I suspect this might not be a welcome interjection. But I\u2019m going to make it anyway. On the basis of free speech, alternate views, healthy debate, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m no fan (nor hater) of Kenny G. I barely know of him or his music, except that it\u2019s \u2018smooth jazz\u2019, or \u2018jazz-lite\u2019, and seems to have once been quite popular; but not amongst jazzers, who mostly seem to see \u2018The G-meister\u2019 as a butt for their vitriol and scorn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the only things I know about him, outside of the above, is that for a while Bruce Carter was his drummer. Bruce was the drummer for the group Pleasure, who were a superb Portland band, taken under the wing of The Crusaders\u2019 Wayne Henderson (at the recommendation of Grover Washington). That alone makes me prepared – in theory; I\u2019ve never actually put it to the test – to give the G-man a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside of pop music, which is shoved down our throats daily by the suits, I choose to just ignore what I don\u2019t like, rather than attack it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, quite frankly, why shouldn\u2019t anyone duet with anyone else? If they want to. I\u2019m into freedom for all, not the proscriptive denial of others freedoms. Should Bill Laswell be barred from making his \u2018mix translations\u2019? I think his Santana Divine Light project is fab. And his Miles stuff is pretty good as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alice Coltrane was attacked for having the temerity to add strings to her husbands\u2019 recordings, John Coltrane bring something of a sacred cow. The album she created, Infinity by doing so, is, in my view, sublime. But the tsunami of reactionary hatred it generated meant we got no more in that line. A real shame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think I dislike snobbery and proscription more than I dislike most music I\u2019m not keen on. Sadly jazz seems peculiarly afflicted with virulent strains of snobbery. Once upon a time such jazzers might hold that anything claiming to be jazz not from N\u2019Orleans, and\/or pre-1929, was the work of insidious imposters. These guardians of \u2018true jazz\u2019 became known as \u2018moldy [sic; a US term!] figs\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigel, you dislike Kenny G. Fine. Don\u2019t listen to him. But who are the real threats to respect for the jazz traditions? I think Kenny G\u2019s hubris is relatively inconsequential. The hideous beast that is modern corporate pop, on the other hand? There\u2019s an enemy of all music (and the human spirit) worth getting worked up about.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PS – I can imagine the perfect pithy riposte to my lengthy disquisition\u2026 \u2018f*ck *ff, Seb\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*I\u2019m more offended when I hear contemporary pop rap or r&b artists totally ripping off vintage soul and jazz, using it as karaoke in effect, with nary a nod to the authors of the music they desecrate with their vacuous egomaniacal ranting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I suspect this might not be a welcome interjection. But I\u2019m going to make it anyway. On the basis of free speech, alternate views, healthy debate, etc. I\u2019m no fan (nor hater) of Kenny G. I barely know of him or his music, except that it\u2019s \u2018smooth jazz\u2019, or \u2018jazz-lite\u2019, and seems to have once … <\/p>\n