Who played in Kenny G live?

[Fire-Starter]

When I read what Pat Metheny had to say about Kenny G my first response was, "what an you know what" Musicians who use a public forum to bash another Musician shows nothing but poor taste and lack of respect. Call it truth if you want, but at least show some class when addressing another Musician and or their playing style.

Kenny G has done absolutly NOTHING to anyone but play music that does make many people feel good. I am sure also that many of us bass players tend to play out of tune, but I am sure none of us would appreciate hearing comments about it in the form of what Metheny spewed out. Tell me I'm wrong

 

[JimK]

Don't forget the 'We Live Here' cd! Full of drum machine grooves! How dare he step out the box??!! I wonder what the 'purists' had to say about that one?!

"Drum machine grooves"...an oxymoron?

Hard-core "Purists" don't even like the electric guitar in Jazz.

 

[jerry]

From what I've heard-
Back in the day, John Klemmer's Barefoot Ballet was the album for "setting the mood".

Don't forget Gato Barbieri.
Chuck Mangione was another much maligned instrumentalist back in the day, and he had Alphonso Johnson in his band for awhile. Klemmer used Abe Laborial and Barbieri used Gary King, so this kind of argument has been going on for quite awhile.

 

[jerry]

"Drum machine grooves"...an oxymoron?

Hard-core "Purists" don't even like the electric guitar in Jazz.

Don't even get me started on the heavily Wyton Marsalis influenced PBS documentary on jazz that bypassed a large chunk of jazz history.

 

[DWBass]

"Drum machine grooves"...an oxymoron?

Hard-core "Purists" don't even like the electric guitar in Jazz.

I meant to say a 'particular' purist.

 

[JimK]

Don't forget Gato Barbieri.

Gato also played on some pretty heavy stuff...Alan Shorter's Orgasm(considered 'out' in its day) is one that pops to mind.
There's also a Coltrane connection with Gato...Gato was a huge fan of 'Trane; IIRC, Gato give Coltrane a case for his soprano.

Maynard Ferguson's "Pop" stuff was more fodder for the hardliners...we won't mention Freddie Hubbard's Windjammer.

 

[JimK]

I meant to say a 'particular' purist.

I hear ye...
I'm a reformed purist. What's insane about that? I can't play Jazz to save my ass.

'76 thru '85, I was a terror.
I lost a lotta friends in that time frame...good thing the Internet wasn't around.
Couple weeks ago, someone here at TB hipped me to a '60s band called The 13th Floor Elevators...total garage/psychedelic & rough to the core...but I dig them.
In another life, I would have totally dissed 'em.

 

[DWBass]

I hear ye...
I'm a reformed purist. What's insane about that? I can't play Jazz to save my ass.

'76 thru '85, I was a terror.
I lost a lotta friends in that time frame...good thing the Internet wasn't around.
Couple weeks ago, someone here at TB hipped me to a '60s band called The 13th Floor Elevators...total garage/psychedelic & rough to the core...but I dig them.
In another life, I would have totally dissed 'em.

Can't say I was ever a purist since I didn't come from that scene but after the birth of contemporary jazz, I totally jumped into that pool and stayed there until I heard The Rippingtons (a band that plays almost all styles) and Spyro Gyra (a band that does play all styles)! That was it for me! I asked myself, why can't I enjoy all music?!?! I was so sorry about selling all my R&B records! While I'm deeply rooted in Funk, I love all types of music and learn about new stuff everyday! I still can't stand Death/Black Metal music but hey.......that's another thread!

 

[jerry]

Maynard Ferguson's "Pop" stuff was more fodder for the hardliners...we won't mention Freddie Hubbard's Windjammer.

He's another guy that always had monster cats in his band, Peter Erskin, Gordon Johnson etc. I saw Maynard's band around '76 and it was like getting hit be a freight train, a lot of power in that big band!

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Can't say I was ever a purist since I didn't come from that scene but after the birth of contemporary jazz, I totally jumped into that pool and stayed there until I heard The Rippingtons (a band that plays almost all styles) and Spyro Gyra (a band that does play all styles)! That was it for me! I asked myself, why can't I enjoy all music?!?! I was so sorry about selling all my R&B records! While I'm deeply rooted in Funk, I love all types of music and learn about new stuff everyday! I still can't stand Death/Black Metal music but hey.......that's another thread!

In the late 70s early 80s - we had punk in Britain and I threw away all my pro rock and metal albums - but then later I started buying them back on CD!

When I first got into Jazz I was only into electric fusion - but gradually I have got to the point now where I only like and buy all acoustic music...

What's funny to me is that fusion does now sound "dated" to me and to people I play it to - whereas the classic acoustic quintets of the late 50s and early 60s somehow sound "timeless" and people I play them to, appreciate the great sound of those bands - especially on Blue Note.

