KENNZY G The best of Saxophone

Kenny G (1956- ), popular American saxophone player who combined jazz, rock, and rhythm-and-blues (R&B) music to become the best-selling instrumental artist of all time. The commercial success of Kenny G helped create a market for a generation of popular instrumentalists, most of whom perform genres of music known as jazz fusion and new age. Kenny G's playing is characterized by outstanding precision and finger speed, intonation, and breath control. His main instrument on recordings is the soprano saxophone, although he also often plays the tenor saxophone during performances. His best-known songs are ballads, which he performs on soprano saxophone and which feature a sweet and supple sound.
He was born Kenneth Gorelick in Seattle, Washington. At the age of 17 he gained his first professional exposure to black R&B music by performing with singer Barry White, one of the biggest R&B stars of the early 1970s. Kenny G attended the University of Washington, playing in the jazz ensemble and graduating with a degree in accounting. In the late 1970s he recorded for Arista Records as a member of the Jeff Lorber Fusion Band. Arista offered him a recording contract in 1981 as a solo performer and his first solo album, Kenny G, was released in 1982.
In 1986 Kenny G's career took off when his fourth album, Duotones, became a top-10 hit on the Billboard magazine charts. Duotones included the top-ten single ?oSongbird,? which became his signature song. Kenny G's later albums, Silhouette (1988) and Breathless (1992), also made the Billboard top-10 charts. In 1994 his holiday album Miracles rose to number one on the charts.
Kenny G has played with many leading R&B stars, including singers Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. He recorded with R&B singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson on the hit single ?oWe've Saved the Best for Last? (1988). In 1993 he joined popular singer Frank Sinatra on Sinatra's album Duets. Kenny G won a Grammy Award in 1994 for the song ?oForever in Lovê? (1992).

Contributed by:
Gregory Sandow



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