Tweet
Actually, Kenny “G” Gorelick is up their as one of my favorite saxophonists of all time, especially his 1984 “Duotones” imprint…
Someone actually used the word “imprint” in a sentence with “Kenny G”.
Pat Metheny on Kenny G:
Not long ago, Kenny G put out a recording where he overdubbed himself on top of a 30+ year old Louis Armstrong record, the track “What a Wonderful World”. With this single move, Kenny G became one of the few people on earth I can say that I really can’t use at all – as a man, for his incredible arrogance to even consider such a thing, and as a musician, for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music.
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.
But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of the great Louis’s tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present 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 he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and by default, everyone who has ever tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture – something that we all should be totally embarrassed about – and afraid of. We ignore this, “let it slide”, at our own peril.
Well, that was fun.
73 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About TBogg
RSS/XML Feed
Now that, that is an ass kicking. Nice one Pat!
The great Richard Thompson agrees with Pat Metheny, to music…
Change a few names and that’s a fine review of AngrySowSarah Palin’s “new” book.
“Actually, Kenny “G” Gorelick is up their” what?
Up their sleeves? Up their asses?
Wow, that WAS fun! Although never a huge Metheny fan, my opinion of him is definitely up “their” now.
Reminds me of something Neil Young once said about Jimi…”there’s no one even in the same building!”
Kenny G’s in the house with Satchmo! Um, not so much.
captphealy@2 — brilliant! Thanks for the link. Everyone else (except Michael Bolton fans), go see. Richard is brilliant.
“Harmonic clams” is certainly a phrase I was unacquainted with; thanks, Pat Metheny. One marvels at the potential applications of this phrase.
he had me with that phrase! Whoa dude, AWESOME! As with Puravida, I was never a big Metheny fan but DAMN I’m in love with the man now!
and Puravida, thank you for that Neil Young quote.
“But I save my softest spots for songstresses…”
Anyone else could say this and it would sound creepy. But coming from starburst guys…ugh.
“wouldn’t sound”
the edit feature ain’t working anymore.
Smoove’s base guitar is plugged into the heartbeat of America and he knows that Super Sarah is up their with the greatest quitters of all time in America’s fond regard, as can be seen in the brisk sales of her latest imprint, “Super Sarah’s Sexy Sonnets: It’s not Plagiarism if you Steal from Dead People (and the Copyright has Lapsed).”
Whew. I need a cigarette.
On my planet, even covering Satchmo is a mortal sin. Overdubbing him is tantamount to Lucifer’s rebellion.
Now see, someone is willing to go to all that sturm und drang about a guy who plays some annoying saxophone music. But when it comes to half-witted con artists who run for vice president, we must give proper weight and deference to each and every gargle she emits, and talk endlessly on television about what she means to America. That’s why our discourse is so serious! Sigh.
There is (or was a few years back) a band in the Bay Area calling itself “The Dead Kenny G’s.” I presume the lead singer was Pudding Nigeria.
HA! (Had me a good dose of Frankenchrist this a.m. Jock-O-Rama/Invasion of the Beef Patrol is a nice Football Saturday warmup!)
Well, not to be pedantic (imagine), but that word, authentically jazzy and music-savvy as it may be, does not mean what smoothjazz thinks it does. Duotones was what we in the music consumer community refer to as an “album”. It was released on Arista, which is an “imprint” of Sony Music.
To be fair, ever since Nat Hentoff went full wingnut, all the kool konservatives are using “imprint” these days.
Next up: Why Jazz Is Inherently Conservative.
LOL. So nice of you link to my post on OTB and feature me on Firedoglake, but let’s get one thing straight: I am not white. I’m an African American male who grew up in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Indeed, I am one of the few “Brothers” who thinks Obama is a narcissist who is in way over his head.
And to Julia: If you follow the thread over at OTB, you would know that I elaborate on using the term “imprint”. Yes, I know the term generally refers to a record label; I was using it loosely to describe an album.
