It is at this point that those with professional expertise in music theory need to intervene to note that what is being played as a trump card here is in fact a bluff. This, presumably, in distinction to canonic jazz icons whose mastery is empirically demonstrable by means of technical musical analysis. For Metheny, Kenny G’s “harmonic and melodic vocabulary…limited, mostly to pentatonic based and blues-lick derived patterns,” his “out-of-tune, noodling” suffused with “wrong notes” and “harmonic clams” are all assumed to be data points providing the empirical basis for a unique conclusion: abject musical incompetence. These denunciations were drawn from a blog post frequently invoked by Kenny G’s detractors written some years back by guitarist Pat Metheny. They were, after all, deriving from a “large crowd” whose “basest impulses” manifest “callous disregard for the larger issues…a new low point in modern culture – something that we all should be totally embarrassed about – and afraid of.” All this “we ignore…at our own peril.” So toxic are the sounds he emits that an encounter with them constitutes “torture” – the aural equivalent of the United Airlines assault of one of its passengers, which had occurred only a few days before.Īt least, such was the perception of the cross section of my left-liberal friends.Īnd yet, according to reports, the admittedly captive audience seemed to enjoy “the show of a lifetime.” A video shows rows of smiling passengers aiming their phones as Kenny G delivers his impromptu serenade, strolling the aisles of the cabin.īut these expressions of enthusiasm were easily written off.
Why this was the case will make sense when the name of the musician is revealed – a figure so universally reviled that to utter a word in his defence is to invite social ostracism: Kenny Gorelick, aka “Kenny G,” or “the weasel-toned saxophonist,” as he was referred to by the New York Times. But, as is common on the internet, this anodyne act of charity became the grounds for abuse. The musician immediately agreed to the request – he strolled down the aisles with his instrument, passing the hat for donations that quickly doubled the $1,000 goal.All that would seem innocuous enough. Having recently lost her daughter to brain cancer, she suggested an impromptu performance to raise money for cancer research.
Not too long ago, an off-duty flight attendant discovered that her neighbour on a Tampa to Los Angeles flight was a musical celebrity.
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