The music of Kenny G is not something that’s easy to actively listen to: it stealthily slips into the background, becoming the mere undercurrent to whatever one may be actively experiencing at that time. Before you know it, you almost forget that you’re listening to it at all, but the melodies get filed away somewhere subconsciously and stick with you. Later on you’ll hear one of his songs again and you’ll feel like you know every note. At his best, Kenny G’s music is hauntingly beautiful and the new 2-disc CD set The Essential Kenny G is a great collection for showing off his range with a variety of his greatest hits and personal favorites.
While not every song in this collection personally suits me, it’s nevertheless nice to have a wider variety of work showcased than I was expecting. Though I find his version of “Pick Up the Pieces” completely unnecessary as a stand-alone song, it’s an unexpected upbeat jazzy number that serves as a pleasant counterbalance to much of the rest of the collection. I see his “duet” with Louis Armstrong on “What a Wonderful World” to be just as gratuitous, and his Millennium Mix version of “Auld Lang Syne” to be little more than a novelty alongside dusty “Y2K” jokes, but I can understand their place in an “Essential Kenny G” collection, and feel like they don’t detract too much.
A nice addition to this set is the brief “commentary” the G provides in the liner notes about each song. I enjoyed learning a little trivia behind some of the tunes I really enjoy, like the reasons he wrote certain songs, that “Silhouette” was recorded in an apartment instead of studio or how he attributes his notoriety to performing “Songbird” on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I have to wonder if Kenny went to the Elaine Benes School of Exclamation Mark Usage, since he uses them in bunches - up to three at a time!!! It may only bug English teachers and me, but still...c’mon, where’s his copyeditor? I half expected to see a “LOL” or “:)” show up.
Those minor detractions aside, there are a great deal of wonderful songs scattered throughout the two discs, making for hours of listening enjoyment for smooth jazz fans. Even if you already own Kenny G’s Greatest Hits album like I do, there’s enough new material and new arrangement of old to make The Essential Kenny G a worthwhile purchase.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - zingzing
ugh. my mother likes kenny g. she got to meet him once after a concert (her friend is mr. g's sister in law). she calls him her "close, personal friend." whenever she shows bad taste, i remind her about kenny g and roll my eyes. she says, "what? he's my close, personal friend." i'm going to put her in a home soon.
2 - FilteringCraig
"Essential Kenny G"
That is funny to me. I saw Kenny G once and I was just bored out of my mind.
3 - Kenny G
I've read Filtering Craig's articles and he is certainly one to know what boring is. Yawn! Let me know when someone starts paying you to write, amateur.
4 - Ornette Coleman
At least Filtering Craig doesn't need to partake of a poodle-style perm before taking pen to paper (or however he does it).
p.s. G, please learn at least one new scale. You've worn that one you've been using OUT!!!
5 - Michael J. West
Zingzing, just remind her that it's another step on the road to rock & roll Hell, where she'll sit watching Karen Carpenter get thinner and thinner for all eternity...
6 - Kenny G
Mich, er, I mean Ornette, I wish you would free jazz because anyone can hear what you are doing to it is a crime. It's no wonder you haven't released an album in 10 years. Are they still making you put the chairs away after a gig?
No time to care about hair when I'm counting my millions and lowering my golf score, suckers. BTW, I've seen FC's pic at myspace, so let's not get into a discusion about looks or music.
7 - zingzing
kenny g and my mother's opinions are "putrid."
8 - Kenny G's assistant
zing, Kenny G asked me to respond because he is busy. Kenny G and your mother are drinking absinthe and rolling naked in a small pool of $100 bills. Kennys G says to shut your mouth or he will take and post pictures of the depraved acts he performs on her. Kenny G says that if you don't go back to your lame, pathetic desk job he will marry your mother, make you his stepson, and then alter all your Xmas traditions. I must leave now because Kenny G has requested I go to the garden and pick the ripest cucumbers for your mother, yet they already have eaten lunch, so I'm not sure what they will do with them.
9 - zingzing
woo. ouch. my mother actually is paralyzed from the neck down, so i don't think she's been getting it on with kenny g. and my desk job is lame and pathetic. that's ok. at least i don't cut kenny g's neck hair. ew. now go do his whites.
10 - Connie Phillips
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One such site is here.
11 - jacobo camhi
KENNY G HAS DONNE FOR MY LIFE SOMETHING I CANT PUT IN TO WORDS,HIS MUSIC FILL MY LIFE IN EVRY WAY,HIS CONCERT IN MEXICO 97 WAS LIKE BEING ADRENALIZED,MORE LIKE HAVING A TASTE FROM PRADISE,KENNY G ,HAS SAID M-A-N-Y TIMES THAT HE LOVES PLAYING STILL BAD COMENTARIES ARE NOT TO PAY ATENTION,HE JUST WANTS TO PLAY HEARTFULY,WHATEVER WE LIKE HIM OR DISLIKE HIM,NO MATTER WHAT ,HEIS THE BEST SAX PLAYER E-V-E-R,I INVITE ANYBODY TO EVEN TRY TO PLAY AS SMOOTH AS HE ,YOU GUYS THAT DONT LIKE KENNETH GORELICK,YOU ARE AT YOUR RIGHT,STILL 30 YEARS AND PLUS OF PLAYING,PRACTISING FOR 5 HOURS ,AND PLAYING SO BEAUTIFUL..........THATS A GREAT STUFF,UNIQUE !