What I don’t understand is why you Obama sychophants keep harping on the fact that she quit as Gov, when Obama quit as Senator after barely a year. Sure, he was technically in the Senate for 3/4 years, but we all know he spent almost all his time when he was in the Senate running for President. His only real experience for the job of President is spending time in faculty lounges, full time community organizer and state senator. No wonder he is in so far over his head.
Face it Libs: Obama is an unmitigated disaster. He clearly is out of his league as President. Gov Palin surely cannot be any worse. At least she has core principles. The guy masquerading as President now is an empty suit with no core principles. What a joke!
That makes it even worse, LOL.
Welcome. Everyone play nice.
Dear Penthouse Forum: I never thought this would happen to me, an African American male raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant…
Well, then, I apologize profusely to both you and Humpty Dumpty, whose rhetorical strategy you’re employing.
Kenny G. overdubbing Louis Armstrong is like Pat Boone covering heavy metal. Just saying.
Glad I learned what good jazz (and music) was when I was a kid. And I’m not even black!
Pat hit it on the head- Kenny ‘G’ is a pretentious asshole, lucky to have had his scam play out so long and successfully thus far.
As to Obama being in over his head- the water was pretty deep when he dove in the pool. Thanks, GW-and all the help from his pals has been dandy, too.
Words fail to describe my level of skepticism over this tidbit, but then, I survived the great PUMA wars of 2008 and remember the sheer number of random folks who hated Obama and suddenly “became” African American just in time to avoid accusations of racism. I mean, it’s entirely possible that you ARE the African American conservative who grew up in Bed-Stuy, loves Kenny G, describes themselves as “Northeastern to my fingertips”, refers to the Midwest as the “Heartland”, and hates Obama. But it’s damn unlikely..
SJ-So nice of you to stop by.
But, sorry, $arah’s not even on the same planet as Obama, much less in the same building.
And Kenny G? Dude, I won’t even go their.
A swing and a miss!
I don’t think I have ever commented here but I read you every day; a lurker I guess. But, this is just too much fun. I went and read his whole remark. The whole thing is even better. I have no problem, like Metheny with Cole and Tony B. dubbing themselves with others; they have the chops and heritage and talent. But, man, I have vinyl albums of Armstrong’s playing from his early career and even then you can hear and FEEL that he was, and is in many respects, ahead of his time. And those recordings are shitty, I cannot even imagine what he could do today. And ‘World”: I have heard that song hundreds of times and I still get choked up when he plays. It is unbearingly achy and hits your soul. To paraphrase Lewis Black and his comment about what he would buy with his money if he was filthy rich: Kenny G. might make a good ball washer for Louis Armstrong. Wash and blow dry.
And that’s a stretch.
Palin has the core values all these RepubliKKKan weasels have- lie, cheat and steal, and ‘I got mine- (and I’ll) fuck you outta yours, too!’. She hasn’t done so good with the basic, universal politician code-get elected, get re-elected.
You can be skeptical all you want, but I know who & what I am. If you completely read the OTB post that TBOGG linked here, and the jazz artists referenced in the post, it may provide a clue on my race. Having said that, I know 90%+ Blacks support Obama, but that is not 100%. I know a few Blacks who believe the guy is a weak leader and complete failure.
Who are you and what have you done to TBogg?
Well that’s great, Pat Metheny. What are we supposed to do about it? I already boycott Kenny G and would have continued to do so even without the Louis Armstrong thing. And how are you going to make fun of somebody who calls himself Kenny G?
Clams – longtime musician term for bad harmony, or big mistake. Great term.
Musical Necrophelia – that’s truly a new one. Apropos.
::
I’m sure you know who you are, I’m pretty sure I know who you are, and I think we both know it’s not who you say.
You are to be complimented on your superb impersonation of Bensonhurst.
Smooth, I think we can find some common ground here – many of us hope, just like you, that Sarah Palin is the Republican nominee in 2012.
Just not for the same reason you do.
Thanks for that. I like smooth jazz, amongst other types of music, but I’ve never liked Kenny G.
Next up: Why Jazz Is Inherently Conservative.
