Kenny G

Kenny G
Kenneth Gorelick, better known Kenny G, is an American saxophonist whose fourth album, Duotones, brought him "breakthrough success" in 1986. Kenny's main instrument is the soprano saxophone, but he also plays the alto and tenor saxophone and the flute on occasion.

Early life
Kenny was born in Seattle, Washington, and first came into contact with a saxophone when he heard someone performing. He learned how to play by practicing along with records, trying to follow the sounds that he was hearing. At Franklin High School he failed to get into the jazz band when he applied, although was accepted the next year when he tried again. He also played for his high school golf team, introduced it to him when he was ten years old.

Career
Kenneth Gorelick began his career as a musician when he acquired his first professional job in 1976, as saxophone soloist for Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra at the age of 20, while studying for a major in accounting at the same time. After he graduated from the University of Washington he played with the funk band Cold, Bold & Togetherbefore becoming a qualified member of The Jeff Lorber Fusion. He began his solo career after his period with Lorber.Kenny G signed with Arista Records in 1982 as a solo artist, after being heard by the president of the label, at that time Clive Davis. He has released many solo albums and collaborated with various artists including Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Natalie Cole, Steve Miller and Aretha Franklin.

He received success quite early on, with both G Force and Gravity, his second and third studio albums respectively, achieving platinum status in the United States. These sales were topped by his fourth studio album, Duotones, which shifted over five million copies in the U.S. alone. His fifth studio album, Breathless, became the number one best selling instrumental album ever, with over 15 million copies sold, of which 12 million were in the U.S. He broke another record when his first holiday album, Miracles, sold over 13 million copies, making it the most successful Christmas album to date.[5]

As of 2003, Kenny G was named the 25th-highest selling artist in America by the RIAA, with 48 million albums sold in the USA as of July 31, 2006.[10] In 1994, Kenny G won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Forever in Love.

Personal life
Kenny G is currently married to wife Lyndie Benson, with whom he has two children ?He plays golf regularly, and has a playing handicap of 0.6. He has participated in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament seven times as of February 7, 2007, and Golf Digest awarded him the position of number one musician golfer in their December rankings of Top 100 in Music.

Musical criticism
Kenny G's entry into the smooth jazz market was publicly criticized by two notable jazz guitarists.

Guitarist Pat Metheny's criticisms of Kenny G are especially well documented and archived on Jazz Oasis.com. Drawing Metheny's extreme ire was Kenny G's overdubbing of Louis Armstrong's recording of What a Wonderful World,

Metheny criticized G further, saying that the saxophonist had:" ...through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a musician.