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0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Kenny G Sep 20, 2009
This is one of my favorite Kenny G CDs. Your devilvery was fast and the CD is like new. Thanks.
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Timeless masterpiece album with healing power for soul Jul 30, 2009
I got Kenny G / Breathless CD back in 1995 and purchased several for friends. The album remain my all time favor due to its relaxing and soul healing magic. Its a MUST OWN!!!
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Some of the lamest, most pedestrian "music" I've ever heard. 15% Mar 28, 2009
Okay, I'll keep this one short as there isn't much to describe here. You know that really soft, faceless "smooth jazz" that you hear on the Weather Channel and in the grocery store? That's a basic summary of the music on here, but imagine a whole album of it, and one clocking in at an excruciatingly boring 70 minutes, I might add!!
Kenny G.'s "music" is really nothing more an overly sweet audio candy. Sure, it's pleasing to those who like bottom-of-the-barrel "easy listening," but for dedicated music fans like myself who want more than cheesy grocery store music, this will surely give you gaping cavities. While the songs are really boring, the only songs that are actually painful are the pop soul tracks. Some people say "This is relaxing music." There's a big difference between relaxing and boring, and this is most certainly boring. When you're listening to relaxing music, you're enjoying the music as you zone out from the stresses of everyday life. However, with "Breathless," you're angrily staring at your wrist watch saying to yourself "How much longer is this disaster?!!" Kenny G. isn't a true jazz artist, he's a pop musician who happens to play a saxophone. The very fact that "Breathless" sold 30 million copies worldwide shows how stupid the average person is when it comes to jazz, or in Kenny G's case, smooth jazz.
Skip this and go for John Coltrane's "Blue Train" and Miles Davis's "B*tches Brew." You'll be much happier if you follow my advice because with my two recommendations, you'll not only get legendary music, you'll discover something new with every listen.
Finally, take a look at the album cover. It's begging to be desecrated with a Sharpie.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 oh no... Kenny G... what does a saxophonist think?? Nov 20, 2008
Since I am a serious saxophonist, I have written numerous reviews for saxophone recordings ranging from 1 Star to 5 Stars. Each review I have written are for recordings made by serious professional saxophonists, some simply performers looking to make that next recording, and others who are professors of the instrument at a major university. I stopped playing the saxophone for two years in pursuit of something new. After two years, I started wondering "what if I stayed with the instrument?" I decided to get back on the horse that threw me, and have not regretted it. In fact, I can go so far to say that I am more serious about the instrument than I ever have been. But what do I think of Kenny G? Well, here is my answer.
It is hard to write a positive review of Kenny G since the majority of professionals would likely roll their eyes at me. It is also difficult to write a negative review about him since there isn't much I can say about him that is negative. Kenny G is first and fore-most a great pop musician. His bad reputation comes from the common misconception that he is a "jazz" musician, which comes from the even bigger misconception that the saxophone is a "jazz instrument." Granted, the saxophone started to become used heavily in the earlier big bands because of the sound in produced (a cross between woodwinds and brass instruments) in its earlier years. But the instrument has evolved over time to be a fore-runner in the classical and pop genre. More often, bands are including the saxophone as a heavy addition to their sound (see Dave Matthews Band and Huey Lewis and the News). Kenny G is not, and never will be a jazz musician, he is a pop musician...
Critics often criticism Kenny G for being too plain and simple. The problem is that ALL pop music of today's standards is now written using the simplest song structures and chord progressions. The day Brittney Spears is studied in college level classes is the day Slayer makes a Holiday Album (and I would love to see that). Kenny G uses those simple song structures to make an easy listening album that doesn't deal with the hassle of writing lyrics. His strength is in his ability to write memorable melodies over a harmonious background. The fact that he uses a saxophone is not something that should be criticized. He also was not likely the first person to produce popular music of this style, he is just the best one doing it now. Others who produce pop albums tend to over emphasize their ability to play jazz or improvise such as Dave Koz or David Sanborn. Kenny G eliminates the technical, and focuses more on the melody, producing music that can just be enjoyed withoutthe hassle of over analyzation.
Key tracks on "Breathless" include "Sentimental," "Forever in Love," and "By The Time This Night Is Over" with Peabo Bryson. Aaron Neville also makes an appearance on this recording, emphasising the easy listening flavor produced.
Pushing aside complicated technical passages often heard in popular music saxophone recordings, and instead focusing on the melody, Kenny G can be considered a master of his artform. This artform is not playing the saxophone at it would appear to be since he does play the saxophone. His artform is rather being a song writer. For those reasons, I enjoy him as a writer more than an instrumentalist. Granted, his sound is relaxing, but it is what he puts on the page, and records that give him his niche.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
It's Kenny G, What Else? Aug 06, 2008
There's pretty much a reason to hate this guy. Good lord, this guy sucks. It's not just the fact that this guy's albums are incredibly outdated, way too polished and overproduced, and boring, it feels like disposable pop music, and you'd be pretty much right.
I'll admit that Kenny G has potential to show a display of emotion at spots, but it's ruined by the awful production, his awful tone, and the fact that the lines he plays would sound great if he didn't make his tone so bluntly happy, and not ear shattering and annoying. His music just seems to calculating in it's attempt to please. I'm pretty sure that he wasn't trying to do that, but in my eyes, it just sounds awful, destined to pack the pop syndrome, catchy but without ANYTHING behind it. It's the same kind of thing that makes Brittany Spears garbage, the fact that it just doesn't feel like real music. That's why I hate Kenny G's music. I have no problem with the man himself, but really, this ______ is the absolute nadir.
This album is very annoying. The ballads are so dang fluffy and so calculating in their attempts to please. The cheesy New Wave styles, just listen to the INSTRUMENTATION! This is the absolute _________ i've ever heard. The upbeat parts have drum machines, sounding like a cheesy new wave record played in a club of spandex wearing hair rock musicians with haircuts similar to a flock of seagulls. I can't explain all of the horrible stuff this guy has to put in the background of his annoying whaling.
John Zorn smokes this guy any day of the week. Get him if you want a good modern saxophone player who doesn't sacrifice anything.
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