
By the way, have you ever seen the single
for "Hi, How Ya Doin'?"
The single shows a "silhouette" of a guy.
You can't tell whether he's white or Black.
At that time, the most success we have is in Black radio.
And they wanted to make sure
that people didn't know I was white.
I thought they were a bunch of shenanigans.
Like, you ever seen the cover of G Force?
Same thing.
But that record did pretty well.
I think it sold, like, 200,000 records.
So me and Kashif
were gonna make another record together.
♪ ("LOVE ON THE RISE" PLAYING) ♪
It's called Gravity.
I hated that record. Hated it. And it didn't sell well.
Which I was actually kind of happy about.
I thought, "I don't want to do any of this again."
I want to do my own kind of music.
So, 1986,
the fourth record comes,
and I had written a whole bunch of instrumentals.
So I sent them to the guys at Arista Records,
They go, "Eh, yeah, these are all right, but
we're looking for songs
that the 15-year-old kids in the ghetto can groove to."
And I said...
"You know I'm a Jewish sax player from Seattle."
"You realize that, right?"
I said, "You know what? I quit."
"I quit. You guys need to drop me from the label."
He goes, "What are you talking about?"
I said, "What am I talking about?"
"What do I know
about 15-year-old kids in the ghetto?"
"What do you mean? We need to write songs
they can groove to, from me?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
So he goes, "Look, look, before..."
"Well, do me a favor."
"There's a Junior Walker song..."
♪ ("WHAT DOES IT TAKE" BY JR. WALKER & THE ALL STARS PLAYING) ♪
"...and we think that if you do a redo,
it could be really good."
"Has vocals, but it's really a sax song."
So I listened to the song and I went,
"Okay, that seems like a good compromise."
♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪
Record comes out.
It's kind of a hit.
And we're at 300,000 records.
That's good for me.
♪ ("WHAT DOES IT TAKE" PLAYING) ♪
I got a call from my manager who said,
"I'm gonna see if I can get you on Johnny Carson."
So exciting. So I-- So I get the shot.
ANNOUNCER: From Hollywood,
The Tonight Show, starring...
And they say, "You're gonna do your single,
'What Does It Take (To Win Your Love).'"
"That's why you're here."
"And then as Johnny's going off air,
you play-- We don't really care what you play
'cause we're signing off anyway."
I said, "Well, I'm gonna play my song 'Songbird.'"
"We don't care."
Great young musician,
plays great saxophone in his group.
-Kenny G is here tonight. -(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
Stay where you are...
So, I'm back there waiting for the thing to happen,
and they come on the door, knocking on the door.
"Hey, Johnny's running late tonight. Sorry."
"We got to cut you down to only one song,
so come out and do your single."
I said, "Okay, cool." Door closes, I look to the guys.
I go, "We're playing 'Songbird.'"
I knew that I needed to play that song.
I wanted to play from my heart,
I wanted people to hear my music.
Because "Songbird" was a song that I just did all by myself.
I mean, I played every instrument on the song,
I recorded it in my own little room.
I wanted that to be heard,
not the single that the record company came up with.
I want to play my instrumental.
Would you welcome, please, Kenny G.
-Kenny? -(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
KENNY G: My band got so scared.
I said, "Don't screw me up here."
"When the curtains go up, start playing 'Songbird.'"
"Don't start playing the other song."
"I'm on the Johnny Carson show, tonight, now."
"I am gonna play the song I want to play."
♪ ("SONGBIRD" PLAYS) ♪
And the guy that hired us is behind the cameras
looking at me like he wants to kill me.
He's doing a lot of finger, hand gestures to me
while I'm playing, and not just this kind of stuff.
We're talking about some single-digit finger moves.
But that night, the wife of the head of promotion,
Donnie Ienner, says to him,
"Honey, now that's the kind of music you guys should be doing."
"That's beautiful."
So Donnie Ienner now walks into--
Monday morning, into Clive Davis's office
and says, "Hey, Clive, we got it all wrong."
And so, Clive Davis with his brilliance,
no ego attached, goes, "Boom, let's do the new single."
And he starts writing letters to the radio people.
CLIVE: I wrote a personal letter,
which I had never done before,
to radio programmers
of every genre.
ANNOUNCER: Start your day the easy way.
I said, "Look, I've given you a lot of good music by now,
and I need a favor here.
Play the record."
Three-twenty-three, this is...
KENNY G: Finally, one station, KMEL, "Camel," puts it on.
And it's 4:00 in the afternoon, so it's drive time.
This is a big deal. Their phones light up.
"We love it. This song's beautiful."
"Why don't you play more songs like that?"
"We really like that, who is that?"
"I never heard a sound like that before."
It's the demographic they're looking for.
I guess it's 25 to 35-year-old women.
So, he calls his contemporary in Chicago at their station.
And he calls Detroit, and they call Atlanta,
and they call Miami, and they call Houston.
And all of a sudden, these guys are talking and saying,
"Hey, we don't know why,
but this instrumental is working."
And it becomes a huge national hit song.
♪ ("SONGBIRD" PLAYING) ♪
I remember the first time I heard "Songbird,"
and I heard it on the radio.
And it was just beautiful.
That song is haunting.
You know, when Kenny came along
there was just something different about that song.
The saxophone was mixed more like a vocalist.
It was more up front.
And then the melody, I mean, you know, that's one
of the great melodies of all time.
