Kenny G Steps Back Into the Spotlight

By PopEater Staff Posted Oct 26th 2009 06:30PM

Though he's kept a low profile over the past few years, Kenny G has been busy, quietly releasing albums like 2008's Latin-tinged 'Rhythm and Romance.' But rather than stick solely to his trademark smooth jazz sound, he surprised fans recently by collaborating with alterna-rockers Weezer.

For their recent Sessions taping at AOL's West Coast studio, Weezer asked the saxophonist to contribute a solo for their catchy song 'I'm Your Daddy,' from their latest album, 'Raditude.' Prior to the taping, the jazz man had never met the quirky California band. "I got an e-mail from my manager," Kenny G said of the odd pairing. "I don't know anything about Weezer -- nothing. I've heard the name, but I never knew any of their songs [except] some song about a sweater," he added, referring to their 1994 hit, 'Undone -- The Sweater Song.'

Watch Weezer's 'Undone - The Sweater Song' Video

His lack of familiarity shouldn't offend the band, as Kenny G is the first to admit he lives "in the closet, pretty much" when it comes to new music. "I practice three hours a day, and when I'm done practicing I don't think about music again," he said. "I'm off doing other things." During a break from the Sessions taping, he even invited Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo and his wife, who coincidentally live down the street from him in Malibu, Calif., on a surfing excursion. "I do lots of things. I'm not just a musician."

While some fans could be thrown by this unlikely partnership, Kenny G isn't looking to broaden his audience. For starters, he said he will never do a pop covers album, calling the idea "meaningless" to younger audiences. "They want words," he said. "I'm not trying to sell to a certain demographic. I just do what I think is right for me at the time. Whoever hears it, if they like it, they buy it. I've been lucky so far because a lot of people seem to like what I do."

Kenny G is currently at work with longtime producer Walter Afanasieff on an as-yet-untitled album. The saxophonist is looking to take the half-finished work in an R&B direction and is meeting with acclaimed producer Babyface this week to work on a new song. "I want more rhythm in my music," Kenny G said. "I want my album to have a bit more tempo. Otherwise, I'm going to be lost in the huge smooth jazz array of saxophone players. Half of them don't even need to be making records."

Tags: kenny g, KennyG, weezer

Comments

(61)

Tuesday 27 October

By Lily

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Who is Weezer? It sounds like a breathing problem!!

By hi

talk about jazz snobs.
jazz isn't about what appeals to the masses or being original.
it's about playing what feels right to the player, whatever that might be.
a good jazz musician doesn't care about other musicians at all unless they like their sound and want to collaborate, and they certainly don't go around trashing other musicians for whatever reason.

By Nimtun

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Actually Kenny G. is an outstanding saxophone player that has opted to play the music that most out there in the population can understand. I still listed to his stuff when he was playing with Jeff Lorber and others. Unfortunately, the jazz idiom requires some study and effort to understand. I can't blame him for wanting to make some dinero.

By Psychodog

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In a time where they've taken the "music" out of elevators, Kenny G-Whiz insists on attempting to revive this most unfortunate of genres.

By AJA

Lizard: I don't see you making millions tooting your own horn!

By BK

Listen to some of his playing with Jeff Lorber. It may give you a different perspective.

By Shark

Lizard, you sound like someone who is over opinionated and has not played with anything other than yourself.

By chris

Kenny G? Best jazz? Not quite. You and your opinions seem to be very narrowminded, Angela. Considering your spelling and grammar, I find it hard to believe you're a middle-aged married woman. For you to even attempt at degrading Weezer out of some simpleton assumation is offensive.

Some facts, Weezer is well on the map. Kenny G is the laughing stock of American music. For your favorite 'Artist' to be working with these 'special needs folks' should be offensive to you. Or maybe you're the one with special needs?

By Steve

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And how many albums have you sold during your "career"?

By Working Singer

Im am NOT a Bolton fan BUT I am a working musician/singer in NYC,and I can tell you dont know anything about either subject. Bolton wrote, "How am I supposed to live without you" Big hit for Laura Branigan. He also wrote and sang "Time Love and Tenderness for himself. He wrote many songs for other artists. Awards? I dont know. They give them to whom ever takes them.
Know your facts man!

By erratic static

I have to say quite apart from the Kenny G issue that that was quite a bit of flawed logic there. Being an award-winning ANYTHING in this day and age, or a popular anything or a high-charting anything these days means the exact opposite of what you're implying, since it tends to happen nowadays that if something appeals to the masses it's usually utter crap.
However, I don't think Kenny G's bad, and it kind of surprises me that this many people think he is...

By earlymusicus

All of his music sounds the same.

By felicia

I,do love the saxophone whether or not kenny G is a composer or not I,am not sure. I, listened to the wheezer video That is not talent it is a band trying to be, I,say forget about it they suck!! You want to hear great talent try aerosmith,foriegner, don henley, for softer stuff listen to yani he is a very talented composer he does not even read notes it is all by ear. Now, yani has a band,& orchestra ect... it is instrumental very, nice.

By jejozi

Dude, your, keyboard, is, broken, take, it, to, Geek, Squad, and, get, it, fixed,.

By afreakaman

G's music,and playing,is over rated; he holds his horn 'funny' and, one of the feature songs on his last CD was a rip-off of Kenny Dorham's El Matador......never heard Weezer.

By XP45

Yes Folks ! He's Back and LAMER than ever !!!!

Wednesday 28 October

By Mad dog 54

Being a sax player myself, I never cared for Kenny G. While he is an excellent mechanic, there is very little passion or soul to his music. Bottom line is- he has chops but no soul.

By toughhombre

Kenny G is no more "jazz" than Britney Spears. This soprano saxophonist is so commercial he makes Lawrence Welk's music sound "cool". Recently I was really offended when looking through the jazz section of the CD section of a major store and I saw Kenny G's crap in that section. I mentioned my disdain to a clerk and he couldn't even give me any explanation. The word "jazz" has become so watered down and meaningless that anyone who can hold a whole tone for ten seconds can call themselves a jazz singer. It is a sad state of the music industry where anything is jazz, rap is music, filthy lyrics are the standard. Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter and other giants must be turning over in their graves.

By Aggie

When will we see YOUR CD's in the music store?

By Jill Wismer

WE JUST HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF GOING TO HIS CONCERT IN COLORADO SPRINGS THIS MONTH!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! HE IS EXTREMELY TALENTED AND ONLY GETS BETTER WITH THE YEARS!! AMAZING CONCERT AND HIS BAND MEMBERS ALONG WITH HIM ARE GREAT!

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