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Kenny G... is this guy human or a god ??????

Take5 said:
There are thousands of sax players who can circular breathe. It’s just a technique, nothing special or difficult.

I cant think of many who use it in a musical way.
So, Ive never found a stream of notes, with no breaks,to be musical. And although I do like to I hear a note held for effect, I do like something musical to be happening to it.
ie louder /quieter, change of tone quality etc etc.
Who I wants to hear the same note held for 2 minutes, or 5 , or whatever?

I suppose if you choose a note carefully, it would free up the right hand, allowing you to wave to your fans, or get your hair brush out and attend to your perm, all the while delivering this musical masterpiece, which is absorbing you

I always think of it as en ego /“look at me” thing.

So, not for me.
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Or maybe do something else with his right hand, which may explain some of the epithets thrown his way?
 
Take5 said:
There are thousands of sax players who can circular breathe. It’s just a technique, nothing special or difficult.

I cant think of many who use it in a musical way.
So, Ive never found a stream of notes, with no breaks,to be musical. And although I do like to I hear a note held for effect, I do like something musical to be happening to it.
ie louder /quieter, change of tone quality etc etc.
Who I wants to hear the same note held for 2 minutes, or 5 , or whatever?

I suppose if you choose a note carefully, it would free up the right hand, allowing you to wave to your fans, or get your hair brush out and attend to your perm, all the while delivering this musical masterpiece, which is absorbing you

I always think of it as en ego /“look at me” thing.

So, not for me.
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I would politely draw your attention to Roland Kirk, a man at whom all sorts of accusations of instrumental gimmickry could be levelled, but who could make any gimmick sound totally worthwhile and totally badass.

edit: I'm with Claire, apart from his great letting-off-steam records, I generally find Pat Metheny about as essential as a mid 80's Jean Luc Ponty drum machine album, but he certainly writes with style, some of those paragraphs could have come from Lester Bangs.
 
IMO the early Metheny (first half dozen or so) are essential. Most of what follows (and I find I have most of it) is pretty average tbh, a few nice moments but uninspired. notable exceptions are the acoustic albums and the twofer with Charlie Haden which is quite lovely.
 
Didn’t Pat Metheny also challenge any punk guitarists to play better than he could with one hand? I’m sure I remember this from the seventies - my apologies to Pat if I am wrong - as a great example of a proper muso totally missing the point.
 
Not that it matters but I share a birthday with Pat Metheny ( and Mark Knopfler)

It's quite annoying really
 
Aethelist said:
Not that it matters but I share a birthday with Pat Metheny ( and Mark Knopfler)

It's quite annoying really
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You dont give a date, but i will just put this out there anyway.

Here is the great permed one himself, playing “happy birthday”.

At least I think it is “happy birthday”. I got about 10 seconds in and then got a sudden funny feeling in my stomach, and had to go to the loo to vomit.

Isn’t this the most vomit inducing crap that you can ever hear. And this is how he plays everything. Not just “Happy Birthday “

 
MarkW said:
And I suspect Evan Parker may not be your cup of tea. Parker's Monoceros takes the circular breathing technique probably to its outer limit.
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No, I’m afraid Evan Parker has never really hit the right spot in me, although I can admire and appreciate his ability as a sax player.

One guy who uses circular breathing, and who I do like, is Colin Stetson. He is a very interesting player.
For me, he uses it in a very musical way. Much more structured, organised and pre-determined than the manner in which I hear a lot of the “free” guys doing.

Check him out

 
In all seriousness if he had developed more technique and range he could have been a reasonable understudy to Gary Bartz...

Not sure if anyone else saw Metheney in '92 but he was excrutiatingly dull...
 
The second album 'G Force' is as good as it gets, coming close to the sort of thing GRP might have pushed out (such as Eric Marienthal or MIchael Brecker) or David Sanborn album of the same time.


After 'Songbird' he just ended up mining that vein of saccharine melody for max sales.
 
I can remember being subjected to some Kenny G at a Hifi show once. And it was Once. The first and only hifi show I ever went to.

Enough to put me off for life it was.

Felt like I was having a cheese wire pulled through my brain from ear to ear and that my teeth were melting.

Not a good experience.
 
Take5 said:
You dont give a date, but i will just put this out there anyway.

Here is the great permed one himself, playing “happy birthday”.

At least I think it is “happy birthday”. I got about 10 seconds in and then got a sudden funny feeling in my stomach, and had to go to the loo to vomit.

Isn’t this the most vomit inducing crap that you can ever hear. And this is how he plays everything. Not just “Happy Birthday “

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Wow he blows

Hard
 
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Yank said:
Perhaps you misunderstand. I was suggesting that Sanborn is a pretty low bar for comparison.
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Really? His roster of sessions suggests that many of he world top artists think otherwise.

I particularly like his alto playing on Bowies Young Americans and of course Born to Run.
 
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