Say the name Kenny Gorelick, and many people will ask, who?
But say the name Kenny G, and many will say "Songbird."
TV HOST: His current Arista album, Duotones, is now double platinum
thanks to a top five smash song called "Songbird."
-Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny G. -(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
Please welcome Kenny G.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
There he is, Kenny G.
OPRAH WINFREY: It's like you are talking to
and doing a few other things with this instrument.
-What-- When you... (CHUCKLES) -Well...
Well, I was gonna say--
KENNY G: I'm thinking about a few other things when I'm playing.
OPRAH: It's like making love to this instrument, it's incredible.
TV HOST: Do you marvel at the breadth of your popularity?
That you've been able to go outside the jazz world?
Well, it's so unusual that pop stations
have played my stuff.
Why do you think that is?
Clive Davis.
KENNY G: If it wasn't for his personal letters
to the radio programmers,
that record "Songbird" probably wouldn't have been a hit.
And then to finish the story,
six months go by and guess who calls?
The guys from Johnny Carson.
"We'd love to have you back on the show." (CHUCKLES)
"Please play 'Songbird.'" (CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
It's not-- like, it's normally a lot more neater than this,
but I'm doing laundry right now, so, you know...
Nice golf shirt, see? Nice perfect color.
Look at these white pants. They came out perfect.
Look, there are no stains in there.
They were dirty before, no stains, perfect.
Household chores are actually a lot of fun for me.
We want to make sure that's all mixed up.
It's like a detail thing.
Like playing an instrument, it's details
that you get a reward for doing them well.
I'm folding the top under the bottom, see?
That's the story of my life, pretty much.
I'm into the details, working hard,
putting in the reps.
Timer, 20.
And then reaping the reward of, "Hey, I'm really good at this."
"Hey, I'm really good at that. Hey, I do this well."
Mm, smells so good.
Everything I try to get good at, I've gotten good at.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
-MAN: Well hit, man. -KENNY G: Yes! On the green, on the green...
PENNY: I wanna talk to you about golf.
TV HOST: Golf Digest once called you the best golfer in music.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS, CHEERS)
And last Friday,
Aviation's version of the Oscars--
I want you to know how proud I am to be a pilot.
It's got a lot of the same qualities
that go into being a musician.
You have to practice, you have to work hard--
You also are an investor.
How did you select Starbucks as an investment?
I was one of the original ten guys that-- part of Starbucks
so that turned out to be a really great investment.
PENNY: (LAUGHING) That's like the understatement...
Yeah.
REPORTER: Give us your best pirate impression.
I leave that to my son Max.
Arr, matey!
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES CONTINUE) ♪
KENNY G: I have two boys,
so how am I going to become the best father
the world has ever seen?
I'm gonna start studying it.
So I started reading books. I started asking questions.
They actually turned out really, really good.
And, by the way, both of them grew up
watching their father,
who's already super famous,
every day, practicing, practicing.
I still haven't hit one I like yet.
When I do, I'll tell you, okay?
♪ ("SILHOUETTE" PLAYING) ♪
Okay, so I'm not gonna play Name That Tune with you.
That's "Silhouette" though, right?
So this is the thing about "Silhouette" after "Songbird."
Because almost every instrumental hit
up until this time...
Ramsey Lewis, "The 'In' Crowd."
"Feels So Good," Chuck Mangione.
Average White Band, "Pick Up the Pieces."
You know, tunes that made it on the pop charts
that were instrumental
kind of became one-hit wonders in pop radio.
And then here comes Kenny with a second hit,
and then a third and, you know, and a fourth.
You could tell that this was something different.
Hi, this is Kenny G,
and here's my new video called "Silhouette,"
and I hope you like it.
♪ ("SILHOUETTE" PLAYING) ♪
BEN: He does have a style. He does have a style.
This intensely gauzy, very, very breathy thing.
Um, sort of trembly, uh, lots of dynamics.
And he adds this little extra,
over-the-top, um, vulnerable emotionality.
Perhaps that is the Kenny G stamp.
CLIVE: He was coming up with these melodies
that were unique, and a style of play
that was unique.
I do have a sixth sense, in a sense, of melody.
I just do.
I know when the melody is right, and I know how to--
I know how to come up with a melody.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
A lot of times,
I hear the beginning of a song in my head.
In my practice session, I'll play a little...
"Ooh, I like that."
"I can hear some chords going on with that little thing."
"That's gonna turn into a song."
Then I have to find someone to help me.
I need somebody that knows the chords,
and will be patient with me when I go,
"No, no, no, yes, hmm, no, yeah, hmm, try again,
give me 17 other options on that chord."
"There's only 12." "Okay, well, give me all 12."
"There's another one? Well, yeah, that one."
Music theory will tell you things about chords
and the notes that go along with the chords.
But in college, I did not want to study music theory.
Just didn't appeal to me.
I thought, "You know what I'm gonna do?"
"I'm gonna take that hour
and go into the practice room and practice."
So that's what I did.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
-(DOG YAWNS) -(LAUGHS)
I know what sounds good to me.
I don't need to know theoretically
that that note goes with that note.
And I come up with melodies that the whole world likes.
I do.
So if I think it sounds good,
it's probably sounding good.
♪ (MELODIC SAXOPHONE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
Duotones sold about 5 million records.
Next record, Silhouette.
Boom, another big hit.
Kenny G Live sold another four, five million records.
