best clarinet solo in the world--Gershwin

[JitterbugPerfume]

Rhapsody in Blue

Does anyone dare challenge that?

[MilesColtrane]

1. This one's not bad.

Plus, it's improvised, not written out and practiced beforehand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO3pSchTTOw

[JitterbugPerfume]

2. in fact that is quite beautiful

[Orrex]

3. What about that one Kenny G song?

You know the song--the one he plays over and over again to the exclusion of all else?

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

4. That's a soprano saxophone.

[Orrex]

7. Whatever. Next you're going to try to tell me that it's a reed instrument

Spare me your witchcraft!

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. yes I know it well

it lies like a lump in mt brain, but alas it is a saxophone what Kenny G plays

[Orrex]

6. Mt. Brain is difficult to scale, I agree

And those lumps don't help any!

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Kenny G-- unprotected sax.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

8. Kenny G is NOT a jazz musician. He noodles.

Pat Metheny agrees with me. Kenny G does NOT know how to improvise.

Question to Pat Metheny:

Pat, could you tell us your opinion about Kenny G - it appears you were quoted as being less than enthusiastic about him and his music. I would say that most of the serious music listeners in the world would not find your opinion surprising or unlikely - but you were vocal about it for the first time. You are generally supportive of other musicians it seems.
Pat's Answer:

Kenny G is not a musician I really had much of an opinion about at all until recently. There was not much about the way he played that interested me one way or the other either live or on records.

I first heard him a number of years ago playing as a sideman with Jeff Lorber when they opened a concert for my band. My impression was that he was someone who had spent a fair amount of time listening to the more pop oriented sax players of that time, like Grover Washington or David Sanborn, but was not really an advanced player, even in that style. He had major rhythmic problems and his harmonic and melodic vocabulary was extremely limited, mostly to pentatonic based and blues-lick derived patterns, and he basically exhibited only a rudimentary understanding of how to function as a professional soloist in an ensemble - Lorber was basically playing him off the bandstand in terms of actual music.

But he did show a knack for connecting to the basest impulses of the large crowd by deploying his two or three most effective licks (holding long notes and playing fast runs - never mind that there were lots of harmonic clams in them) at the key moments to elicit a powerful crowd reaction (over and over again). The other main thing I noticed was that he also, as he does to this day, played horribly out of tune - consistently sharp.

Of course, I am aware of what he has played since, the success it has had, and the controversy that has surrounded him among musicians and serious listeners. This controversy seems to be largely fueled by the fact that he sells an enormous amount of records while not being anywhere near a really great player in relation to the standards that have been set on his instrument over the past sixty or seventy years. And honestly, there is no small amount of envy involved from musicians who see one of their fellow players doing so well financially, especially when so many of them who are far superior as improvisors and musicians in general have trouble just making a living. There must be hundreds, if not thousands of sax players around the world who are simply better improvising musicians than Kenny G on his chosen instruments. It would really surprise me if even he disagreed with that statement.

END QUOTE
The rest of the quote is at:

http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm

[Orrex]

9. When he was popular, I could scarcely believe that he was a real human being

Or, at least, that his music came from a real human being. It sounded for all the world like something that The Vanilla Syndicate programed into the Bland-o-Tron and piped through elevators and dentists' offices throughout the land.

I'm still not convinced that I was wrong.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Kenny G is the Thomas Kinkade of improvisation. n/t

[Wapsie B]

12. No question about that.

I do have fond memories of him playing in the background when I was with a girlfriend of mine. So to that extent Kenny served his purpose for me. His music got her in the mood. Crazy I know.

[kaiden]

19. Kenny G's music is a known carcinogen.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

22. ROFL.

:rofl:

Spoken like a true musical connoisseur.

[laconicsax]

11. Some better standard rep solos here:

I Pini del Gianicolo from Pines of Rome (Respighi)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drqiR5WSHsQ

Dances of Galanta (Kodaly)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8esS3v1Dxo - Part 1 (clarinet solo starts a little ways in)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CY8CIux6T3Q - Part 2 (the big solo starts about 7 minutes in)
(Too bad the orchestra can't really handle the piece because the clarinetist really nails it.)

Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich) The piece has nice clarinet solos in each movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2W8kGdCwmA - 1st movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFGoOgnW5IA - 2nd movement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqgj8FypvsE - 3rd movement (Solo starts about 5 minutes in, becomes duet with violin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mlFaalSZm8 - 4th movement (Solo trades between 1st and 2nd clarinet)

Symphony No. 9 (Shostakovich)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYYiWc9Jkws - 2nd movement (rehearsal w/ lousy sound quality)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__1AFCdSSPI - 3rd movement

Concerto for Orchestra (Bartok)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd-4mY-i6kY - 2nd movement (technically a duet and then technically a quartet with 1st and 2nd flutes), but still great)

Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRsA5_BEDjw - 3rd movement (lots of little solos)

[greenbriar]

13. most awesome. I played it in HS for contest

I got a 2 instead of the desired 1 because the person I was using as my pianist jacked it up

but it is an awesome piece of music

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Mozart Clarinet concerto - slow movement (Adagio)

Andrew Marriner - Sir Neville Marriner's son:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPjtRSgg2fg

[many a good man]

18. That was absolutely beautiful!

Can't believe I've never heard it before. Thanks for sharing.

[triguy46]

16. Try Copland's Clarinet Concerto written for Benny Goodman.

Here's a more recent version, though many copies of Goodman's playing it exist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACO5DjpS8YM

This is a good one too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppd7HjoaFLc

[Mike 03]

17. It's hard to challenge that.

It left me speechless when I was first introduced to it on the soundtrack to Woody Allen's MANHATTAN.

But there's also Benny Goodman.

And I'm sure there are others I'm not acquainted with, as I'm no expert in this area.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. Try this one..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6jkDxF2x7s

[Forkboy]

21. You know, I was just sitting here listening to Stupid Babies Go Mad and wondering about that.

I'll be damned if I can come up with a better one.

:hide:

:hi: :loveya:

[begin_within]

23. This

The solo from 2:50 to 3:10 in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u-qwaGQzoI

[sammythecat]

24. One of my all time favorites

It's hard to pick a single favorite album, but "The Gershwin Album" with Eugene Ormandy and the Phila. Orch. is definitely in my top 3. It has sentimental value to me, but it's also just a brilliant album of music. Captures all the romance and glamour of the big city in the 1920's.