Let's Talk Does Kenny G Play Bad Jazz? | Audio Addiction
Audio Addiction Presents: Does Kenny G Play Bad Jazz?
Today i wanted to do something a little different. I read an article by Christopher Washburne and it really made me think about the outlook of the jazz community, Kenny G, and smooth jazz. Many people find it garbage, and should be critisized. But should it just be swept under the rug? Kenny G is one of the best selling artist in the industry, in a genre that is struggling to sell records. Today we look at this argument.
Music by: http://www.bensound.com/
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Kenny G:
Songbird:
What a Wonderful World:
Pat Metheny:
Slip Away:
People don't like Kenny G because they're "real musicians" who don't understand that their idea of "real music" is fundamentally uninteresting to the general public. I give immense props to Kenny G for keeping at least some form of Jazz relevant after the post-bebop era's digression into more and more academic, aesoteric and difficult music.
It goes without saying that smooth jazz has a place and purpose, not only in and of itself but also as the inspiration for a substantial part of new music being created today - the vaporwave movement is almost entirely comprised of smooth jazz samples, mainly from kenny g and his contemporaries.
Yeah! It is sad to say that even Vapourwave is considered a non-serious genre or something that isn't taken seriously. Hopefully with some time, they will actually take a look at vapourwave as a genre that had a real impact on pop culture to some extent.
Perhaps not taken seriously musically (and that's completely understandable) but the visual component of vaporwave is becoming more and more of a mainstream look. Yet the look never would have come about without the initial popularity of its accompanying music. The influence of vaporwave is definitely cross-medium in a way that very few previous artistic movements have been - only psychedelia and impressionism come to mind for me.