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Kenny G has long been the musician many jazz listeners love to hate. A phenomenally successful instrumentalist whose recordings make the pop charts, G's sound has been a staple on adult contemporary and "smooth jazz" radio stations since the mid-1980s, making him a household name. Kenny G is a fine player with an attractive sound (influenced a bit by Grover Washington Jr.) who often caresses melodies, putting a lot of emotion into his solos. Because he does not improvise much (sticking mostly to predictable melody statements), his music largely falls outside of jazz. However because he is listed at the top of "contemporary jazz" charts and is identified with jazz in the minds of the mass public, he belongs in this book.
Kenny Gorelick started playing professionally with Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1976. He recorded with Cold, Bold & Together (a Seattle-based funk group) and freelanced locally. After graduating from the University of Washington, G worked with Jeff Lorber's Fusion, making two albums with the group. Soon he was signed to Arista, recording his debut as a leader in 1982. His fourth album, Duotones (which included the very popular "Songbird"), made him into a star. Soon he was in demand for guest appearances on recordings of such famous singers as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Natalie Cole. Kenny G's own records have sold remarkably well, particularly Breathless, which has easily topped eight million copies in the U.S.; his total album sales top 30 million copies. 1994's holiday album Miracles and 1996's Moment continued the momentum of his massive commercial success. He also recorded his own version of the Celine Dion/Titanic smash "My Heart Will Go On" in 1998, but the following year he released Classics In The Key Of G, a collection of jazz standards like "Round Midnight" and "Body & Soul," possibly to reclaim some jazz credibility. Regardless, he has made the soprano sax sound appealing to millions of fans, while simultaneously annoying many jazz purists.
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