 

[DWBass]

I agree that fusion does sound dated. More specifically the guitar based stuff. Enough with the playing at warp speed! I like melody and groove! Doesn't matter what genre. If the chord progressions and melody are on point, I dig it! I also like acoustic jazz stuff as well but again, I'm into melodies and groove. If folks are just running scales intermittently over a few chord progressions, that's just not enough for me. I appreciate virtuosity, mathmatical & cerebral playing for what it is but don't get upset if the masses don't dig it!

I can also appreciate the fact that a Kenny G can take a chance (step out the box if you will) and record a Latin based cd! To be able to hear the band play it live, made it even more special. By the way, Vail has excellent Latin chops!

 

[RHFusillo]

What's funny to me is that fusion does now sound "dated" to me and to people I play it to

There was a review in Saturday's New York Times of a Return to Forever concert that said the same thing. I think that some of the compositional and instrumental devices make the music sound dated -- e.g. Chick Corea's pitch wheel, and what DWBass mentioned about playing at warp speed. Some of the 1970's fusion doesn't sound dated to me, though, like Herbie Hancock's "Thrust" or Weather Report's "Mysterious Traveler." Just my NSHO.

 

[TimWilson]

As a brief dip of the collective toe back into the original swamp of this thread, let me just state for the record that Vail Johnson is an absolute MONSTER of bass guitar, making a good living doing what most us WISH we could. And as if that weren't enough, he's an INCREDIBLY nice, generous, and humble dude. I've met more than my share of pro musicians, and Vail is one of the small handful that you come away from feeling like you'd really like to just hang out with sometime...

 

[DWBass]

As a brief dip of the collective toe back into the original swamp of this thread, let me just state for the record that Vail Johnson is an absolute MONSTER of bass guitar, making a good living doing what most us WISH we could. And as if that weren't enough, he's an INCREDIBLY nice, generous, and humble dude. I've met more than my share of pro musicians, and Vail is one of the small handful that you come away from feeling like you'd really like to just hang out with sometime...

+1

I only wished that could have spent a bit more time backstage chatting with Vail about bass stuff and music in general understanding that he just finished playing, was a bit tired and was looking to wind down! I understand. When I'm done playing, the last thing I want to do is stop and engage folks when all I wanna do is get home and hit my bed! His generosity and general trust (you really don't know who you're getting tickets for) should tell what a genuinely nice and trusting gentleman he is!

 

[Sneckumhaw]

What's funny to me is that fusion does now sound "dated" to me and to people I play it to - whereas the classic acoustic quintets of the late 50s and early 60s somehow sound "timeless" and people I play them to, appreciate the great sound of those bands - especially on Blue Note.

Bingo. Dave Brubeck's classics could have been recorded yesterday, but Al Di Meola sounds like a refugee from the planet Wack.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

There was a review in Saturday's New York Times of a Return to Forever concert that said the same thing. I think that some of the compositional and instrumental devices make the music sound dated -- e.g. Chick Corea's pitch wheel, and what DWBass mentioned about playing at warp speed. Some of the 1970's fusion doesn't sound dated to me, though, like Herbie Hancock's "Thrust" or Weather Report's "Mysterious Traveler." Just my NSHO.

I agree on both of those - maybe it was the advent of polyphonic synths....?

I was talking to some people at Jazz Summerschool and we were saying it would be great to do Birdland with a load of horns and no synths!!

 

[MR PC]

I believe that Maynard Ferguson did that some time ago! 1980's.

 

[DougD]

As a brief dip of the collective toe back into the original swamp of this thread, let me just state for the record that Vail Johnson is an absolute MONSTER of bass guitar, making a good living doing what most us WISH we could. And as if that weren't enough, he's an INCREDIBLY nice, generous, and humble dude. I've met more than my share of pro musicians, and Vail is one of the small handful that you come away from feeling like you'd really like to just hang out with sometime...

To me. That what it's all about
I've met my fare share of "Pro's" too. I'm sad to say that most of them were self absorbed TOOLS who thought the world owed them something. I think I can safely put Vail in the "doesn’t act like a TOTAL TOOL" category And let's face it, the guy's got guts for showing up here and defending himself from some of the insulting coments and diggs thats slung around here

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I believe that Maynard Ferguson did that some time ago! 1980's.

But that's not the point of the story - what we were talking about is that people are coming round to thinking that the sound of acoustic instruments is "timeless" while a lot of electronic instruments now sound "dated"...

So I wasn't suggesting that this had not been done before, but was rather giving evidence of what were were talking about here.

 

[jerry]

I remember back in the 80's some people thought Wurlitzers, Rhodes and B3s sounded dated, I'm sure glad they got over that.