Because know-nothing academics got their claws into both and sucked all sense and life out of both and are dedicated to producing legions of young school-trained experts who have no experience of life and regurgitate these process-mapped techniques as if they were going through end of year exams?
Also that the actual free-market does not want to support either and they have to rely on subsidies? While being insufferable tools about how pure they are?
Just kicking around…actually got out of the boat and checked the links.
I’ve never heard of a base guitar before. Is it played between innings?
“Obama sycophants”? Sorry, but you seem to have mistaken us for the Orangerie.
All these years I’ve been groping for the word to describe Kenny G’s sound and there it is….Noodling. Thank you.
:)
I’m actually not that crazy about Obama at this point (because I find him far too Republican-lite, the opposite reasons from yours) but just to set the record straight:
Barack Obama was the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review. This is a big deal, and not some sort of honorary position but takes seriously impressing some people not easy to impress. He took his law degree in the opposite direction from most of his classmates who all went to Wall Street, and became a lawyer in Chicago helping those who needed help most, and at the same time he became a law professor, and a really good one at a top school, again impressing the hell out of a lot of people very difficult to impress.
Eventually he was elected to the Senate in Illinois, and years later elected as the United States Senator from Illinois. His term was cut somewhat short only because he was elected President of the United States.
By contrast, Sarah Palin served half a term as Governor of Alaska, whose entire population is smaller than the town of Portland Oregon, then she quit so that she could cash in on her new-found fame and make a lot of money. Before that she was the Mayor of a tiny town.
It’s pretty much the same thing with Pat Metheny, a prodigy who was teaching jazz guitar at the Berklee School of Music pretty much right out of high school, was in the legendary Gary Burton’s band, and has recorded duo albums with Jim Hall, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, and a lot of other people.
Compared to Kenny G who learned just enough jazz to sound plausible to people who don’t really like jazz and as a result don’t know the difference.
In short, a right wing Republican is a fan of Sarah Palin and also likes Kenny G?
This is the opposite of a surprise.
Kenny G. is the Vanilla Ice of jazz.
I thought folks watched Kenny G play for the same reason they went to Nascar, hoping to see him blow one of those popping veins while “reaching” for those sweet notes….
Vanilla Ice made it to McGuffy’s tavern. While it has been a venue for artists who typically have a smaller draw it also has been a place where artists who have made a long slide downwards in popularity show up at. Since Gun & Roses still makes good scratch at the birthday party circuit they haven’t been there but maybe in another 10 years….
I’ll be releasing a new version of Sweet Child of Mine, soon. It’s the G&R version with me swearing a lot in the background.
Kenny G, for people who find Dave Sanborn too edgy……………
I suppose it’s unfair that someone so relatively untalented as Kenny G should be successful, but really, Pat Methany is using a Sherman tank to disable a mosquito. Didn’t he already go on about Kenny G years ago, or is this that same rant dusted off for those who might not have read it the first time?
Gov Palin surely cannot be any worse. At least she has core principles.
Stop laughing. She does. She has lived by them since childhood. Anything that advances the fame, fortune, or power of Sarah Palin is good. Anything else (truth, consistency, other people, honesty, self-knowledge, etc.) is at best irrelevant.
That’s what you libs will never understand. She believes in something.
I eagerly Mr. Smoothie’s response to your take down.
Of course he can’t understand the difference…his membership in the Tea Party would be revoked if he did.
I’m guessing here, but I’d bet serious money that Ron Christie is a huge Kenny G. fan as well.
Stop laughing. She does. She has lived by them since childhood. Anything that advances the fame, fortune, or power of Sarah Palin is good. Anything else (truth, consistency, other people, honesty, self-knowledge, etc.) is at best irrelevant.
Well, sure, if we forget that she was the Governor of the People’s Republic of Alaska, where living off Big Oil royalties is god given way of life, I can accept this. And lets not forget her support for projects like building bridges to nowhere, making Alaska a net importer of US tax dollars – receiving $1.84 for every dollar they pay (http://www.usaliveheadlines.com/2215/a-revealing-infographic-shows-where-federal-tax-dollars-come-from.htm) – that’s totally consistent with the Republican core principle of “do as I say, not as I do”.