1992, Breathless comes out,
and everything goes bonkers.
And it sells 12 million records.
TV HOST: How would you describe the kind of music you play?
Well, it's hard to say in words, you know.
Categorizing it, making some sort of a descriptive label
will make some people think one thing
and other people think another.
So you heard it just a minute ago,
so what do you think? What's your words for it?
It might be different than somebody else.
-I think it's sexy. -Okay.
-Do people call your music sexy? -Some do.
♪ (MELODIC SAXOPHONE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
♪ (SONG CONTINUES OVER RADIO) ♪
BEN: Wasn't part of the marketing around Kenny G's music
that it was romantic?
And that maybe it was like music,
you know, that people wanted in the background
as they had sex, and stuff like that?
Yeah. Um...
That's always been a little bit of a mystery to me.
You know...
♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪
Oh, maybe not. Maybe it makes sense.
KENNY G: People have told me that, you know.
They'll come and they'll whisper in my ear what circumstances,
they might have used my music in very, very intimate,
romantic situations.
It's great. I mean, to be-- To be with somebody
even in a spiritual, musical sense
when they're either meditating,
making love and relaxing in a certain way,
getting introspective with that music of mine helping them.
It's flattering. It's, uh...
I'm glad to be part of it.
I think my music is romantic.
By the way, I think I'm romantic.
I'm not sure that you would get that same response
from the people that are in my life,
the close people in my life.
And I think to myself, how can I not be romantic
if I can play this beautiful music
and write these beautiful songs?
I must be at least somewhat romantic.
People have gotten married to his music,
had babies by his music.
I mean, in the hospital and everything.
I have a very good friend who has twin sons who...
Uh, they played Kenny's music in the delivery room.
-(PENNY LAUGHING) -And I will tell you,
the wife was crazy about it.
The husband was like,
"Oh, God, Kenny G in the delivery..."
(LAUGHS)
His music has been a part of a lot of our lives
as a soundtrack, and so as a result of that,
we feel connected to him.
♪ ("GOING HOME" PLAYING) ♪
KENNY G: One of my songs is super popular in China
called "Going Home."
♪ (VOCALIZES "GOING HOME") ♪
Okay, that's my song.
It's been played now for over 30 years
every day throughout China at the end of the day.
They really literally took the title "Going Home,"
and they decided that this song is going to be
the national song for the end of the workday.
They listen, and then they start packing up,
and it's time to go home.
Yeah, I know. I don't know.
You don't know how that happened?
I don't know exactly how that happened.
YIN ZHI YUAN: (IN MANDARIN)
(CHUCKLES)
(IN MANDARIN)
♪ ("GOING HOME" PLAYING) ♪
YIN ZHI YUAN: (IN MANDARIN)
BEN: The song "Going Home," like a lot of his songs,
has a calming effect, I guess,
which will reduce people's desire
to resist things or cause trouble.
It's not protesting anything.
It's not against anything.
Is Kenny G's music a weapon of consent?
You know, like, um, does it make people...
agree to comply?
Um... And if so, why?
-♪ ("GOING HOME" PLAYING) ♪ -(CHILD YELLING)
YIN ZHI YUAN: (IN MANDARIN)
♪ (PLAYING "GOING HOME") ♪
YIN ZHI YUAN: (IN MANDARIN)
KENNY G: I just have to time it perfectly
when I do my shows there,
because the first time I played it,
I played it in the middle of the set.
I looked up, the audience left.
(SPEAKING IN MANDARIN)
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
-(SPEAKING IN MANDARIN) -(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
KENNY G: When I came into the scene,
I created maybe a new sound.
You know, you can call it what you want,
but you could call it a new sound of jazz,
a new jazz sound that appealed to a lot of people.
And I don't think a lot of people can say
that they created a sound of music.
And I think I did.
♪ (SMOOTH JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
And then people decided
there should be a whole radio format like my music.
RADIO HOST: Welcome to the birth
of Philadelphia's newest radio station,
WJJZ 106.1 FM.
We're proud to present a music format
that's never been showcased here before.
We call it smooth jazz.
In our debut hour,
we'll hear "Champagne" from Kenny G.
So I became, like, this face of this sound.
And they decided to call it "smooth jazz,"
because if they called it jazz, it was gonna turn people away.
In the late '80s,
the ratings game was very competitive,
so everybody was doing research.
We were market researchers,
and we really let the listeners
take over the format.
We would come in and get at least a hundred people,
and we would run hooks of songs by them.
They had a little dial in their hand,
and if they liked it--
What do you do when you like a song?
You turn it up, like the volume.
So they would just turn it up.
And they could go to 100 if they loved the song.
We would watch these lines go up and down.
And then Kenny G would come on...
Right up to the top. Everybody loved it.
Nine out of the top 15 songs would be Kenny G songs,
out of, like, 650 songs that we researched.
And then we would say,
"Just tell us what words pop to mind."
And almost everybody would say,
"It's jazz, but..."
And I still-- I still remember this woman's face.
I can see it as clear as day.
She's thinking, she says, "It's jazz."
She said, "It's smooth jazz."
It was almost like it just came to her like a lightning bolt.
And we were all like, "That's it."
You know, I mean, that's got to be it.
WNUA in Chicago was the first station in the country
to use the term "smooth jazz."
You know, it later was adopted in a lot of places
where we were consulting.
MAN: You're a bit too old for rock and roll
and classical music for you might be a little cerebral.
