Is Kenny G the best Saxophonist today?

Let me tell you a true story, this took place years ago in Philadelphia PA. Kenny G. was on the same show with the legendary Miles Davis.That night I had a ticket for the early show and a ticket for the late show. No disrespect to Kenny G. but he should not have been on the same stage that Miles appear on. Kenny G. perform first on both show I left the Academy and went across the street and sat in a bar until his show was over and then I went back to see Miles Davis Band.

This is a true story I did watch the second show opening act Kenny G. but I was so hype that i really could not watch Kenny G. at the first show and really didn't pay attention to his performist of the second show. This is the picture they painted of Kenny G. but really cats like Miles would blow circle around him. Bottom line is man you can't put Kenny G. on the same level as cats like Coltrane, Rollins, Miles, Baker, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, and many more like these people. He is not even close to being the best sax player out there today hands down don't even come close. What does that got to do with white or black music is no color. You don't understand jazz or appreciated music that u don't understand so stick with Kenny G. Let not play the race card please.

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RE:

Is Kenny G the best Saxophonist today?

Now, I know that some are quick to dismiss Kenny G as a popular player of smooth jazz/pop versions of christmas melodies, but he is very very talented. I went to his concert yesterday (i got his autograph and i got to shake his hand) and although he plays the classic songs that everyone knows and...

Sonny Rollins is probably the best living saxophonist. Charlie Parker (or possibly John Coltrane) would be the best ever. I doubt you'd find any serious fan that would include Kenny G in the top 100 of all time, really.

He is a good saxophonist, but I wouldn't say best today.

And people are going to be pissed you mentioned Kenny G in the jazz section because he is not really jazz.

A funny analogy I once heard if this helps:

Soulja Boy : Hip-hop as Kenny G : Jazz

Dude, Kenny G is so far from the best saxophonist today. I had to really think if I was even going to reply to this because most everything you said in this post is some of the stupidest **** I've ever even read. "His fingers were moving so quick and, unlike JC, everyting about the solo made perfect sense." I can't believe I'm even reading this. A) How fast you play does not equate to how good you are. It's a skill that great players have, but it's just one skill in a saxophonist's bag of tricks. B) Everything about the solo made sense, unlike Coltrane?... Let's just sit on that for a second. Firstly, Kenny G's pentatonic playing "sounds nice" to the uneducated ear, but is the simplest music to play. Anyone can play that. That's like jam band ignorant **** shredding. John Coltrane's solos that to your 65 IQ sound like they "don't make sense" are notes of extended chords, chromatic pitches, ghosts, et cetera. It's more cerebral and it's much higher quality music. John Coltrane even started ******* with free jazz way back in the 60s, which I'm sure you can't stand (refer back to the 65 IQ). Also, Kenny G opened for Miles Davis in the 80s, he didn't play with him, which would've given him some credit. Kenny G is probably the most overrated "jazz" instrumentalist of all time.

Also, I attached this picture in case you were confused about how Miles, one of the greatest jazz cats of all time, felt about Kenny mother ******* G.

I don't imagine that you listen to too much jazz.

There are tons of musicians who play much better, and a whole lot more daring than the person you mentioned.

Haven'tyou heard...

Joe Lovano

Pharoah Sanders

John Zorn

Gary Bartz

Oliver Lake

Henry Threadgill

David Liebman

Elery Eskelin

Billy Harper

Andrew D"Angelo

Marty Ehrlich

Marcus Striclland

Seamus Blake

Jaques Schwartz-Bart

Yossvony Terry

John Ellis

Shris Speed

Chris Potter

Jaleel Shaw

Mark Turner

(and a whole lot more)

I'm just about sure that you have never heard most of these guys.

PS-Kenny G. admitted that he isn't even really farmiliar with Coltrane's sound.

Keny G has some technical abilites, but the real jazz masters pioneered the way music was, and is, played. Kenyy G is as safe as it gets. Coltrane was a constant seeker, and explorer of music.

Coltrnae has inspired and influenced many musicians, and is a true legend. Kenny G is only intereseted in selling as many albums as he can to people who like easy listening music (not a bad way to make a living, but definitly not in the catagory of a master).

So to answer your question, "No".

He is a good saxophonist, but is not the best saxophonist, as he doesn't play jazz. (Can't be the best unless you cover all of the spectrum.).

It's a debatable topic. In the older days he used to be a good jazz saxophonist, but he has drifted away from that. I'm more of a jazz person, so I can't respect his playing.

The Best Of Kenny G

Kenny G is the reason why more people do not like jazz. This is because people hear him and others that play smooth "jazz" and consider that a correct representation of jazz.

It is offensive to the jazz genre that anyone would consider Kenny G a jazz musician. When he decided to record himself over a classic Louis Armstrong recording he lost every shred of respect that he might have had.

As a personal opinion. I find his sax playing to be redundant, sloppy, not creative and incredibly out of tune.

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