Pat Metheny on Kenny G

Asked to recall his first impressions of frizzy-haired saxophonist Kenny G., jazz guitarist Pat Metheny lets loose:

"He had major rhythmic problems and his harmonic and melodic vocabulary was extremely limited, mostly to pentatonic based and blues-lick derived patterns, and he basically exhibited only a rudimentary understanding of how to function as a professional soloist in an ensemble..."

But he did manage to give him some left-handed praise:

"...he did show a knack for connecting to the basest impulses of the large crowd by deploying his two or three most effective licks (holding long notes and playing fast runs - never mind that there were lots of harmonic clams in them) at the key moments to elicit a powerful crowd reaction (over and over again)."

MEOW!

Bottom line: Metheny thinks Kenny G. is a hack (albeit a rich and successful hack).

Full article here.