Kenny G???? Should Kenny G be considered a jazz musician?!
Question: If so, then what is jazz? Why?
...and thus....
Who determines what "is" jazz? How?
Answers: If so, then what is jazz? Why?
...and thus....
Who determines what "is" jazz? How?
People who are not jazz listeners will associate him with jazz just because he plays a saxophone. Kind of like if you see someone with a baseball glove on, you would think that he is a baseball player.
For me, real jazz music is music that is created and performed with the motivation of exploration and/or personal expression ,. The legendary jazz musicians are the innovators. In real jazz the success of a song is in its artistic merit. Some of these successes are not top selling albums. Some are hardly known by he public, but within the jazz community, they are great works.
With that said, Kenny G. is not a real jazz musician, and he IS a pop musician who plays a saxophone.
I have to admit that I do get mad when he is called a jazz musician. I get mad on behalf of the true masters who gave their lives to the music, even when they weren't appreciated. Kenny G. is just riding the gravy train.
I don't mind Kenny G. playing his music, or anyone who listens to it. I would just like for those people to understand what they are saying when they put him in the same category as the true masters who suffered for, and innovated the music.
Jazz is many things. Generally, the beat can be found on 2 and 4 (considering you are in 4/4 time).
Kenny G would be considered smooth jazz (keep in mind that not all jazz has swinging eigth notes).
Pretty much, it is just the scales and chords used within a song that determine whether or not the song is in the jazz style or not. And there are sub-catagories to jazz (such as swing, bee-bop, ect.) There is so much to jazz that I don't have the time to explain it...it would take days to really explain jazz. Do a little research.
Hope this helps.
Well, it is certainly a matter of opinion. Personally, I do not consider him a jazz musician per se, since he plays mostly 'pop' music. However, in his past, Kenny Gorelick (his real name) did some fine work with Jeff Lorber Fusion in the 1970s. The album 'Watermark' comes to mind.
Trying to answer your question of "What is jazz?" is extremely difficult.
There are many sub-genres within the jazz genre. What Kenny G plays is labeled by commercial music as 'smooth jazz' - it certainly contains some of the elements of jazz styling, but it is very much watered down to suit the tastes of the ingenues and popular audience. Many people who like 'smooth jazz' do not like straight-ahead hard bop or more modern jazz styles, as they find it difficult to follow or understand. I completely understand this and do not begrudge anyone on their musical tastes - you simply cannot dictate to everyone what should like and listen to.
Personally, I think that Kenny G's tone is thin and whiny (especially on the soprano sax) and his technique is hackneyed, contrived and repetitive. But that is my opinion and it does not diminish his importance to those who enjoy his music. I have a collection of over 5000 recordings (LPs, CDs, DVDs and cassettes) and I have none of Kenny G's recordings as a leader, since it does not suit my tastes.
Who determines what is jazz and how? Well, that is mostly left to critics and writers, but there is certainly some strong sentiment in the jazz artist community. Some 'cats' think that anything that isn't played in NYC is just trash. This is of course quite narrow-minded and eliminates a lot of really great music. In the end, there is really only two types of music: great music and not-so-great music. However, this is extremely subjective and personal to each listener. Therefore, the line is thin and obscured by each person who listens.
I believe he is.
"What is jazz" has been in question as long as jazz has been around. Louis Armstrong is surely a jazz musician, but is Rhapsody in Blue or any of the other works performed with it in the great Carnegie Hall "Jazz" concert in 1924? Gershwin thought he was writing jazz, not classical.
As to Kenny G's playing "pop"--Lady Day, Louis Armstrong, Miles all sang or played "pop" sometimes. Is Frank Sinatra a jazz singer or not? Almost everything he sang was "pop." Etc. Etc.
My definition of jazz is (a) if it is in the Penguin Jazz CD Record Guide or (b) if it is played in the "jazz" segments on one of the two jazz radio stations I listen to. They know a lot more about this than you or I do.
Kenny G is not a jazz musician. He is a pop musician. Jazz music is art. Kenny G is crap. But this is an opinion of mine.
Kenny G may have his place in music but it sure isn't jazz. Easy listening or elevator music makes more sense to me.
It seems like anytime someone is an instrumentalist that they get put into the jazz category. But that is usually done by those who don't really understand jazz.