Kenny G sucks

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tubeguy · #1 Post by **tubeguy** » Fri 21 May 2010, 10:45

A public excoriation of Kenny G and the vapid, useless dreck he has foisted upon the world, done by a true master: http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

nitehawk · #2 Post by **nitehawk** » Sun 23 May 2010, 03:51

Dang! And I actually like Kenny G. (But what do I know). I have weird tastes. For instance,...I like Cisco Houston (of which not many people know about). Early Ponca Indian dance music,....etc. etc. etc.
Kenny G's music played a really cute little part in the Disney Movie "Cars",.....(cute!)...
The article states that Kenny G's music sells well,..(that says something). His critics may disapprove,..but the public likes.
(to each his own)..........

tubeguy · #3 Post by **tubeguy** » Sun 23 May 2010, 12:16

nitehawk wrote:Dang! And I actually like Kenny G. (But what do I know). I have weird tastes. For instance,...I like Cisco Houston (of which not many people know about). Early Ponca Indian dance music,....etc. etc. etc.
Kenny G's music played a really cute little part in the Disney Movie "Cars",.....(cute!)...
The article states that Kenny G's music sells well,..(that says something). His critics may disapprove,..but the public likes.
(to each his own)..........

To each his own indeed. I would say no offense intended, but clearly I was off my game Friday morning.

I'm an insufferable musical snob who's ego gets the better of him sometimes. I too have musical tastes that few others share, but for me to summarily discount a successful musician based on my opinion was wrong. I do the same thing with most of today's country music, while secretly wishing I could get into it (I've tried, I just can't). Musical taste is a very personal thing and having one's own likes and dislikes challenged can be jarring. In retrospect I think I did the adult version of so many "Hanson sux/metallica rulz" posts.

I've been a big fan of Pat Metheny since the 80s, and my respect for him as a musician and a person has grown over the years, so when I saw that article I got all pumped up. However it seems I have yet to understand that it is our actions, not our thoughts, that really define who we are.

Also, I loved "Cars".

bugman · #4 Post by **bugman** » Sun 23 May 2010, 13:36

hell, i don't like any jazz after 'bitches brew'

except 'on the corner', but that's just barely jazz, no?

[have been told i would like the jack johnson record as well, but so little time...]

nitehawk · #5 Post by **nitehawk** » Sun 23 May 2010, 17:23

Well,..I'm certainly no music expert,..by any means. Jazz has never been my forte,...but my epitome of jazz would probably be Dave Brubeck's "Take Five". (love that). ...And Phoebe Snow is my all time idea of a terrific jazz singer. My Son-in-Law is a die-hard Country-Music fan....
I don't care much for the modern "country music" but my all-time favorite music is the old-time stuff. Stuff (country and folk music) from the old Tennesse and kentucky area of the 1800's through about the 1940's. (but I already warned you that I was a bit crazy). My folks all came from that area,...after coming over here from Scotland in the last century.

bugman · #6 Post by **bugman** » Sun 23 May 2010, 17:31

nitehawk wrote:I don't care much for the modern "country music" but my all-time favorite music is the old-time stuff. Stuff (country and folk music) from the old Tennesse and kentucky area of the 1800's through about the 1940's.

we are 100% sympatico on that, i can assure you...

[give me the carolina tar heels or give me death]

nitehawk · #7 Post by **nitehawk** » Sun 23 May 2010, 17:49

[give me the carolina tar heels or give me death]

..seems like I've heard of them (must look them up!). folk or Blue Grass? I love both. (yeeehaw!) Can you tell my folks are from Tennessee and Kentucky,...I was raised in South Texas,...spent 25 years in the Ozarks,....(you know,...if you like stuff like the Carolina Tar Heels then we must be "cut out of the same piece of leather"). BTW I spent a year (1972-1973) up in Missoula Montana. It was sure beautiful,...but DANG! I just wasn't prepared for the cold winter!!!!!!!! Froze my b** clean off. Got me a '61 Corvair,...and drove that little sucker clean thru several blizzards straight back to Houston! (and never looked back).

jpeps · #8 Post by **jpeps** » Sun 23 May 2010, 18:11

"This type of musical necrophilia - the technique of overdubbing on the preexisting tracks of already dead performers - was weird when Natalie Cole did it with her dad on "Unforgettable" a few years ago, but it was her dad. When Tony Bennett did it with Billie Holiday it was bizarre, but we are talking about two of the greatest singers of the 20th century who were on roughly the same level of artistic accomplishment. When Larry Coryell presumed to overdub himself on top of a Wes Montgomery track, I lost a lot of the respect that I ever had for him - and I have to seriously question the fact that I did have respect for someone who could turn out to have such unbelievably bad taste and be that disrespectful to one of my personal heroes. "

http://dcjazz.com/store/merchant.mv?Scr ... Code=SNBCD

rjbrewer · #9 Post by **rjbrewer** » Sun 23 May 2010, 19:29

"Sucking" on a wind (reed) instrument doesn't work too well.
You have to blow into them.

(Bagpipes are a mystery).

DMcCunney · #10 Post by **DMcCunney** » Sun 23 May 2010, 20:20

bugman wrote:hell, i don't like any jazz after 'bitches brew'

except 'on the corner', but that's just barely jazz, no?

[have been told i would like the jack johnson record as well, but so little time...]

You don't like any of Miles Davis's jazz after "Bitches Brew". That's fair. Saying you don't like any jazz released after Bitches Brew just reveals a profound ignorance of current jazz. Miles represented one direction jazz took, but there are still players working in all the others.

