con struct
Platinum Member
Jay, you are wrong, too.
The idea is that it is misguided to call Kenny G's music jazz. To call it jazz is wrong, just like calling a Cellica a Cadillac is wrong. You may prefer to drive a Cellica; but that still does not make it a Cadillac. It's that simple.
As far as Kenny's success the question really has nothing to do with it. But honestly Jay. do you really think that calling Kenny G's music jazz made a heap of difference for the jazz market. Did he sell more Kind of Blue records. maybe. But it seems what it does is give anyone who defends Kenny G ample ground to call anyone who doesn't a jazz snob.
Pat alludes to the greater implication of Kenny playing with the Louie film. It would be interesting to see what people believe some of those greater implications were, especially now that ten years have passed. In those ten years, you had the establishment of JALC, so now everyone has Wynton to hate.
See, I just don't see how it matters so much what Kenny G's music is called. It doesn't matter to me. I mean, look at all the music that has been called jazz over the years. These days a "jazz" gig could be an old lady singing Broadway songs to a room full of gay guys, or it could be a bunch of kids playing loud-as-hell electric "fusion" music, or it could be some old guys in a trio playing the same old tired standards in the lounge of a seafood restaurant.
I just don't see what the greater implications are. I'll tell you what I do know for a fact. I'm not going to sell any of my CDs to anyone other than those folks who like the music, and none of those people could give damn one about Kenny G, most probably. And the people who do like Kenny G sure as hell aren't going to like my music. Hell, they'll never even hear about it. They'll never know it exists, any more than they'll ever know about Eric Dolphy or the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Two different worlds. Two different universes, actually.