Satchmo and G - What a Wonderful World !
"He had mistaken his book for garbage"- J. Ashbery, "Europe".
There is no mistaking the musical output of Kenny G. As I heard him for the third time today on jazz radio and soon afterwards a breathless voice pitching his latest bestseller ("The Ultimate Kenny G") and concert tour I started thinking, involuntarily, about garbage. Garbage, it seems to me, invades our lives nowadays. We take great pains to keep it away - from our homes and our minds - but it always manages to find a way in. We are helpless.
Over the years I have learnt to live with Kenny G (the G, I was surprised, stands for "Gorelick"!) - not only that, I have, and I am sure I speak for many others, learnt to enjoy the experience. There is no point shrieking at mediocrity. The poets feeble cry - Now listen to me kiddo - falls on deaf ears. And it is not as if G (as he is affectionately known by his devotees) is altogether without talent. He does strike a good pose - long hair all over his sax, shamanic swaying, graceful flicks of head to clear his face etc etc. And it is sometimes refreshing to see a man in his forties who has preserved the innocence and the intellect he had as a little baby.
So I was surprised to see a lot of serious musicians up in arms against poor G a couple of years back. All he did was produce (at his very own state-of-the-art "Studio G") a tribute album "Classics in the Key of G" for his musical idols. One of the tracks - a tribute to Louis Armstrong, no less - provoked even the unfailingly unflappable Pat Metheny to downright abuse. G has proudly included the very same track - where he overdubs himself on the song "What a Wonderful World" - in his latest album assuring it substantial airtime for the next couple of months at least. In fact I am hearing it right now and I must confess my equipoise is in jeopardy. As we enter the coda I hear G gurgling gleefully - like a baby that has just soiled its nappies. The big baby has paid its tributes to a sacred shrine and appears to be quite pleased.
posted by Crp @ 8:51 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Talking about Garbage, a business school friend of mine at WashU impressed upon me the idea of using a color (IBM's blue) or a single letter (Oprah's O) to create ones brand. Its a very appealing idea and a worthy challenge.
Jai (my roommate) is often simply called 'J' by his basketball buddies (apparently, they are on a first letter basis with each other). He has named his recently acquired iMAC and iPOD as jMAC and jPOD!
A friend of mine named Gaurav, G. showed wisdom beyond his years when he decided to take the letter G and, as Paula Abdul would say, make it his own. He insisted that folks and esp. girls just call him G. His presence invariably steered the conversation towards the shocking and the scandalous and soon became notorious as the G-factor. More relevantly, he recently bought a pair of turntables and hopes to become famous in local clubs as DJ G. He also has plans of starting his own night club which he, very creatively, wants to call the G spot. I believe the exact location of the club would be a carefully guarded secret and in fact he expressly wants to locate it in an area sans cartography to increase its appeal by its very elusivity. Also... ok, I think I need to stop.
ps: Good article btw. I really need to check out some Ashbery stuff.
I would highly recommend Ashbery's second volume of poetry - "The Tennis Court Oath". "Rain" from the same volume is one of my favourite poems. I haven't read it yet but "Flow Chart" comes highly recommended by a poetry buff I know ...
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