Greatest Hits

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There’s a long historical tension between easy listening and the imperatives of jazz authenticity, and no one has come to inhabit that division quite like Kenneth Gorelick—the soprano sax melodist to the masses better known as Kenny G. This 1997 hits package covers the first stage of the Seattle-born artist's dominance, leading off with the blockbuster ballad singles “Songbird” and “Silhouette” and breezing through the Latin-lite of “Havana” and the sleek nighttime funk of “Baby G.” Vocal guest spots from Babyface, Toni Braxton, Peabo Bryson, Michael Bolton, and even Frank Sinatra on “One for My Baby” (lifted from Sinatra’s 1993 <i>Duets</i> album) make it clear how Kenny G sat at the juncture of adult pop and light R&B, a sound that came to be called smooth jazz. (At times the mere presence of a saxophone was the genre’s only plausible jazz ingredient; the band dynamics and rhythmic codes of jazz were seldom present.) No matter how befuddling it might’ve been for hardcore jazz aficionados to fathom, Kenny G's formula made him a Pied Piper for the phenomenon—and one of the best-selling instrumental artists of all time.

via Apple Music

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