And jazz is a little esoteric.
But you want to be part of what's going on in music.
What's for me?
I listen to it at work.
Uh, actually, I listen to it all the time.
It fits in perfectly with everything I do.
I think I perform better. I hope my bosses say that.
I've never heard music like this...
This format got a lot of traction in offices.
It was something that everybody could agree on
in the office.
No one was going to be offended
by anything that you hear.
It was never too loud or rowdy.
But it also had enough tempo
to keep it interesting,
to have you nod your head a little bit.
ALLEN KEPLER: The key was to make it palatable for a big tent.
There are certain people that love smooth jazz
that would never listen to jazz.
And we used to hear this in focus groups.
"I didn't really know I liked jazz, but I like this."
♪ ("SENTIMENTAL" PLAYING) ♪
CHRIS: In the 1980s and the 1990s,
traditional jazz had been quite marginalized economically,
and the opportunities for jazz musicians were dwindling.
But at the same time, you have someone named Kenny G,
and some other musicians, too, that were playing in this
that were being extremely successful financially,
and they were using that four letter word "jazz."
He was having a huge impact on society,
in terms of defining what jazz is,
even though within the jazz community,
people were looking at his music with disdain
and really distancing themselves
from what he was doing.
WILL LAYMAN: People sometimes legitimately ask,
you know, "Why do jazz musicians..."
"Why are they so irritated by Kenny G?"
And I was thinking about this and, you know,
the Harlem Globetrotters are a basketball team
that's existed for decades.
♪ (LIGHTHEARTED MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
WILL: And they do not play competitive basketball.
They are a group of entertainers,
and they spin the basketball on their finger,
and they do trick shots, and they clown around.
I would say that most players in the NBA
love the Globetrotters.
But imagine a world
in which legitimate competitive basketball
is not popular,
and LeBron James and Michael Jordan in his day,
they worked their whole lives to be great basketball players,
and now the only way they can afford the rent
on their apartment is to part-time be, like, waiters.
Imagine how they would feel about the Harlem Globetrotters
spinning the ball on their finger
and making a lot of money from it.
And I think that's how jazz musicians
feel about Kenny G.
-♪ (PLAYING SINGLE NOTE) ♪ -(AUDIENCE CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHS, APPLAUDS) -♪ (NOTE CONTINUES) ♪
Every single jazz saxophone player
can do circular breathing,
and every player in the NBA can spin the ball on their finger
and, like, have it roll across their shoulders.
They can all do it because it's fun and they do it.
But it's not basketball.
♪ (UPBEAT SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
JASON: You know, to me, I look at him in two ways.
On one hand, he's introduced people
all over the world to jazz
in a way that is probably unquantifiable,
given the number of records that he's sold.
There's a lot of people for whom they would never
have heard jazz unless they had first heard Kenny G.
And maybe it was a kind of gateway
into all kinds of other jazz.
It certainly was for me.
And yet, at the same time,
he seems to draw from this rich and venerated history
of Black music without necessarily contributing much
back to the form.
PRESENTER: ...artist, Kenny G!
He's such a deeply problematic figure,
because he really extends this long and troubling history
of appropriation in popular music
where Black artists innovate,
and then white artists come along and stylize,
and then receive greater financial renumeration,
and greater critical acclaim.
Never th-- I've honestly never put a lot of thought
into the color of my skin, and my career, and my success.
Honestly haven't.
I mean, if I was a Black guy,
would Clive Davis have signed me as easily?
I think he probably would have.
I don't think that would have made a difference.
Would I have been as big of an artist, you know?
Then we have to look at what was pop radio like in,
let's say, 1986.
Because that's when I had my song "Songbird."
Are they more apt to play it because I'm white?
What if I was a Black guy with the same song?
They might go,
"You know, we'll leave that to the R&B stations."
So I'm gonna say I probably benefited from that.
I'm kind of thinking
that I got that door opened for me.
Yeah. I think that's a good question.
I've never really thought about it like that,
and I think-- I think I benefited.
I mean, historically, in this country,
certainly, African American artists who have--
You know, who are great players with incredible talent,
who get to watch others, you know,
like your Elvis Presley's and all these people,
take their music and then become rich from it.
That's not a fun thing to watch.
I can understand where some of the resentment comes from.
♪ (SAXOPHONE PLAYS TUNE OF "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" BY LOUIS ARMSTRONG) ♪
Uh-oh.
♪ (TRANSITIONS INTO "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" BY LOUIS ARMSTRONG) ♪
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
♪ I see trees of green ♪
♪ Red roses too ♪
♪ I see them bloom ♪
♪ For me and you ♪
♪ And I think to myself ♪
♪ What a wonderful world ♪
KENNY G: The Louis Armstrong duet happened
when I was sitting in my driveway in Seattle.
I just got through hearing that song...
♪ Unforgettable ♪
♪ (UNFORGETTABLE BY NAT KING COLE PLAYS) ♪
KENNY G: With Natalie Cole
and her late father, Nat King Cole.
I thought, "Wow, that's cool."
"I want do a song like that."
We needed permission to do it,
from the Louis Armstrong Foundation.
And we said, "Look, we want to give all the money
to whatever charity you want.
And we want to pay tribute to this beautiful song."
And it became a huge hit.
But there's a few musicians out there
that felt protective of
Louis Armstrong and his legacy,
and they felt like it was tainted by me playing with him,
and they were very vocal about it.
