Lally's Alley: METHENY ON KENNY G

Friday, December 12, 2008

METHENY ON KENNY G

Thanks to my friend, and excellent musician himself in his day, Tom Wilson, for hipping me to this. Read the whole thing, it's worth it, especially if you're a serious music lover.

6 comments:

AlamedaTom said...: Hey Lal:

Thanks for giving me credit for this link, which was the subject of my most recent post on my blog, "Birth of the Cool."

In testing your link, I was prompted to read the whole dang thing over again, and to be frank, my jaw dropped even more than the first time I read it. I can honestly say, this is among the top five rants I've ever had the privilege of reading.

For your readers: Take the Lal's advice and read Pat Metheny's entire rant. Rarely, will you experience such a raw and genuine outpouring.

~ Willy; December 12, 2008 at 2:03:00 PM EST
Lally said...: Tom, there's also an extreme rave going in the other direction by Carly Simon on Odetta on today's Huffington Post. Lal; December 12, 2008 at 2:30:00 PM EST
Harryn Studios said...: yeah pat - glad to see someone speaking out on these issues - the ny times had a great [and comparable] critique on pop culture by keith jarrett back in the mid 90's ...

sometimes the silence of these masters condones a lot of mediocrity - but i guess the "pockets" of the industry help to convolute it ...

we've grown so tolerant - at least we don't have to bailout the art and music industries [yet] ...

thanks tom via michael ...; December 12, 2008 at 6:23:00 PM EST
Anonymous said...: When I saw Phil Woods at the Jazz Showcase in the late '90s he wore a grey sweat shirt with a red bisected circle over "Kenny G" in black lettering - no Kenny G. Nicely summed up the feeling of the room.

I was a Harpers subscriber in 2000 when Methany's short essay based on this interview appeared. I have a copy of it somewhere. I was amazed at Methany's prose style - the pacing was truly musical and by the end you were right there with him as he demolished Kenny. Harper's titled the essay " Oh my god, he killed Kenny G!"

Just now I tried to find the essay on the web (it's only accessible to Harper's subscribers) and discovered another favorite of mine weighed in on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB8DLcPd0nE; December 12, 2008 at 8:53:00 PM EST
Harryn Studios said...: here's the keith jarrett article i refered to earlier:
Jarrett, K. "Categories Aplenty, but Where's the Music?” New York Times , (August 16, 1992), 190-1.

if anyone can advise me as to how i can get a print out i'd appreciate it ...; December 13, 2008 at 10:57:00 AM EST
hater of Kenny G said...: i use to subscribe to Harper's. still do when the spirit moves and i feel like cluttering up my place with yet more hard copies or whatever.

anyway, i'm taking the bus to the subway/commuter rail station to return home from work. i am always reading on public transportation here in Boston. i whip out my latest issue of Harper's and start going through it. there is was. a biting piece from the great PatMetheny on the musical abomination that is Kenny G.

as i read through the short piece i stated to crack up and laugh hysterically. here's Metheny really taking it to the G string. and Metheny is just not like that so he really had to be pushed to say what he did. i laughed about it for hours shaking my head almost crying with delight.

Death to Kenny G!!! yeah!

i couldn't find it either. it's in Harper's archive. but contained in the link attached is the body of the reading. and a whole lot more. freakin' hilarious!!

http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm; February 26, 2019 at 7:51:00 AM EST