Kenny G has hits and holidays covered
When Kenny G returns to the Seattle area to play, he's not the only one on stage who knows his way around.
Like their frontman — who grew up Kenny Gorelick in the Seward Park area of Seattle, starting his remarkable music career while still a student at Franklin High School — his longtime band is heavy on Puget Sound roots.
"Robert (Damper, keyboards), I went to high school with, and he's been with me all along," Kenny G said during a recent phone conversation from his Malibu base, taking a break from preparations from the upcoming "Miracles Holiday & Hits Tour," which stops Dec. 1 at the Admiral Theatre — just a boat ride away from his childhood stompin' grounds.
"(Guitarist) John Raymond still lives in Redmond," he continued, running down the musicians who'll join him on the Admiral stage. "(Bassist) Vail Johnson went to Ballard High.
"They've been my brothers for a few decades, some of them more," he said of the band, which also includes drummer Ron Powell and percussionist Danny Bajarano. "I take good care of them. And they must be happy, because they've stayed with me for more than 30 years."
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And he still likes to get out and play with them.
"We're on and off (the road) all the time. We could probably do more," he said, ball-parking his workload as "50 (gigs a year) is too little, 100 too many."
He added, laughing, "It depends, though. If Beyonce called and wanted me to open, we'd probably do 150.
"Mostly, though, I try to balance. I like to see what my kids are up to. I have a social life."
For one thing, he's a golfer. Big-time. He's known as one of the best celebrity golfers on the pro-am circuit. He's also an accomplished pilot.
He's still got some cred in the Puget Sound area for having one of the two mansions on his Hunt's Point property painstakingly preserved and delivered by barge to a buyer on Bainbridge Island, when it would have been much cheaper to simply demolish it.
"I wasn't trying to show off," he said. "I was trying to be an environmentalist. I thought (preserving and moving the house) was a good idea. I don't like to waste anything."
With sales of more than 75 million records, Kenny G is one of the best-selling artists of all time. He put "smooth" jazz on the musical map, got airplay on several crossover radio markets and won legions of fans worldwide.
That kind of fame doesn't come without some backlash. Critics and some other jazz musicians, perhaps irked by his commercial success, dismissed him as a pop phenomenon.
As pop phenomena go, though, his career has shown some major legs: He and the band wouldn't have the opportunities to hit the road if there wasn't still the demand.
"I have a little more self-esteem" than to let the criticism bother him, said Kenny G, who even participated in a recent good-natured spoof by comedian Andy Samberg. "It never hurt my career, or curb the momentum. I don't mind the jokes, either, as long as they're funny."
On the "Miracles Hits & Holidays Tour," Kenny G and the band will straddle the two musical territories about half-and-half.
"In places where they want an intermission," he said, "we do non-holiday stuff, intermission, then the holiday stuff. I personally don't like intermissions, but a lot of the venues like 'em. And we probably play more songs, total, if we do have one.
"I'll do whatever. I like to make people happy."
PREVIEW
Kenny G ‘Miracle Holiday & Hits’
Where: Admiral Theatre, 515 Pacific Ave., Bremerton
When: 7:30 p.m. December 1 (doors open 6 p.m.)
Tickets: $131-$41
Information: 360-373-6743, admiraltheatre.org