♪ (GUITAR TUNE PLAYING) ♪
KENNY G: It was a guitar player named Pat Metheny.
BEN: Pat Metheny had written something
like a screed against the song
and against what Kenny G was doing.
CHRIS: He is highly respected in the jazz world,
so that was kind of like jazz aristocracy
coming out and speaking against Kenny G.
-COMPUTER: You've got mail. -BEN: More and more people
started forwarding me this thing.
(EMAIL NOTIFICATION TUNE)
It was a moment of going viral,
but through email.
(NOTIFICATIONS CONTINUE)
You want me to read it out loud for you?
"This type of musical necrophilia
was weird when Natalie Cole did it with her dad,
but it was her dad."
"When Kenny G decided that it was appropriate
for him to defile the music of the man
who's probably the greatest jazz musician
that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass..."
JOHN: "...jive, pseudo-bluesy, out-of-tune noodling..."
BEN: "...wimped-out, fucked-up playing
all over one of Louis' tracks..."
"...he did something
that I would not have imagined possible."
JOHN: "He shit all over the graves of all the musicians
who have risked their lives by going out there on the road
for years and years, developing their own music..."
"...inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong
brought to every single note that he played."
"There are some things that are sacred."
"And amongst any musician
that has ever attempted to address jazz
at even the most basic of levels,
Louis Armstrong and his music is hallowed ground."
"By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and, by default..."
"Everyone who has ever tried to do something positive
with improvised music..."
"Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture,
something that we should all be totally embarrassed about
and afraid of."
"We ignore this at our own peril."
That's the line that always gets me.
"The only reason he could possibly have
for doing something this inherently wrong
on both human and musical terms
was for the record sales and the money it would bring."
"Everything I said here is exactly the same
as what I would say to Gorelick if I ever saw him in person."
"And if I ever do see him,
he will get a piece of my mind,
and maybe a guitar wrapped around his head."
He's entitled to his opinion.
I think he was being super protective
of the traditional jazz genre,
and I understand it.
So I'm not mad at him.
I never get mad at anybody for pretty much anything...
because it doesn't do me any good.
I mean, when have you ever gotten mad at somebody
and then they go,
"You're right, I was wrong"?
Nobody ever does that.
Sometimes you say the word "jazz,"
and people think of some of the worst music on earth.
Like, for instance, Kenny G. I mean, you know,
there's nothing more stupid than that, let's face it.
That's the dumbest music there ever could possibly be
in the history of human beings.
Pat Metheny was attacking the song within a jazz context.
From my point of view, I felt that
both Kenny G and Louis Armstrong,
via that song, "What a Wonderful World,"
were operating within the larger sphere of popular culture.
And the sacredness of jazz,
and the ethics of dealing with jazz...
I don't know, I just felt like those questions were so--
like, didn't apply.
♪ (UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JOHN: You know, this idea that Louis Armstrong
regarded his music as sacred?
What? (LAUGHS)
I mean, even if it were true,
sacralization of any art form is what destroys it.
-♪ (SINGLE TRUMPET NOTE) ♪ -(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
I kind of cheered on Pat Metheny's complaint,
because I hated hearing Louis
kind of like gooped up like that.
And at the same time, I kind of just thought, like,
"Oh, man, you know,
don't complain about him that hard."
It felt like it discredited the rest of us
who were just disliking Kenny G at a lower simmer.
Now, of course, the irony is, it's one of the best things
Kenny G ever did,
because it's elevated by Louis.
And Kenny brings it down a little bit,
to my hearing of it,
but he can't bring it down that low,
because Louis is still there.
♪ ("WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" BY LOUIS ARMSTRONG PLAYS) ♪
JASON: It's hard to say if Kenny G
has elevated the jazz form artistically.
But maybe we're looking at the wrong
set of, you know, criteria.
There's something deeply powerful
about the fact that that music has reached millions of people,
and that people have found their way into that music.
That has to be at least addressed.
It can't simply be that millions of people are just stupid,
and Pat Metheny is the smart one.
There is some music that some people call bad.
There's some music that some people call good.
That doesn't really tell us anything about the music,
but it tells us a lot about society and culture,
and about those people.
YOUTUBER: Kenny G, Breathless.
I listened to this, and this is complete crap.
(BULLETS FIRING)
CHRIS: As soon as I say, "Kenny G sucks,"
then I'm aligning myself with a bunch of other people,
and one of the functions of bad music is just that.
It's a way that we separate each other
and distinguish each other,
and create distance or create allegiances.
Some guy says, "Kenny G's trash,"
and then there's some person that, like,
played a song by Kenny G at their wedding,
and it's deeply meaningful to them.
♪ (SAXOPHONE PLAYING TUNE BY KENNY G) ♪
JOHN: Every time it comes on,
they just have these really wonderful associations with it,
and then they're being told,
"No, you should not have those experiences,
or if you have them, you should be apologizing for them."
KENNY G: When you love a piece of music,
you're basically exposing something about you.
"I like this, don't you?" "No, I hate that."
They're basically saying to you, they hate something about you.
"It's good. It's no good. It's good. It's no good."
You're basically saying, "You're good, you're no good."
And then people fight for their own self-worth.
♪ (SOFT SAXOPHONE MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
JOHN: Ultimately, what the musical experience resides in
is how this music communicates to you,
what its meaning is to you,
why it actually conveys some really deep,
ineffable meaning that we can't even put words on.
