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Article published Jun 27, 2008 Sax great Kenny G not one to toot his own horn
By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff
For a dude who's sold almost 50 million records, Kenneth Gorelick -- known to the public as saxophone monster Kenny G -- is pretty matter-of-fact about his accomplishments, and lack thereof.
It may come as a surprise to some, but the first time he tried out for a jazz band -- as a freshman at Franklin High School in Seattle -- he failed to make the cut. Not a big deal, he told The Daily Times during a recent interview.
"I just wasn't good enough," he said. "I just didn't quite have it together. I tried hard, but I needed to practice more. So I got inspired by the other tenth-graders and learned what I needed to learn by watching them, and I kept practicing. It doesn't come easy -- it takes a long time to be good at anything, but if you love something, you give it the time it needs. If you don't love it, then you don't have to worry about it."
Whether it's golf or music or his early years, Kenny G is a relatively humble guy about things. Although he's participated, as a golfer, in the AT T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Tournament seven times and been named the No. 1 musician golfer by Golf Digest, he doesn't brag.
"It's just because I'm really good at chipping and putting -- that doesn't mean I can bomb it 300 yards down the fairway," he said. "It just means I can chip it to the point of getting it on the green and making par."
His whole life, it seems, has been about making those clutch shots when they count. Signed to Arista Records in 1982, he put out three critically acclaimed albums before exploding nationally in 1998, when he performed on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." One of the shows producers was hesitant to put on a performer who didn't feature vocals, and the debate continued right up until the cameras went live. Kenny G launched into "Songbird" from his fourth album, "Duotones," and made himself a star.
A string of enormously successful albums followed -- "Silhouette" and "Breathless," to name a couple; the latter would go on to become the biggest-selling instrumental album in history, with more than 12 million copies sold in the United States alone. It was helped along by the Grammy-winning single, "Forever in Love."
He topped that in 1994 with the holiday album "Miracles" -- not only was it his first record to hit No. 1, it became the biggest-selling holiday album, ever. His talents were in-demand as a musician as well, and he found himself playing and recording with such stars as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, Toni Braxton and the late Frank Sinatra. (His 2004 "Duets Album" featured an all-star lineup that included Burt Bacharach, Barbra Streisand, LeAnn Rimes and Earth, Wind and Fire.)
In recent years, his attention has turned to world music. The 2002 record "Paradise" featured an island theme, and "Rhythm and Romance," his most recent album, is an exploration of Latin influences on his particular brand of contemporary jazz.
"I knew I wanted to do an album of original music, and in doing that, I like to have a common thread through the music, and I just like the Latin rhythm," he said. "There's something in it that just works with the saxophone. There's a lot of singles on there, including a couple of vocal songs that haven't been touched, and many more instrumentals that are going to get noticed, I hope. It's got a life through almost a year from now, I think.
"I haven't started thinking at all about what my next project might be. I know it'll come to me; I just don't know what it is. I've been kind of concentrating more on my Web site, giving away the ringtones -- little songs I wrote just for the telephone. They're all free for anybody who registers, and we're just trying to re-educate people who like my music to go to our Web site."
Given the older demographic of his audience, he acknowledges how difficult it can be persuading his fans to take advantage of such technology. He's right there with them -- he equates the move to the digital age to similar evolutions in music, from vinyl to cassette to CD.
"I'm with them -- I don't want to come around either, but whether I want to or don't want to, there's no other choice," he said. "That's the future -- the way it's going to be. People were upset when they had to give up their cassette players for CDs, but now, when you look at a cassette, you wonder, 'What was I thinking?'
"Years from now, we'll look at CDs and think, 'I can't believe I had to drive to the record store and buy this thing, when I can just click on my computer and have it instantly.' If I was in control of everything, I'd get rid of all the computers -- iPods, Blackberries, everything. That way, you don't have anything on your mind other than what you're doing."
He freely admits his own enslavement to technology -- his Blackberry is always at his side, he said, and he's been known to send text messages while driving as well, as if something important will pass by if he waits until arriving at his destination before responding.
The majority of technologically dependent Americans, however, could take a lesson from Kenny G when it comes to priorities -- the one refuge, the one place of sanctuary where everything else gets turned down or off, is his practice space.
His music remains priority, and nothing interferes when he plays, whether it's in his bedroom or on a stage like the one at The Tennessee Theatre in downtown Knoxville, where he'll be tonight.
"Music is my rock," he said. "Every day, I wake up at 8 a.m. West Coast time... I practice every day, because it's fun, and because it makes me feel good."