Jazz Buzz

By Melanie Maxwell

True story: Kanye West gifts a Kenny G serenade to wife Kim Kardashian West

or smooth jazz fans, Kenny G has created some of the most romantic and memorable songs of our generation. F

To comics and his critics, the multiGRAMMY-winning saxophonist is also the butt of their jokes. And, who can forget the feud ignited by guitarist Pat Metheny against the best-selling instrumentalist of all time back in 2000? However, G often playfully jumps into the jabs. During his first concert after his wife of 20 years filed for a legal separation three weeks before Valentine’s Day in 2012, G said to the audience, “I asked my wife what she wanted for Valentine’s Day this year. She said a divorce. I told her that I couldn’t afford that.”

Photo: Dominick Guillemot

Note: The only photos of Kenny G serenading Kim Kardashian were taken on a cellphone and are not print quality. Please check out our Facebook page to see the image. Although the couple divorced later that year, Metheny and G did reconcile their differences and have become friends. And now, G may also become cool among the hip-hop/rap crowd. Kanye West hired the pop-jazz superstar to stand on his living room floor, surrounded by hundreds of singlerose vases, and surprise his wife, Kim Kardashian West, with a private serenade this past Valentine’s Day. Even a controversial rap star can appreciate the romance a little vintage smooth jazz soprano can spark. For more information on G, visit www.kennyg.com.

Rap artist samplers dig Jeff Lorber’s “Rain Dance”

If there were a battle of street cred in the rap/hip-hop/R&B world between Kenny G and Jeff Lorber, Lorber would win. While G has serenaded a rap star’s wife, Lorber’s music has been sampled many times by artists of that genre. Lil’ Kim sampled Lorber’s song “Rain Dance” in her video for “Crush on You,” featuring Lil Cease and The Notorious B.I.G. in 1987. And, it’s been included in more songs and videos than Lorber can count. “That’s my biggest hit, and it’s the one that’s been sampled the most,” said Lorber during a phone interview from his home studio in Pacific Palisades, California. Most recently, Mariah Carey sampled that version in her latest single, “A, No, No.” Other artists who have integrated the GRAMMY-winning keyboardistproducer’s music into their compositions include Ariana Grande, Jay-Z, Erykah Badu, SWV and more.

Photo: Marina Chavez

But, rappers aren’t the only connection between Lorber and G. In the early ’80s, Lorber hired an unknown saxman named Kenny Gorelick for a gig in Portland, Oregon, who remained a member of the Jeff Lorber Fusion band for nearly five years. Lorber also introduced Gorelick to Clive Davis at Arista Records, where he inked his first record deal as Kenny G in 1982. G’s self-titled album reached No. 10 on the Billboard Jazz chart. And, by his fourth release, Duotones, in ’86, he soared on a platinumselling trajectory, with more than 5 million units sold of that title alone. And, by the time his Kenny G Live album was released in 1989, which featured the hit single “Going Home,” G had long since left Lorber’s band and was racking up GRAMMY nominations, gold and platinum records, climbing the radio airplay charts and selling out concert venues. “Do you know about this?” asked Lorber, who remains friends with G. “This is an amazing story. I don’t know how it started, but every department store in China, and a lot of other businesses where the public goes, they play Kenny’s song ‘Going Home’ when they want people to leave the building. That’s their way of letting people know that they should go home. And, it’s been that way for years and years and years.” It’s true. In an article published in The New York Times on May 10, 2014, Dan Levin wrote, “No mystery is more confounding than that of China’s most enduring case of cultural diffusion: its love affair with ‘Going Home,’ the 1989 smash-hit instrumental by the American saxophone superstar Kenny G. For years the tune, in all its seductive woodwind glory, has been a staple of Chinese society. Every day, ‘Going Home’ is piped into shopping malls, schools, train stations and fitness centers as a signal to the public that it is time, indeed, to go home.” Too bad China doesn’t honor copyright and royalty laws. If they did, G might be making more mailbox money (royalty checks) for “Going Home” than Lorber does with all of his sampling. Lorber admits that he earns more on royalties from sampling than he does from making his own albums in the current climate, where streaming and digital downloading of individual songs has nearly replaced sales of physical CDs. Although the smooth jazz demographic hasn’t embraced online music commerce as much as the younger generation, “Windfall,” the current single from Life and Times, the new Jazz Funk Soul record he made with Everette Harp and Paul Jackson Jr., has streamed more than 400,000 times since its January release. “It’s not like I’m making that much money off of this stuff,” Lorber said with a chuckle. “I mean, I can’t retire, you know, I have to keep working.” But, knowing Lorber, he wouldn’t retire anyway. He has too much new music to create and produce, including Richard Elliot’s next record. For more information on Lorber, visit www.lorber.com

New touring ensemble, Sax to the Max, kicks off national tour

Sax to the Max, featuring Michael Lington, Paul Taylor and Vincent Ingala, is debuting at the Seabreeze Jazz Festival this month.

While saxophonists Lington and Taylor have been a popular presence on the smooth jazz scene as individual artists for some time, Ingala has been steadily ascending into the smooth jazz world since entering it at the age of 17. Shortly after graduating from high school, the multiinstrumentalist-vocalist was named Smooth Jazz News’ 2011 Debut Artist of the Year. Soon after, he was packing his bags (and a passport) to perform on the Dave Koz & Friends at Sea full-ship charter sailing to Alaska. At 26, Ingala now has a manager, a booking agent, a record deal and is co-headlining on a national tour. For more information on the Sax to the Max tour, which is also scheduled to appear at the 3rd Annual San Diego Smooth Jazz Festival on June 30, visit www.michaellington. com, http://paultaylorsax.com or www.vincentingala.com.

Photo: Suzanne England Photography