But Sarah’s #1 principle is looking out for Sarah’s principal…and that’s growing like starbursts.
I eagerly Mr. Smoothie’s response to your take down.
Damn await key is broken too…also.
For those of you who have no idea who Pat Metheny is and why he is entitled to this opinion (and completely correct, obviously), may I humbly suggest you start with “Still Life (Talking)”. It will take you to other places temporarily. He makes the guitar sing. Truly. Also.
Reminds me of a Saturday Night Live newscast a long time ago. Kenny G had just released his Christmas album. I think it was Dennis Miller who said, “Happy Birthday Jesus! Hope you like crap!”
Actually, it was Norm MacDonald.
I only know this because it was so hilarious I’ve never forgotten it.
slip away
first circle
are you going with me?
as falls wichita so falls wichita falls
Lou: You saw Vinick on TV this morning. Clearly it wasn’t about content, but he was tough and he was authentic. He was Neil Young to your Neil Diamond.
Josh: I like Neil Diamond.
Lou: I’m sure you do.
By the way anyone who thinks that Pat Metheny is just some sort of space jazz or fusion player and can’t do straight ahead better than almost anyone also (I know even musicians who don’t get this) check this out. At about 1:40 his solo pretty much becomes airborne.
Why do I like humor better than bombast ?
Might I also (too) suggest Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny’s Beyond The Missouri Sky which is breathtakingly beautiful.
Indeed.
Your planet must not feature a whole lot of jazz, then, especially not vocal jazz. Retiring half the pre-war standards would be a rather devastating limitation. As opposed to, say, indie rock, originality of your song material is not considered all that desirable. Originality of INTERPRETATION is what counts. Armstrong, Bobby Darin, and Sonny Rollins each recorded perfectly good versions of “Mack the Knife”.
To be fair to SJ:
Sarah Palin did once write a letter to the editor of her community college weekly coupon mailer.
Also, Obama quit as Senator to become, oh, I don’t know… President of the fucking United States? Couldn’t he ask to have a start date that fit SJ’s busy schedule? Too!
Sometimes I wish McCain/Palin would have won because the bitch woulda quit by now. And so would’ve Palin.
The Creaturette says-’Kenny G is the MilliVanilli of jazz!’
Briefly delurking to mention that this thread (& supplementary material) inspired me to order As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls, which I haven’t heard since it was only available on vinyl & cassette. Thanks smoothjazz, and I hope right along witcha that Sarah runs in 2012! It’d be just like Republican Demolition Derby with Triple-Butter-Crunch ice cream while listening to Hendrix and having six orgasms when she makes her concession speech!
There is no limit to the depths to which “smooth jazz” will sink (the genre, I mean, not the commenter. He’s just a garden-variety conservative). You doubt this? I was once trapped in a vehicle whose driver had selected the local smoove station and experienced the dawning horror of realizing that the familiar tune drifting out of the speakers was “Take Five” – in 4/4 time.
Oh Jebus, “Take Five” in 4/4 time? That hurts. I suppose anything by Avishai Cohen is totally off the table…
Are you kidding? Dennis Miller saying something funny?
That was David Letterman, kiddo. One of my all-time favorite snarks of his, right up there with his saying to Bill O’Lielly (coincidentally, while BillO was spewing about the bullshit “War on Christmas”), “I think about 60% of what comes out of your mouth is crap.” Yes, I know he understimated by about 39.9%; it was network TV, after all.
Dennis Miller is the Kenny G of comedy.
See my reply to jhudson.
Though, to be fair, Norm McDonald might occasionally say something funny.
I do believe it was Norm who covered the news that Kenny G had gotten into the record books for the longest continuous note from a wind instrument, holding it for 45 minutes and some-odd seconds. “The only thing more boring than hearing him play the same note for 45 minutes,” he said, “is hearing him play different notes for 45 minutes.”