S2E11: G is for Good

Kenny G is the best-selling instrumentalist of all time. Since starting his career in the early 80s, he has sold more than 75 million records. He has a pile of gold and platinum releases. One of his records was been awarded “Diamond” status by the RIAA. These numbers put him squarely in the top sellers of all time, in the same level, if not above, as artists like Neil Diamond, Frank Sinatra, Simon & Garfunkel, Johnny Cash, Van Halen, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Adele, and Sting.

This is all the more remarkable given that Kenny G is a saxophone player. He doesn’t sing and play the sax, like Eddie Money did. He just plays the sax. Unlike most successful artists, he doesn’t dress up in wild outfits, have an outsized stage presence, or rely on music videos or elaborate stage shows.

Kenny G also faces a withering critical environment unusual for someone at his level. Kenny G’s music is extremely popular -- hence the massive sales and enduring career -- but you will be hard-pressed to find any music critics who admit to liking it, or who have positive things to say about it. 

And yet, watching the documentary, you will see a spectrum of people across age, gender, background, who all absolutely love his music and talk about what it means to them and how it makes them feel. 

Kenny G might be popular, but is he any good?

The recent HBO documentary “Listening to Kenny G” profiles the artist while touching on these issues. The film is well-made. Penny Lane’s direction manages to highlight the empty smugness of the critics and show that Kenny G himself recognizes that his strange success is mostly due to luck and his own hard work, and only partially due to his artistry. 

Kenneth Gorelick is a 65 year old straight white Jewish man, who got his start playing saxophone in high school jazz band. He fell in love with the instrument and the idea of practicing and improving and pursued a career in music. His skill saw him climbing up through local groups until he was hired by Jeff Lorber. That led to Clive Davis of Arista records signing Kenny G and initially starting him on what looked to be a failed pop career. 

Arista’s promotional engine got Kenny G on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but circumstances meant that instead of 2 songs, there would only be time for one. Reminiscent of Elvis Costello’s decision to switch to “Radio, Radio” on Saturday Night Live, Kenny G made a secret decision to play his instrumental “Songbird” instead of the forgettable, lame single agreed-upon by the label and the Tonight Show bookers. They were all furious. 

But the song resonated with the audience, who called radio stations to find out what the song was. Clive Davis engaged in a personal letter-writing campaign to key radio stations, and soon Kenny G’s “Songbird” was playing on pop stations and R&B stations and jazz stations. It proved so popular it arguably spawned the entire “Smooth Jazz” genre. 

The genre itself was immensely successful and omnipresent, but is now considered something of a joke or an embarrassment, unless looked at through a lens of Millennial cringe, or nostalgic yearning for some kind of authentic past. 

Again, extremely popular, but was it good?

What differentiates “good” art and artists from “bad”? Why are critics and their opinions frequently so far apart from what the people like? How do creative people like us figure out what makes our work good and/or bad? How do we improve?