My other post on Kenny G was in March last year. It was about his 1992 mega-hit single Forever in Love and remains by far the most visited article on my blog according to the WordPress statistics. Why that is, I have no idea although it’s one of the few articles I wrote partly in jest – mocking elevator music. That’s not to take anything away from his prestigious talent or obfuscate my listening enjoyment of these featured songs. I even owned his most successful record Breathless (1992) which contains – Forever. I was in a silly mood – that’s all.
The Moment may not have been successful as Forever, but it was Kenny G’s first hit on the Billboard in three years reaching number 63. It is the title track on his eighth studio album The Moment released in 1996 which reached No 2 on the Billboard album charts. The single was released alongside another artist and song you may be familiar – Toni Braxton – Un-Break My Heart.
Kenny G is an American Smooth jazz saxophonist and the best selling instrumentalist of all time with over 75 million record sales, and 1.5 billion streams. You can find him here talking about his journey from not making the high school band to global music superstardom. He even discusses parodies which is interesting since my friend Nancy at The Elephant’s Trunk in my last Kenny post mentioned a spoof video of him and Michael Bolton performing How Am I Supposed To Live Without You. I can’t say it didn’t have me in stitches and still makes me chuckle whenever I see it. To corroborate Nancy – you’ve been warned.
From Wikipedia:
Kenny was born Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (June 5, 1956). He started playing the saxophone at the age of ten, inspired by a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. During high school, he took private saxophone lessons and played in the school jazz band. Kenny G’s fourth solo album, Duotones (1986), marked the start of his most commercially successful period, featuring the hit single Songbird. His 1992 album, Breathless, became the best-selling instrumental album ever. He has worked on soundtracks for films such as The Bodyguard and collaborated with artists, including Andrea Bocelli and Frank Sinatra.
The music video (below) of the song starts with Kenny G coming in a Seaplane and playing his Soprano saxophone. Then, the scene breaks to him flying in the plane to downtown Seattle, where Kenny G hails from. Then performing again in variety of locations, song production house, a sunset scene, in front of Pike Place Market, a crowd watching him performing and finally in the waterfront of Seattle.
It appears Kenny G is still touring according the events calendar in the video below (Asia in July and then US in Sept and Brazil in Oct and back to the US after).
Here endeth the post, you can find the lyrics in your dreams. Thanks as always for reading.
References:
1. The Moment (Kenny G composition) – Wikipedia
2. Kenny G – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I’ve never paid much attention to Kenny G. His music certainly is pretty relaxing, and the fact he’s the best-selling instrumentalist of all time, which I didn’t know, obviously indicates a lot of folks like his music.
Smooth jazz oftentimes tends to be dismissed as “jazz light” among jazz afficionados, which I find unfair.
One smooth jazz musician I like is Grover Washington Jr. My brother-in-law first introduced me to the saxophonist with his 1980 studio album “Winelight.” It’s the one with “Just the Two of Us” featuring Bill Withers, which became Washington’s biggest success. I like the album to this day, including the other (instrumental) tracks.
As we are writing this, and before ends the day, tens of people will view the article on his ‘Forever in Love’.
I have listened to the Jazz you have headed in your Sunday music list. Can you point me to one or two from album you mentioned?
Yep, from Grover Washington Jr.’s “Winelight”, I like the opener, which is the title track, and “Take Me There,” in addition to “Just the Two of Us” with Bill Withers.
The title track is smooth and that sax is sultry as heck.
Take Me There – see above. Jazz can be great background music I find. It’s also great music when heard ‘live’.
“Just the Two of Us” with Bill Withers – This is so well known, and I’ve heard it a plenty. Thanks for rejigging this song to my senses.