That's the ultimate musical experience.
♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
Yeah, what the hell's not to like?
Like, I totally...
Yeah.
(INDISTINCT AUDIENCE CHATTER)
VENUE ORGANIZER: If you're waiting in line for Kenny G,
then please line up this way.
We'll make it really quick.
That's what I'm here for, to make it really quick.
So have your CDs ready.
KENNY G: This feels good. Okay, here we are.
All right, ready? And smile. Good. Excellent. Come on out.
-FAN 1: Thank you. See you later. -Bye. Thanks. Next in line.
-FAN 2: How are you? -KENNY G: All right, you?
Fourth time seeing you. I love it.
-KENNY G: Fourth? -Fourth.
-KENNY G: Good, we like that. -Thank you.
KENNY G: Thanks for doing that.
You got your raffle ticket already?
-FAN 2: I did. -ORGANIZER: Ready? One, two, three.
Excellent, excellent.
All right, right this way.
All right!
I want you to know that we were married in 1989,
and "Silhouette" was our wedding song.
KENNY G: Yeah! That's awesome.
Good job. Good job.
FAN 3: So many Christmas trees that she...
-KENNY G: I love that. -FAN 3: ...decorated.
FAN 4: Oh, with listening to your music.
KENNY G: Well, we'll come out with a new Christmas record soon.
Be ready with the raffle,
because I'm going to make an announcement for the raffle.
And they're just gonna want raffle tickets.
So, you know, it's three for twenty, right?
Do you know that or not know that?
-Yes. -Yeah, we know.
I would break them off into threes.
Oh, you're already ready in threes.
Okay, you're ready to go, aren't you?
-Okay, all right. -We're ready to go.
ASSISTANT: One more. Yes. Which one, hon?
-Give him three tickets. -ASSISTANT: Okay.
KENNY G: Okay, Harry, come on in. Harry, come over here.
Come over here and look at the picture,
look at your camera now, here we go.
ASSISTANT: Beautiful.
That little boy, he said, "Give him three tickets."
ASSISTANT 2: I know. He's very sweet. And he's good to his fans.
-One more. -ASSISTANT 1: Okay.
Ready for the next round.
♪ (SAXOPHONE PLAYING RIFFS) ♪
KENNY G: One thing that I've-- we've been doing lately,
like, in the last six months or so,
I've been introducing old jazz tunes.
And they've never heard this stuff before.
And they-- honestly, they probably don't really care
that much about it.
Maybe they don't even want to hear it.
But I think it's part of my job.
All right, we're gonna turn it into a jazz club.
All right, by that lack of enthusiasm,
I see we need some sax education.
That's all right.
I'll be your sax professor for the night.
So let's have some sax education right now.
In the 1950s and '60s, that's when the jazz masters
lived and played their great jazz music.
One of the jazz masters was Stan Getz.
Stan Getz was the guy
that brought bossa nova music to the world.
So we're gonna go back and play
one of his famous bossa novas from the '60s.
We're gonna play it just like they did back then,
which means lots of jazz improvisation,
and that means we actually don't know how long
the song's going to be or how it's going to end.
And that's the way it is.
♪ (INSTRUMENTS HARMONIZING) ♪
KENNY G: People, I'm hoping, will go home and go,
"I like that song, honey, that he played."
"What was the name of that artist?"
"Stan Getz, honey." "Well, let's look him up."
And then they listen to that, "Ooh, we like that."
We're going to play something else for you right now,
something was made famous by, I would say,
probably the most famous and well-deserved
saxophone player of all time, tenor sax player.
His name was John Coltrane.
It's called "Naima."
♪ (SAXOPHONE PLAYS TUNE OF "NAIMA" BY JOHN COLTRANE) ♪
KENNY G: When I started my career,
I hadn't listened a lot to traditional jazz.
It was mostly just R&B stuff.
Then I started to play and listen to John Coltrane,
and Miles, and Stan Getz.
And as, over the years, as that stuff has been absorbed by me,
I think my music and the way that I play my music,
and the way I write it is changing, and rightfully so.
Well, I'm gonna play whatever happens.
The new album is called New Standards.
I've written the songs
with just slightly different melodies
than I would normally do,
but the chords are gonna be way different.
I want sophisticated jazz chords,
but I don't want it to sound unrelatable.
So I want to marry a melody that's relatable
with the sophistication of the '50s and '60s jazz.
And that was my challenge.
Can I do that, or is it just gonna sound off?
One of the songs on the record is,
and hopefully, is gonna be a virtual duet with Stan Getz.
Nobody-- Nobody knows this. This is brand-new info.
♪ (SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Stan Getz's sax was such a beautiful sound.
In fact, his nickname, from what I've read,
was called "The Sound."
So we're gonna feature the sound of Stan Getz
on this tune, and it's gonna be beautiful.
I wrote the song.
We recorded it the other night.
I played all the parts.
Steve is gonna go,
and he's gonna go take the Stan Getz saxophone parts,
that we're going to find in the world,
and we're gonna adjust them to play my song.
And I've spoken to his daughter and his son.
Obviously wanted and needed their blessing,
which they've given me on this.
So everybody's onboard.
We're just trying to put this thing together.
And the jazz community's gonna hate it.
I know they're gonna hate it,
which is not something that concerns me, by the way.
The jazz police will just have to do what they have to do.
I'm prepared for it. I'm strong.
