Re: Kenny G

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

I'm going to stay out of any discussion of whether Kenny G should or 
shouldn't have embarked on his record-over Louis Armstrong project; though 
I'm certainly, as it happens, dubious about all such projects, out of my own 
sense of the integrity of each created work.  (In the Jewish music world, 
someone whose name escapes me--sorry, I should remember--nearly inspired 
apoplexy among some traditionalists by sampling--I think that's what DJs 
call it--old cantorial records and superimposing his own, not very 
traditional stuff.  Maybe some of the same overreaction is going on here.)  
BUT:

1) I think the "joke"/mnemonic shared here was tasteless, highly 
inappropriate for this or any list, and *very* *un*-funny.  I hope no such 
post will *ever* be posted again.

2) Even more unfunny is threatening violence--however figuratively or 
otherwise--against Kenny G.  And though I realize that the poster meant no 
harm, he shouldn't have posted that part of the message at all; it 
compromises the entire list.  Threats made on e-mail--whether *really* meant 
or (hopefully) not--are *not* funny or to be indulged. They're certainly not 
taken lightly by various federal authorities--and might not be by Kenny G, 
if he was informed of it.

3) Whatever one thinks of Kenny G's music, I question whether *anything* he 
does appeals to the "basest" impulses in his listeners.
"The basest" impulses?  Really?  Running through, rapidly, some of our 
basest impulses, I think not.  But that perhaps could be said, more or less, 
of the "joke"/mnemonic that was posted here.

4) Is money really the only possible reason that Kenny G embarked on this 
project--again, for better or for worse?  Frankly, that seems exceedingly 
dubious, as he's already made zillions; there may not be a musician on earth 
who *less* needs money than Kenny G.  In any case, speculating as to others' 
intentions is usually unwise and often foolish and mistaken.  Has Kenny G 
*said* or written anything about why he undertook this project?  However 
worthy or unworthy, presumptuous or otherwise, he may have intended it as 
the sincerest homage.  In any case, I'd rather *ask* him--or try to 
ascertain his intentions--rather than just impute ... base (I guess) 
intentions, especially when that sounds so unlikely.

I can accept, I guess, "Pat's" (why anonymous?) passion on this issue, but 
not his threats of violence, not his over-the-top judgment of Kenny G's 
listeners' response, and not his ungrounded imputation of (dubious?) 
motives.  And I most strenuously object to this distasteful and ugly 
mnemonic, which I trust will NOT be re-posted, in replies or otherwise, to 
this list--which, last I knew, is not about fancifully wishing death to 
Jewish musicians, virtuouso or otherwise.

--Robert Cohen (forcefully)




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