Listening to Kenny G

As "Listening to Kenny G" (2021 release; 97 min.) opens, Kenny G is backstage getting ready for a show, and is being asked "How do you feel", to which he responds "Underappreciated". We hear from a number of talking heads, including the NY Times Jazz critic: "What can I say?", he offers mumbling. We then go back in time, to Franklin HS in Seattle, where Kenny G grew up. At this point we are less than 10 min into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this documentary is part of HBO's Music Box series, whose earlier documentaries include the Woodstock 1999 one and "Jagged" (about Alanis' breakout album and tour). This latest entry is directed by Penny Lane, whose previous documentary was 2019's intriguing "Hail Satan?". Lane wants to get to the bottom of why Kenny G., the most successful instrumentalist of all time (more than 75 million albums sold), is also one of the most ridiculed (and worse), at best a mere punchline. Lane shows us how none other than Clive Davis (CEO of Arista) was convinced that Kenny G would set the world on fine, and how the Kenny G sound would be the foundation of the so-called Smooth Jazz or Jazz Lite radio stations that exploded in the early 90s. The film team gets unfettered access to Kenny G., and he himself wants to please the film team (and us) more than anything. When jazz guitarist Pat Metheny issues a scorching essay (more or less declaring Kenny G as the devil incarnate), it says more about Metheny than it does about Kenny G. I personally don't care much for Kenny G's music but millions of people clearly do. This documentary does a good job showing us the person behind the musician, if not the caricature that he has become for lots of people.

"Listening to Kenny G" premiered on HBO a few weeks ago, and is now available on HBO On Demand and HBO Max (where I caught it the other night). If you like the prior documentaries in the ongoing Music Box series, regardless of what music you like or dislike, I readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I have to applaud the docu for showing both sides equally. Not one side of the opinions is favoured, and it very much shows a leveled debate.

But do I think its a interesting docu? Kinda? Well the subject matter is rich, and I did learn a thing or two. I wouldn't say I was fully invested in the whole story.

Then again, the docu has some interesting people. So I think the interesting part of this docu lies more in the people rather than the subject. Especially KG, who is a very likable personality.

So all in all, one of the better docu's I've seen.

7/10: yes, pretty good.

I've never been a fan of the guy's music, and I may have even made a lame Kenny G joke or two back when he was absolutely huge, but what did I know? As a guy who took up the piano as an adult, stopped, and started again, I can only appreciate the hard work and effort other musicians have dedicated to their craft.

I can't even believe that any jazz critic would go on record to badmouth Kenny G. As someone said, no one ever made a statue of a critic. If you can do better, let's hear it. We're all critical, or we should be, but doing it professionally seems like the worst job in the world. One of the critics, Chris Washburn, even looks like Kenny G, or he's trying hard to look like him.

And Pat Metheny? That guy can go eat a bag of Kenny G manure. Who died and made Pat Metheny the gatekeeper of what is and isn't acceptable in music? I never liked Kenny G's music (and hated his name), but I won't stand by and allow someone to tell me I can't listen to his music.

So, what's wrong with Kenny G and his music? This is only a question for those of us who don't like it, of course. I learned this about him from this film. After his stellar music and academic career in high school he went to the University of Washington in Seattle and studied accounting. Accounting? Yikes! He said he wasn't interested in studying music. OK, I don't really get that, but to study accounting is like the exact opposite of music, or art of any kind.

From this documentary, I find him to be about the least articulate musician about his craft that I've ever heard. His need for acceptance made me cringe over and over. He couldn't even defend himself against a cowardly bully like Pat Metheny, and I'm sure Kenny would have rather shaken hands with Pat than deliver some caustic barb in the guitarist's general direction. Similarly, I find G's music to be without any bite or grit or anything that would challenge me to like it, but that doesn't mean I think others shouldn't like it.

I liked G's constant proclamation that we need to work hard, and practice, practice, practice. I loved how he looked on fatherhood as a challenge and something he vowed to excel at--if only more men were like this when faced with this enormous responsibility that they chose.

Similar to Feels Good Man (another terrific doc), Listening to Kenny G is a colorful and informative documentary that gifts its viewers a hilarious character study (the polarizing Kenny G turns out to be a pretty fascinating guy; i personally think he's a reptile, but you can make the argument that he's an alien) and a digestable yet thorough-enough history of its subject matter (the world of soft jazz- its critics and its supporters). Love the thought provoking dialogue in this on the subjectivity of art. Very well made documentary on HBO Max, looking forward to what Penny Lane directs in the future.

I admit I am a Miles and Trane fan, and go to live jazz in small clubs, at university music schools, in Australian cities, in Italy, in Prague.

I never thought of Kenny G music as Jazz. It was okay. I compare it to the standardisation of McDonalds burgers, not a real burger like in an Australian cafe, onions, pineapple, tomato.

But, after this documentary i can see the parallels to Miles in his career from the school band to commercial bands. In his dedication to practice. Still, not my kind of music, but i do not agree with people who rubbish him, as a person, or as a musician. Are they kidding ?