Kenny G The sultan of smooth jazz


By John Benson

entertainment@vindy.com

As popular as Kenny G is stateside, the smooth jazz saxophonist is a superstar around the globe.

This explains why he’s enjoyed global sales of more than 75 million albums. Take for instance in China, where for years his song “Going Home” has been a cultural touchstone, heard ubiquitously in train stations, shopping malls, schools and parks.

“I’ve been all through China, cities you wouldn’t know exist,” said Kenny G, calling from Clearwater, Fla. “It’s played everywhere, over and over. It’s awesome to me.

I’ve been in Tiananmen Square and heard it played over the loud speaker.”

In fact, HBO’s John Oliver recently caught wind of this Kenny G phenomenon, inviting the sax maestro to perform the song during a bit on his show about China. Oliver even joined in for the hilarious segment.

“When they wanted to do their own playful version of how that would work, I thought nobody was going to do it better than John Oliver and his people,” Kenny G said. “I was super excited to go on the show. When I saw the actual script of how it was going to go, I loved it and, of course, I had no idea how good he was going to be when he performed it with me. I was laughing most of the rehearsal.”

When it comes to Kenny G and comedy, the elephant in the room is that often any reference is pejorative in nature. The way he sees it is, basically, haters gonna hate. Sure, he’s the smooth-jazz poster boy, but his success is undeniable.

“For me, I like funny,” Kenny G said. “If it’s funny, it’s funny. If it’s mean, then it’s not funny. I know I’m a good sax player, and I work very hard at it. That’s what keeps me grounded.”

When it comes to Kenny G’s career, there’s nothing to laugh at.

The Grammy Award-winning musician first arrived on the music scene with his multiplatinum 1986 album “Duotones,” which included hit single “Songbird.” Since then, he’s released nearly 25 albums, including the bossa nova-heavy “Brazilian Nights” earlier this year.

Kenny G said he may include one of the new tracks in his upcoming Dec. 15 show at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown; however, the majority of the set will be holiday tunes with plenty of material from his 1994 Christmas album “Miracles: The Holiday Album,” which has sold more than 8 million copies.

There’s also other material that Kenny G said is quite challenging.

“We’ll be doing ‘Sleigh Ride,’ which is a very technical song with a lot of notes and a pretty fast tempo,” Kenny G said. “It’s good and fun for us to challenge ourselves. Another song that is challenging is a blues version of ‘Santa Claus.’ I don’t play that many blues in my show. So anytime I can take out my big tenor sax and do like a soulful blues, it’s super fun. We kind of go crazy with that. That’s a highlight every year.”

Considering this is the holiday season, is Kenny G asking Santa for anything special?

“Not really, no,” Kenny G said. “I don’t like receiving gifts, to be honest. I’m the worst guy to buy any present for. I return almost everything I get. That’s the problem with people who are in my life that are trying to buy me presents. It never really works out.”

So that means any diehard fans attending your upcoming show who plan on bringing you a present should also include the gift receipt?

“Absolutely,” Kenny G said, laughing.

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