(I saw Miles live on the tour promoting that release. I thought my brain was going to melt and leak out my ears. Amazing stuff...)
______
Dennis

DMcCunney · #11 Post by **DMcCunney** » Sun 23 May 2010, 20:32

jpeps wrote:"This type of musical necrophilia - the technique of overdubbing on the preexisting tracks of already dead performers - was weird when Natalie Cole did it with her dad on "Unforgettable" a few years ago, but it was her dad. When Tony Bennett did it with Billie Holiday it was bizarre, but we are talking about two of the greatest singers of the 20th century who were on roughly the same level of artistic accomplishment. When Larry Coryell presumed to overdub himself on top of a Wes Montgomery track, I lost a lot of the respect that I ever had for him - and I have to seriously question the fact that I did have respect for someone who could turn out to have such unbelievably bad taste and be that disrespectful to one of my personal heroes. "

I'm not sure I agree.

Let's say you're a musician (playing whatever instrument) who idolized an older player when you were learning to play, and that you really wished you could play with your idol, but never got the chance. If you got an opportunity to overdub yourself on one of the master's tracks, and play with him, even posthumously, wouldn't you be tempted?

Coryell had to contract with Montgomery's estate to get the rights to use the track, and pay a fee that would go to Montomery's heirs, then get the master tapes to do an overdub for release. " Coryell is an amazing player, and it would have been great if he had played with Wes when Wes was alive.

I don't see it as ghoulish or disrespectful - I see it as sincere homage to a master by an acolyte. My question would be "How good is the track?" Coryell is a very talented guitarist, and my suspicion is that it's tasty indeed.
______
Dennis

bugman · #12 Post by **bugman** » Sun 23 May 2010, 21:04

DMcCunney wrote:Saying you don't like any jazz released after Bitches Brew just reveals a profound ignorance of current jazz.

i would say willful ignorance

even tho one of my best friends is a jazz musician:

http://www.bookcrazy.com/richwest/

bugman · #13 Post by **bugman** » Sun 23 May 2010, 21:07

jpeps wrote:"This type of musical necrophilia - the technique of overdubbing on the preexisting tracks of already dead performers

i am guessing you don't listen to much reggae -- that's practically all they do . . .

outside of jamaica i agree, it's kinda creepy, and seems to indicate a lack of anything new to say

jpeps · #14 Post by **jpeps** » Mon 24 May 2010, 04:33

bugman wrote:
jpeps wrote:"This type of musical necrophilia - the technique of overdubbing on the preexisting tracks of already dead performers
i am guessing you don't listen to much reggae -- that's practically all they do . . .

outside of jamaica i agree, it's kinda creepy, and seems to indicate a lack of anything new to say

BTW/ The "quote" is by Pat Metheny on Kenny G from the initial link.

obxjerry · #15 Post by **obxjerry** » Mon 24 May 2010, 14:33

Jamaica is separate from anything else. There is music everywhere. Did you know car horns are tunable? We were in Ocho Rios (cruise ship) for a few hours. We were walking outside the usual tourist area and ran across a cab queue. There was an elevated platform and a fellow with an array of horns. He played a little ditty (evidently identified a song) and then honked one, two ,three. The cab drivers played the song. You would have to have been there. A 12 on the 1 to 10 wow scale.

bugman · #16 Post by **bugman** » Mon 24 May 2010, 14:42

jpeps wrote:BTW/ The "quote" is by Pat Metheny on Kenny G from the initial link.

sorry 'bout that

dejan555 · #17 Post by **dejan555** » Mon 24 May 2010, 15:26

obxjerry wrote:Jamaica is separate from anything else. There is music everywhere. Did you know car horns are tunable? We were in Ocho Rios (cruise ship) for a few hours. We were walking outside the usual tourist area and ran across a cab queue. There was an elevated platform and a fellow with an array of horns. He played a little ditty (evidently identified a song) and then honked one, two ,three. The cab drivers played the song. You would have to have been there. A 12 on the 1 to 10 wow scale.

That sounds both ultra funny and awesome

nubc · #18 Post by **nubc** » Mon 24 May 2010, 15:39

Of the 150 big-name smooth jazz artists I collect, I can always find at least one good song by a particular artist that pleases me. I have never found that track by Kenny G, although "Songbird" might be a candidate. I know of at least one instance of musical "necrophilia" which might rile Metheny, that I consider a significant contribution to a great artist's discography. That album would be Django Reinhardt's Swing It Lightly, in which a modern rhythm section called Guitars Unlimited, from France, was carefully dubbed under Django's fantastic solo improvisations. This album was produced twenty years after the artist's death. Django was so far ahead of his times, so outstanding in his talent, he needs a modern rhythm section to fully appreciate his wizardry. The fact is, the other musicians of his time were not up to his caliber, and the music suffers in a way that makes it dated. Hard to comprehend: Swing It Lightly is still out of print.

rjbrewer · #19 Post by **rjbrewer** » Mon 24 May 2010, 16:38

Nubc

I'm an old Django fan too.
Did get to see Stephan Grapelli a few times.

Check out the voice of Annette Hanshaw on "Sita sings the Blues".

http://www.archive.org/details/Sita_Sings_the_Blues

nubc · #20 Post by **nubc** » Mon 24 May 2010, 16:56

rjbrewer,
Check out the soundtrack to the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, in which jazz violinist Jerry Goodman does an outstanding tribute to Stephane Grappelli and Le Jazz Hot.

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Kenny G sucks

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