Thoughts on Listening to Kenny G (2021)
November 3, 2023
Spoiler alert: I do directly discuss some things shown in the film, though it's a documentary film so what I talk about isn't going to damage the viewing experience in any way IMO.
Written on a MacBook Pro while listening to 10 Years by an Unkindness.
Listening to Kenny G (2021) is a very fascinating look at the extraordinarily polarizing musician Kenny G. I've had it on my watchlist since YourMovieSucks—one of very few film reviewers I trust to give authentic opinions without just following popular opinion or industry pressure—gave it glowing praise in one of his film festival reviews before the film's public release, but I never got around to watching it until yesterday. I'd never really heard of Kenny G beyond perhaps the name although I have heard his music playing out and about, so I can say for sure that you do not need to have any knowledge of his music or investment in music criticism to get thorough enjoyment out of the film.
It's a fascinating exploration at Kenny G as a personality, as well as a very interesting insight into popular music and the music industry. The film is very effective at contrasting the scathing—but other than one case, very reasonable and accurate—critiques of Kenny's music with the extremely widespread love for his music by large segments of the public. Very thought-provoking, and forces you to evaluate your own opinions and partialities no matter if you like or dislike his music.
I particularly like its very stark juxtaposition, on one side you have people who clearly care about and are deeply invested in the heritage and culture of jazz music (as well as the music itself obviously), and on the other you have corporate businessmen and marketers trying to create the lowest common denominator of inoffensive, widely-appealing music. Yet in the middle you have Kenny G: a seemingly very genuine and affable person who just likes his kind of music and wants to do his own thing, and coincidentally makes the kind of music the latter group wants and the former group hates.
It's interesting that the primary reason that jazz community dislikes him is partially disconnected from why it's so broadly appealing. One of the primary reasons he's disliked is that Kenny never had any connection with jazz—nor the music community
in general—beyond listening to jazz records and playing in a high school band; so his music is very isolated from traditions and is a very bizarre fusing of styles, a jazz-like sound but with pop-like composition and performances. And a very pop-like production style with sterile recording practices, as shown off by Kenny in the film. Although there is an excellent and rather sad argument that he drains a lot of the complexity and soul put into jazz (perhaps what makes his music widely popular in the first place), while simultaneously taking his roots directly from these primarily black musicians that were/are often really struggling financially and making millions.
A very thought-provoking film, I highly recommend giving it a watch. As I said, you don't need to have any preexisting knowledge of nor investment in his music to enjoy the film. Using my rating scale where 5/10 is the average film (i.e. not grade school ratings
), I'd rate it… 9/10. Unusual rating for me, but it's a rare gem of a film that leaves me with lingering thoughts for hours/days afterward, and is excellently put-together from a technical standpoint.