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Hector I Castillo

Music 1010

Adam Larson

December 2, 2017

Kenny G

My paper is based on the life of the famous Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (Kenny G) Gorelick

was born and rise on June 5, 1956 in the city of Seattle, Washington. The son of Evelyn Ruth

Eva and Morris Gorelick. His father was from Russia and his mother from Canada. Gorelick

was interest in music at early age, when he was 6 years old he took piano lesson. Four years later

while watching the Ed Sullivan TV show he got really impressed by one of the musicians that

was playing the saxophone at that point he resolved that he wanted to learn how to play the sax.

So, he began taking private lessons from a local trumpeter Gerald Pfister the first saxophone that

Gorelick laid his hand on was the alto. At the time he was in high school he tried to gain a seat in

the jazz school band, but he failed. Obliviously he didnt give up and he continued playing and

practicing with the saxophone. The following year he tried to get in the jazz band, but this time

he got a first seat. By the time he turns 17 years old he started to play professionally the

saxophone. In 1973 while being in high school he landed himself a job, he was hired as a

sideman by Barry White to play in his love unlimited orchestra at this moment he adopted the

name of Kenny G. He used to carry his saxophone wherever he went and his friends and

classmates didnt see him as a weird thing to do, but they saw him as a hero. At this time he also

commenced to take lesson on clarinet and flute once a week for about 12 years from the well

know Johnnie Jessen. Gorelick, said The more I practice the more fun that I have Just to give

an idea of how good Jessen was, Gorelick mentioned that in one of his lessons Jessen got me to
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the point that I began to doubling my speed on clarinet and flute. By the time he graduated from

high school he enrolled in the University of Washington to study accounting and he also

continued to play with Barry Whites Love Unlimited Orchestra.

In 1978 he graduated with honors from the University of Washington and

received his bachelors degree in accounting. This was a pretty good deal for him because

now he have the skills to manage his own money rather than making a hard decision of

trusting someone to take care of his finances. He participated with big stars, including Aretha

Franklin, Whitney Houston and Natalie Cole. Whats more, he also performed with Barbra

Streisand, Burt Bacharach and Frank Sinatra. On top of being a terrific musician he also is an

aircraft pilot since 1989. He used to fly two hours a day every day for two consecutive years.

In the Seattle, Washington area. Janice Deleon and Kenny G were married for 7 years (1980-

1987). Then he got married to Lyndie Benson on 1992 and they have two sons together Max

and Noah. Gorelick used to work every day for 14 hours and perform all over the world, but

when his first son Max was born he dropped the amount of time at work to just 3 hours a day.

He also played the sax when his wife was pregnant with the idea that when the baby was

born the music will cause a special effect (to put the baby to asleep) well this didnt

happened when the baby was born and Gorelick played it didnt do anything to the baby, but

Gorelicks music got the baby more exited. Most of the time Gorelick balance his time to be

with his family, flying, hiking and playing the Saxophone, Clarinet and the flute. On the

beginning of 2012, Benson filed for divorce and 8 months later Gorelick filed for separation.

Putting the end of 20 years of marriage. After the divorce Kenny G admits that it have been

very hard on him and tries very hard to get out of the dark cloud he got into. However, he

also mentioned that after the divorced he got closer to his sons.
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Music History

In 1982, impressed by his version of the ABBA track Dancing Queen president Clive Davis

signed him as a solo artist with Arista Records in 1982. Same year, he released his debut self-

titled album, Kenny G. The album struck a perfect balance between jazz and R&B which

reached number 10 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. On 1983 the second album was for sale

under the name of Kenny G Force. In 1985 Kenny G release his third album, Gravity songs 13

on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. The first albums helped him to establish a great reputation,

but his fourth album in 1986 () sold over 5 million copies, this album made Kenny G an

international icon star. The album peaked at number one on the Contemporary Jazz Albums

chart. The fifth album in 1988 Silhouette (album) 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart,

number 8 on the Billboard 200. The sixth album titled Breathless, US: Diamond (12 Platinum)

release in 1992 sold 15 million records 12 million were sold in the USA alone getting the

number 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and number 2 on the Billboard 200 and. The

song in this album Forever in Love gave Kenny G a Grammy award on 1994 for best

instrumental composition. Seventh Album 1996 The Moment (Platinum), 1999 Classics in the

key of G 8th album, 2002 9th album Paradise (U.S. Gold), 2004 10th album At Last...The Duets

Album, 2006 11th album I'm In The Mood For Love...The Most Romantic Melodies of All Time

(US Gold) 2008 11th album Rhythm and Romance, 2010 12th album Heart and Soul, 2012, 13th

album Namaste (with Rahul Sharma), 2015, 14th Brazilian Nights [6]. Plus 6 holidays albums

(Miracles: The Holiday Album 1994, Faith: A Holiday Album 1999, Wishes: A Holiday Album

2002, The Greatest Holiday Classics 2006, The Christmas Classic Album 2012) Kenny G is the

best seller in the modern era of jazz that sold more records than anybody else in history with a

total of over 75 million copies around the globe.

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Forever in love in one of my favorite songs, the song was release in 1992 in the sixth

album of Kenny G title Breathless, also this song got Gorilick a Grammy award in 1994. This

song has a duration of 4 minutes and 58 seconds. The song began with a piano and soft sound

of percussion instruments probably the electric drum or just a regular drum for the first 0:22

seconds of the song then at 0:23 seconds the brass instrument is introduce, the saxophone, the

piano still playing along with the soft sound of the drums at 0:48 the piano stops playing and

the drums have a stronger sound then in the beginner. The piano starts again at 2:22 and stops

at 2:47 at 2:48 only the drums and the sax are playing until 4:07 then all the instruments are

playing at the same time: Piano, drums and sax at 4:42 the volume of all the instruments go

down until the song forever in love stopped completely at 4:59.

Song bird, part of the fourth album Duotones, which made Kenny G an international icon

start; the song is introduced by the strings instrument, electric guitars at 0:15 then at 0:16

piano and drums began to play. At 0:36 the woodwind instrument, the clarinet is introduced

by Kenny G from 0:37 I can hear the drums, electric guitars, piano, and the clarinet. Now at

1:47 the piano, and the strings take a break for about 60 seconds and only the drums and the

clarinet are playing. At 1:48 the only instrument that is not playing is the clarinet this goes on

until the song reached 4:48 after this break I can hear all the instruments playing at the same

time it continues for the next few minutes in this particular song for the last 14 seconds every

single instrument is going down in volume until the melody is over which is very common

with Kenny G instrumental songs.

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