| Kenneth Gorelick
(born June 5, 1956), better known by his stage name Kenny G
, is a Grammy winning American saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones
, brought him breakthrough success in 1986. [1] Kenny's main instrument is the soprano saxophone, but he also on occasion plays alto and tenor saxophone and flute. Kenny G uses plastic pad resonators on his alto saxophone. He also uses plastic pad resonators on his soprano saxophone, on his tenor saxophone, Kenny G uses metal pad resonators.
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KENNY G TICKETS
| EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
|---|
| Kenny G Tickets 12/4 | Dec 04, 2024
Wed, 7:30 PM |  | | Kenny G Tickets 12/5 | Dec 05, 2024
Thu, 8:00 PM | | | Kenny G Tickets 12/6 | Dec 06, 2024
Fri, 8:00 PM | | | Kenny G Tickets 12/7 | Dec 07, 2024
Sat, 8:00 PM | | | Kenny G Tickets 12/10 | Dec 10, 2024
Tue, 7:00 PM | |
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Early life
Kenny was born in
Seattle,
Washington,
[2] to a Jewish family and first came into contact with a saxophone when he heard someone performing with one on
The Ed Sullivan Show
.
He learned how to play under the direction of local trumpeter
Gerald Pfister and by practicing along with
records (mostly of
Grover Washington, Jr.), "trying" to emulate the sounds that he was hearing.
At
Franklin High School he failed to get into the
jazz band when he applied,
[3] although was accepted the following year when he tried again.
[4] He also played for his
high school golf team,
a sport which he had loved ever since his older
brother, Brian Gorelick, introduced it to him when he was ten years old.
For Kenny's 1957 Mark VI Soprano Saxophone, he uses a Dukoff D8 Metal Mouthpiece with a Rovner leather soprano saxophone ligature and a Rico Hemke Strength 2.5 or 3 Reed. Kenny G uses a Beechler S5S Hard Rubber Mouthpiece for his Selmer MK VI (6) Alto Saxophone. For his MK 6 Alto Saxophone he uses a Rico-Hemke reed that is strength 3. On Kenny G's Selmer MK 6 Tenor Saxophone, he uses an RIA Metal Mouthpiece for his tenor saxophone with a Rico-Hemke strength 3 reed. Kenny G's high school band director was Jim Gardner, a band director and composer.
Career
Kenneth Gorelick's
career started with a job as a sideman for
Barry White's
Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1973.
[5] Kenny was also studying for a
major in
accounting at the same time.
[6] After being rejected as a music major from
Central Washington University, he went on to get a degree from University of Washington and played with the
funk band Cold, Bold & Together
before becoming a credited member of
The Jeff Lorber Fusion
.
He began his solo career after his period with Lorber.
Kenny G signed with
Arista Records as a solo artist in 1982, after
label president
Clive Davis heard his rendition of ABBA's "Dancing Queen".
He has released many
solo albums and collaborated with various artists including
Andrea Bocelli,
Whitney Houston,
[7],
Peabo Bryson,
Toni Braxton,
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince,
[8] Natalie Cole,
[9] Steve Miller [10] (which marked the only time he appeared on a
rock and roll album),
Dudley Moore,
Michael Bolton,
Celine Dion and
Aretha Franklin.
Influenced by the likes of saxophonist
Grover Washington, Jr. and the lyricism of
Barry Manilow, his own albums are usually classified as
smooth jazz.Kenny G plays the Selmer Mark VI Soprano, Alto and Tenor Saxophones.
He received success quite early on, with both
G Force
and
Gravity
, his second and third studio
albums respectively, achieving
platinum status in the United States. These sales were topped by his fourth studio album,
Duotones
, which shifted over five million copies in the U.S. alone. His sixth studio album,
Breathless
, became the number one best selling
instrumental album ever, with over 15 million copies sold, of which 12 million were in the U.S. He broke another record when his first holiday album,
Miracles
, sold over 13 million copies, making it the most successful Christmas album to date.
In 1997, Kenny G earned a place in the
Guinness Book of World Records
for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone. Kenny G held an E-flat for forty five minutes and 47 seconds in the Hopkins-Bright Auditorium (named after his two friends) at J&R Music World in New York City.
[11] That same year, Kenny G's song "
Havana", from his album
The Moment
, was remixed by noted
DJs
Todd Terry and
Tony Moran and released promotionally to dance clubs in the U.S. These mixes went to #1 on the
Billboard
Hot Dance Club Play chart in April of 1997, giving Kenny his first (and, to date, only)
#1 on this chart.
Gorelick's 1999 single, "
What A Wonderful World" stirred controversy among the jazz community regarding the overdubbing of
Louis Armstrong's classic recording. A common criticism was that such a revered recording by an artist known especially for improvisation should not be altered. Jazz guitarist
Pat Metheny responded to this recording by saying, "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 for presuming to share the stage with the single most important figure in our music."
[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] The "duet" was produced by David Foster who also recorded the Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole duet. Gorelick stated at the time,"...I didn't want to spoil the original. I said, 'Whatever we do, if we're not going to make it better, let's throw it away and we won't do it.' So (Foster) guaranteed that it would be better, and I hope that we did a good job on it."
[17] Some columnists countered the criticisms suggesting such a recording would bring classic jazz to a wider audience.
[18] Nevertheless, Kenny G fans considered the live performance of this duet with Armstrong on a video taped backdrop a "show stopper."
[19] Additionally, Gorelick has stated that all the proceeds from this single go to his Kenny G Miracles Foundation which "funnel(s) the money to charities to purchase musical instruments and to supplement funding for the arts in schools."
[20]
Kenny G has recorded some Chinese songs, such as "Jasmine Flower" (???) or "The Moon Represents My Heart" (???????). His music is noticeably popular in China. His recording "Going Home" is often played at closing time at public places or the at end of classes at schools. Mass transit systems in
Tianjin and
Shanghai play these songs when trains approach terminus stations.
As of 2003, Kenny G was named the 25th-highest selling
artist in America by the
RIAA, with 48 million albums sold in the USA as of July 31, 2006.
[21] In 1994, Kenny G won the
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for
Forever in Love
.
Personal life
Kenny G is
married to Lyndie Benson, with whom he has two
sons, Max (age 15) and Noah (age 11).
He frequently plays golf and has a playing
handicap of +0.6.
He has participated in the
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament seven times as of 2009,
and
Golf Digest
awarded him the position of number one golfer in their December rankings of Top 100 in Music.
Kenny is a qualified pilot and has been known to fly to many events. He flies the De Havilland Beaver seaplane. He is also one of the original investors in the
Starbucks coffee house chain.
He has one sister, Paula, and one brother, Brian.
Discography
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