Classics in the Key of G - G, Kenny (CD 1999)

(I've talked about the album THIS TIME. I SWEAR, so come in take a look)

You know what p***es me off?
When a musician, after spending his entire goddamn career playing syrupy tunes, grooving with michael 'how am i s'pposed ta live without cha' bolton and being on MTV with diabetes-inducing chocolatey looks AND locks (of hair), enters the 'hey-folks-lookee-here-i-can-play-jazz-&-therefore-i'm-now-a-critically-acclaimed-musician' mode, like our man Mr G here.

And what makes the whole thing worse is that some people actually fall for it! Take my old man for example. The gent never goes without mentioning jazz and kenny g in the same sentence! Took me years (and 13 miles davis albums) to educate him. Today, he's a convert, having opened his ears and mind up to the magic that's jazz.

It's all very fine for Mr G to play a jazz tune here and there and then pretend to be a jazzman. Maybe he's even getting people to listen to his so-called jazz music, who, otherwise, would never have picked up a A C Jobim or a 'Trane album. But even then, i'd still give the electric chair to Mr G, for diluting a genre so potentially intense as jazz with his tinkerings.

Finally, for all those who listen to G: There are usually 2 reasons why ppl listen to kenny g. One: they don't like eating in silence ans Two: They get all claustrophobic in elevators (or lifts, depending upon your side of the altlantic) unless there's some music (read muzak) on.

People who're looking for jazz (but don't know where to start) DO NOT listen to kenny g or yanni or richard clayderman. They simply get Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and find out that if god ever played brass, it'd have to be a trumpet! So don't get suckered by cheap imitations, go get the real thing...

NEW STUFF BEGINS HERE!!! NEW STUFF BEGINS HERE!! NEW STUFF BEGINS HERE!!
Hey, what's the fun of epining if i can't do it the way i want? But okay, folks made a valid point.

Guess what? i've never heard the album myself! But i HAVE heard other kenny g discs. i REALLY have.
Fine. You might say on this particular disc, our man Mr G acquires such stunning insights into improvisation and musical and lyrical imagination that all his previous albums simply pale into nothingness...
WELL: I DON'T BUY THAT!!

I'm sure Mr G sounds great (he CAN play non-stop, using a unique breathing technique); the presence of other jazz greats helps too, i'm willing to bet. but even then, if you DO have to listen to The Girl From Ipenema, why go in for the G's sax? When you could have it from john coltrane, joe henderson or so many of the true jazz greats (at same price, but more class). I don't see any point in buying this album unless you truly lap up whatever Mr goldielocks-and-sax dishes out! And it's also not characteristic of G's music, so it's not even 'a good introduction to the musical style'. So why WOULD you buy it, huh? Why?