12 - Kenny G's assistant
jacobo,
Kenny G would appreciate your kind words, but he knows you have no choice in the matter because you speak the truth. Kenny G says he will love your mother tenderly the next time he is in Mexico and not treat her so roughly that he injures her spine, which has been a curse that many women are grateful to live with after experiencing his love-making techniques. Kenny G says to expect him in the late summer because he is going to do some USO work, which is really a ruse to get him into countries so he can kill terrorists with his martial arts training, most notably his powerful roundhouse kick taught to him by Chuck Norris.
13 - zingzing
ooh. damn. actually, my mother is not paralyzed. i lied. i'm sorry.
14 - jacobo camhi
i dont think you are kenny g´s asisstant,still kenny g is so great and so humble people like you attacked him,he overrides this an goes far beyond with a carrer since he was 17.
I KNOWN KG AND HAD HIM AT MY FACE IN THE CONCERT,HE HAS GONE SO FAR THAT EVEN THIS PAT MATHNEY COULDNT HARM HIM IN HIS DREAMS,ITS A RIGHT TO ANALIZE HIM,STILL HE WILL BE THE BEST SAX PLAYER EVER,AND IF HE MAKES MONEY IS WORTH MADE WITH SWEAT AND TOURING ALL OVER THE WORLD.
AND HE DOSENT NEED MY MOTHER ,HE HAS A GORGEOUS WIFE (LYNDIE)AND TWO SONS -MAX AND NOAH!
KENNY G DISSOLVES ANY BAD WORD SPITED AT HIM WITH A HEARTH FELT SONG ,WATH OUT PAL,HE MAY PLAY AT YOUR NEXT PARTY TO YOU IN A SOUND PROOF ROOM,LOCKED WITH YOU FOR 6 MONTS,THATS A SAX VENGANCE,
G MAN IS THE #1 EVER
15 - Kenny G's assistant
zing, Kenny G says that he doesn't find it surprising that someone with such poor taste in music is a confessed liar. Kenny G has been with so many women that he finds it hard to keep track of all of them. When you mentioned your mother being paralyzed, it reminded Kenny G of someone. It appears your mother is relegated to the nameless rabble of groupies who let Kenny G use her. Kenny G says she may have been videotaped so if you mother will provide the city and the date, Kenny G will have me research it.
jacobo, Kenny G doesn't care if you think I'm his assistant. Kenny G says it's not for you to say whether he needs your mother, but if they are in a room together, his animal magentism will cause her to give herself to him and she will do things she never allowed another man to do, not even your father. If she has trouble sitting down, you will understand. Kenny G also doesn't like being called G Man. Stop now if you value your life.
16 - jacobo
ummmmmmm!lets see,if you work with kenny g ,you will know his school music teacher?,(i know),or his favorite food? (i know it too),or how he managed to study his sax,with his carrer,did he achive MAGNA-cum LAUDE?this is the best level of his acountant carrer?or the wife´s family name?.....
you should know this........im waiting,see,you are NOT his employee,.
still of you dont like KENNY G,HE FORGIVES YOU PAL.
WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER I USED TO LIKE MOTLEY CRUE,SCORPIONS,RUSH,BLACK SABBATH,,BUT NOW AND FOREVER, KENNY G BLOWS MY SOUL
THE BEST SAX PLAYER EVER.
17 - jacobo CAMHI
BESIDE THAT ,THE GORELICK FAMILY WILL KICK YOU OUT IF YOU EVEN APLIED FOR ASSISTANT,IF YOU DIDNT KNEW.........GORELICK IS THE REAL FAMILY NAME FOR KENNY G <<
I GOT YA,PAL!
SINCE KENNY G IS ALWAYS TOURING,MAKING CDS,AND MANY MORE THINGS ........HE HAS HELP ALREADY.
YOU()(/&&%%$$$$##"#""##"""")
18 - jacobo CAMHI
WHY YOU DONT GO DRESSED LIKE A BALERINA,SINGING TWINKLE ,TWINKLE ,LITTLE STAR.....
(laugh!)
19 - Kenny G's assistant
Jacobo, while it would be very easy for me to answer your questions, Kenny G requests I don't because he has enough trouble with stalkers. The last time someone had an "accident" on Kenny G's property, Interpol said they could no longer provide protection.
While Kenny G appreciates your appreciation, you must stop mentioning the name of his family members. If you do so again, expect to get the Natalie Holloway treatment. He has enough fans that your disappearance would not be noticed in his music sales.
Also stop using italics online.
20 - Dhaval
I haven't got any opinion about Kenny G except that he is GOD, and... if you don't even like Kenny G, dude, You've got issues.