I've had reps with the jazz police not liking me,
so I've already got my scar tissue.
It's not gonna-- It's not gonna rock my world in a negative way.
(LAUGHS)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
-KENNY G: You want to see this picture? -PENNY: Yeah.
Okay, so this picture is a picture that was taken
when they first gave out awards for an album
that sold over 10 million.
It was called a Diamond Award.
We got a bunch of Billboard, uh, music awards.
Those are NAACP Image Awards.
This is my only Grammy.
There's a good picture of me and Jack Nicklaus right there.
Playing golf with him at the Honda Classic.
That's a golf award right there.
My golf stuff, I think I like to talk more than the music stuff.
That's also a golf trophy back there.
The music stuff is-- It's kind of subjective.
Like, how did I earn a Grammy?
Well, because some people decided
that they liked the way that I played my song.
How did I earn that golf award? Well, I won.
I won it by literally beating other people.
Back in 1994, you know, my...
my album had sold more than any of the other...
contempor-- adult contemporary artists.
And that's what the American Music Award was, really, was a--
It's just a sales award.
We don't sell records like we used to back then.
Boy, those were the good days. Those were the good days.
♪ ("THE MOMENT" PLAYING) ♪
CLIVE: With so many huge artists,
there comes a time when it peaks.
That familiarity.
You don't have to guess when you hear that sax,
"Oh, that's Kenny G."
The sound was too familiar.
I felt that we're not gonna have hit singles again.
PAT: For a lot of listeners, I think it was just overplayed.
I think we just overplayed Kenny G.
It was too much Kenny G.
You can play music to death.
WEATHER FORECASTER: Get out the snowshoes and the shovels.
CLIVE: As an executive, you're more aware of it.
And you're certainly aware of it much earlier than the artist.
KENNY G: When I think about selling 75 million records,
I feel like I was super lucky.
Lucky that I happened to be an artist at the time period
when people were buying albums and cassettes and CDs,
because that was the technology.
And we had record stores,
and we had radio that was promoting these things.
RADIO PRESENTER: The VH1 ticket hotline is brought to you by...
KENNY G: Artists now, they come out.
There's no platform to sell a lot of records.
Now you're looking at views and you're talking about plays.
How many plays equals a "sale"?
I reminisce and wish that the old days
would come back, but they're not gonna come back.
So, for me, and my audience that's out there,
we have to relearn how to connect with each other.
That's what's really tricky.
Hey, Kenny G here for the 22 push-up challenge.
-...11, 12, 13, 14, 15... -♪ (HIGH SPEED NOTES PLAYING) ♪
Hey, everybody, it's Kenny G
wishing you a very happy Valentine's Day.
♪ (PLAYS TUNE) ♪
KENNY G: It's like an old dog learning new tricks,
so I've had to be on Instagram,
and try to be current.
And, you know, I post what I post.
Sometimes it's funny.
Sometimes it looks kind of corny.
Hey, it's Kenny G here, modeling
my new saxy Christmas sweater.
You can get yours at tipsyelves.com.
I try my best.
So now, with my management,
I've got all these young people around
that think the way that they should think,
so that they get the old guy... hip.
MANAGER: So, viral moments, release, and consistency
-are the three things that we gotta stay on. -I see.
-Good. -MANAGER: And we're lacking...
KENNY G: I'm working on it. I'm gonna get it,
because I'm a good student.
So I'm going to-- I'm gonna get it.
(AUDIENCE CHEERS)
Here with the song "Regulate," Kenny and Warren G!
♪ (PLAYING TUNE OF "REGULATE" BY WARREN G) ♪
♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
Kenny G, take us to break!
GORBURGER: We kidnapped Kenny G, and he's being held hostage
here with some cement shoes.
♪ ("REGULATE" CONTINUES) ♪
HOLEY MOLEY ANNOUNCER: And she putts it in
with Kenny G playing right in her face.
♪ (SAXOPHONE NOTES PLAYING) ♪
KENNY G: I think people like celebrities.
They get the joke. Like, I get the joke.
You know, I know, I know for a fact that if I cut my hair,
my career will go right down the toilet.
I know that, so I get it.
(LAUGHS)
♪ (SAXOPHONE TUNE PLAYS) ♪
NEWSCASTER: Well, Kanye West took it to an entirely different level
for wife Kim Kardashian for Valentine's Day.
That's the legendary saxophonist Kenny G,
serenading Kim in a sea of roses.
How did that conversation go? Is Kanye a big Kenny G fan?
Apparently, I mean...
I got a message through a third party,
and they said, "Hey, you know,
Kanye wants you to come over tomorrow
and serenade Kim for Valentine's Day."
I mean, I'm thinking, "Okay, but is this a good thing to do?"
"Is it a...?"
I mean, I'm not a reality TV kind of guy,
so is it gonna look like I'm, you know,
just doing anything to get exposure, or is it cool?
And so I talked to both my sons and they both said,
"No, this is cool. This is gonna be cool."
I had never met him before,
and just was immediate warmth.
He says, "Why don't you come to the studio with me?"
"I want you to see my studio."
So I went there, and he started playing me
some music and one of the songs,
he played me a part of it, and I said,
"Whoa, let me play on this one."
When I heard that song, I could hear my sax on it,
and so he let me take his music home.
I took it back to my studio, did my thing,
sent it back to him, and he loved what I did.
So that's how it started.
