Complete takedown on Kenny G from my man Pat Metheny.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

I'm sure many of you have seen this before, but it's so good it deserves being reposted again and again and again, as a reminder of why modern-day "smooth jazz" is largely--even fully--full of shit, and why Kenny G is sacrilege and extremely damaging to honest jazz musicians.

http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

[Bennyboy]

1. Don't hold back Pat, tell us what you really think!

Wow.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

2. Totally amazing, I agree.

:thumbsup:

[RetroLounge]

3. Totally great Dis!

Go Pat!

:hi:

RL

[Shakespeare]

4. Even better is Richard Thompson's song "I Agree With Pat Metheny, Kenny G's Talents Are Too Teeny

http://www.till.com/blog/archives/2005/03/i_agree_with_ri.html

[HamdenRice]

5. "lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing"

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

It's so funny because it starts out very analytical, but then goes ballistic:

"He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present ..."

"Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture ..."

[enigmatic]

6. that was absolutely beautiful

Kenny G is one of the very few "musicians" that drives me to homicidal thoughts, and I'm a freakin' Pacifist!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

13. Same here.

[txwhitedove]

7. Love Pat Metheny .....

[DS1]

8. Oh, Kenny G. Easy target. Right up your alley.

Takes a real fucking brain to rip apart Kenny G. Who's next, Britney Spears?

[Dr. Strange]

9. Britney Spears?!?

Gawd, Britney is exactly what's wrong with contemporary "smooth jazz!"
Back in the day, you'd never see Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock getting pregnant by K-Fed and showing their ass in public!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

10. Especially since it's hard for men to get pregnant and all.

:rofl:

[mcscajun]

11. I hadn't seen this one. Thank you for sharing. My favorite part...emphasis mine.

"This type of musical necrophilia - the technique of overdubbing on the preexisting tracks of already dead performers - was weird when Natalie Cole did it with her dad on "Unforgettable" a few years ago, but it was her dad. When Tony Bennett did it with Billie Holiday it was bizarre, but we are talking about two of the greatest singers of the 20th century who were on roughly the same level of artistic accomplishment. When Larry Coryell presumed to overdub himself on top of a Wes Montgomery track, I lost a lot of the respect that I ever had for him - and I have to seriously question the fact that I did have respect for someone who could turn out to have such unbelievably bad taste and be that disrespectful to one of my personal heroes.

But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician. By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and by default, everyone who has ever tried to do something positive with improvised music and what it can be, Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture - something that we all should be totally embarrassed about - and afraid of. We ignore this, "let it slide", at our own peril."

Metheny certainly didn't hold back at all, nor do I think he should.

"Musical necrophilia": I love that phrase.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

12. "Musical necrophilia" is a terrific phrase.

I think I need to start a list of all these phrases I so love. :D

:hi:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Love Ya PAT!!!

Kenny G is only one of many worthy talentless targets. He does not do "Jazz". He NOODLES!!!

Like Charlotte Church, ferinstance. Pavarotti now. He was excellent circa 1973.

Britney, Jessica, Hannah, all those manufactured types.

And don't forget Yawni.

[lizziegrace]

15. I ran into him 20 years ago

literally. He was coming out of the stairwell and I was going in. He was GORGEOUS!

[Joe Fields]

16. This is just too too good. I love you Pat Metheney!!!

"But when Kenny G decided that it was appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible..."

Go man go!

[fortyfeetunder]

17. Playing for the lowest common denominator music fan.

Pat made some good points but he has to remember the lowest common denominator (LCD) music fan is not going to get a single word he said, and those are the fans who love some Kenny G.

If he told one of those LCD's about musical necrophilia, they'd think he was talking about enjoying Mozart's Requiem!

[Frank Cannon]

18. There is much anger in this thread

The path to the Dark Side, that is.