Natural sax appeal
Grammy winner saxophonist and musician Kenny G staged a concert in Genting Highlands recently. Tahir Alhamzah finds out why his popularity never wanes
IT’s easy to see why world-renowned saxophonist Kenny G is one of the best-selling artistes in the world. After all, global sales totalled more than 75 million records throughout his more than three-decade-long career as a solo recording artiste.
At the Kenny G World Tour 2018 In Malaysia concert held last Sunday at the Arena Of Stars in Resorts World Genting, the 62-year-old musician easily enchanted his 6,000-strong audience with his captivating, easy-listening and recognisable series of tunes.
He was accompanied by bassist Vail Johnson, drummer Daniel Bejarano, guitarist John Raymond, keyboardist/pianist Robert Damper and percussionist Ron Powell, who have been loyally playing with him for about 30 years.
At the two-hour, one-night-only concert, the saxophonist played his hits, including Home, Silhouette, Forever In Love, Havana, Songbird, Heart And Soul, Going Home, Cadenza and My Heart Will Go On.
This recent concert was held a day after he thrilled Indonesian fans at a similar event in Jakarta.
Kenny G’s performance here also marked his third time playing at the same event hall located at the popular highland venue in Pahang.
The Grammy winner captivated the audience right from the start, kicking off the concert at 8.30pm sharp with Home.
Instead of opening the concert with him standing on the stage, Kenny G surprised the concert-goers that evening by standing right in the middle of the concert hall, not very far from where this writer was seated.
After the song, he played Silhouette, during which he showed off his most remarkable talent — holding a note for about three minutes.
Known for his circular breathing — a skill which had earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1997 for playing the longest note ever recorded on a saxophone — the skill never fails to mesmerise his audience, evident from the positive reaction by the cheering crowd.
Apparently, he took about 20 years to perfect this skill which lets him breathe while still holding a note.
A fellow concert-goer who had the fortune of catching some of his previous concerts here in Malaysia said Kenny G used to perform this act during the later part of a performance. However, perhaps due to his age catching up, the musician opted to perform it at the beginning of his concert instead.
Well, I know many younger people who are a third his age who probably do not have Kenny G’s stamina that evening.
Being an experienced and world-class performer, Kenny G certainly knows how to captivate his audience, besides showing off his skills with music instruments.
He thanked his audience in Malay, despite struggling a little to find the right words that he must have memorised earlier.
“Saya minta minta maaf Bahasa Malaysia
saya tidak bagus.Terima kasih kerana datang (Please forgive me for my poor command of Bahasa Malaysia... Thank you for coming),” he eventually said.
He also played Jasmine Flower and The Moon Represents My Heart, a Mandarin number which he had only played in Asia but never back in the United States.
The night ended with him playing the soundtrack from James Cameron’s 1997 blockbuster Titanic, a song made hugely popular by Celine Dion.
But of course, it wouldn’t be a live show if the audience didn’t shout for more and they did enthusiastically so. He then returned to the stage to play The Moment for an encore performance.
Walking out the hall, I could hear people praising him.
While addressing the audience inbetween his performance, Kenny G said
that after the concert, he would do something which he had never done before — have a table set up on stage where fans could get their CDs signed.
“I want to see each and everyone of you after the concert. So for those who hadn’t brought my CD along, you can get them here tonight too,” he said.
A special album titled The Best Of Kenny G, featuring some of his popular hits, was made available for purchase that evening.
I was informed by the representative of the concert organiser, Star Planet Sdn Bhd, that the album was only put out for sale during his concerts.
In the end, the saxophonist spent another two hours signing autographs for close to 800 fans who queued up patiently. Making time and taking photos with his fans, Kenny G is definitely in a class of his own.