♪ ("USE THIS GOSPEL" BY KANYE WEST FT. KENNY G PLAYING) ♪
WILL: I will confess, I love that track.
The melody Kenny plays is kind of great.
He was immediately identifiable as Kenny G,
and there seems to be almost like a play in that moment,
hoping that you're going to recognize that sound
and sort of enjoy the decontextualization of it.
BEN: Kenny G's music sounds to us now
like music from another time,
if not another planet.
♪ ("LAST FRIDAY NIGHT" BY KATY PERRY FT. KENNY G PLAYING) ♪
BEN: It's full of, you know, like, excesses of a past age
and ignorance of a past age, and whatever.
But there are also things about it that are so alien
to us now that they're kind of cool.
Younger people, especially,
are gonna be able to put it in new piles,
juxtapose it with other things.
♪ (IN YOUR EYES BY THE WEEKND FT. KENNY G PLAYING) ♪
BEN: So, I wouldn't have said this ten years ago,
but I think there's a future in Kenny G's music
that I'm kind of looking forward to.
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪ -Whoo!
Whenever someone says,
"I don't know if you could do this,
I don't know if you could do all that,"
Kenny takes that in and goes, "Okay, now check this out."
"You see?" Then he goes back up again...
(MUMBLES TUNE)
(LAUGHS)
(JAMES LAUGHING)
Oh, it's been so long.
Oh, my God.
Gosh, I can't believe it.
It's so great to see you.
I can't believe you're here!
Whenever I see him, it puts a tear in my eye.
You know, because we go back so far.
And it's like, you know, seeing family.
Well, you know, I told them the funniest story.
JAMES: I said "Here's this 16-year-old kid, turned 17..."
JAMES: You know, it's like a young brother of mine.
And what he's worked at achieving is just amazing.
KENNY G: I got a surpr-- Yeah, I wanna play you something that's really cool.
-JAMES: Okay. -I had this idea.
I wanted to do a duet with Stan Getz.
JAMES: Oh, gosh, you gotta be kidding.
-Let's see where it is. -JAMES: No, you didn't.
♪ (SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Jeez.
That's amazing.
-That's our duet. -JAMES: That's crazy. That's...
So when I was writing the melody...
(IMITATES MELODY)
♪ ...that's what I would do ♪
But that's not what Stan would do.
(IMITATES MELODY)
That takes it somewhere else. It takes it to...
I don't know. It sounds more like...
It sounds less happy and less normal,
and more...
uh... mysterious.
More-- It's leading you down to another place.
I felt really kind of proud that I could
take myself out of the equation,
not just autopilot my way of putting a melody together.
-Oh, my God. -KENNY G: How cool is that?
-That's frigging, you know, insane. -(CLAPPING)
You know, I was telling Penny the other day, I said,
"You know, when you got bit by that bug,
you left the planet Earth."
You know, you've been getting downloads from heaven
-ever fucking since. -KENNY G: Thanks, man.
Let me play you something on tenor.
-JAMES: Oh, sure. -KENNY G: Here's one more New Standard.
JAMES: Oh, yeah.
♪ (JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JAMES: It's not so much that, "Oh, it's jazz,"
or if you play chord changes,
or it's this kind of music.
It's how you can affect other people
to be able to communicate with the other person
that's next to you, and they understand you.
Then you've succeeded.
KENNY G: They're beautiful melodies.
Beautiful melodies with chords that go,
"Ooh," rather than just, "nice."
Not that I'm not proud of my past work because I am.
Because what I created, when I created,
exactly the way I wanted it.
Wouldn't change a thing. Probably would change a thing.
I would change some notes, not necessarily the composition.
I'd change some notes because, you know,
I can play better now.
♪ (FAST PACED NOTES PLAYING) ♪
KENNY G: You know, after you've done 23 or 24 records,
I don't want to repeat myself.
So there's a lot of new ground that I need to discover.
For example, I've always wanted to do classical music.
Like New Standards,
I'm gonna have to write new classical music,
and you're gonna hear it, and you're gonna go,
"Is that Beethoven? Is that Bach? Is that Brahms?"
I'm gonna go, "It's G." (LAUGHS)
Next album could be all lullabies.
I'm gonna give you the album that makes the babies,
then I'm gonna give you the album
that puts them to sleep.
(LAUGHS)
That's funny. That's a commercial.
You know what? I don't really hear
a lot of great film music,
and I actually have a couple of songs
that are in my little vault that will win an Oscar.
They will.
If Ron Howard were to make a film
about some circumstances that happened,
let's say, in Kansas City, Wichita,
somewhere in the middle of America.
Some beautiful cornfields,
drama that happens.
I've got the theme song for it.
Another one would be a film in European like--
Like Austria, Switzerland, German.
Cold, like, post-war,
or during World War II or something,
something about that.
Dark, and it's just real sad.
It'd be like a movie, if they made it, called the...
like, The German Captain.
Or The Swiss Captain.
And it's about this sad life of this guy that goes out and,
you know, there's all these trench coats, it's gray.
And so, I got the music for that.
It's so perfect.
And it'll win the Academy Award.
I know it.
When I get in my 80s, if everything's still working,
I'm gonna be out there playing my shows.
Hopefully, you know, riffing just as fast
and playing just as good.
Or, I mean, hopefully a lot better.
20 years more practicing.
That's another 20,000 hours.
(LAUGHS)
♪ ("GOING HOME" PLAYING) ♪
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