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Kenny G: The Moment

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Arista Records
Released: 1996.10.01
Time:
 64:46
Category: Smooth jazz, R&B
Producer(s): Kenny G, Walter Afanasieff, Babyface, Steve Albini
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.kennyg.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] The Moment (Kenny G) - 6:02
[2] Passages (Kenny G) - 5:57
[3] Havana (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 7:22
[4] Always (Kenny G) - 5:35
[5] That Somebody Was You [with Toni Braxton] (Kenny G/Babyface/Walter Afanasieff) - 5:02
[6] The Champion's Theme (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 4:21
[7] Eastside Jam (Kenny G) - 5:09
[8] Moonlight (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 5:59
[9] Gettin' On The Step (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 4:17
[10] Every Time I Close My Eyes (with Babyface) (Babyface) - 4:58
[11] Northern Lights (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 5:01
[12] Innocence (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 3:58
[13] Remember (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 5:52
      Bonus Track
[14] Havana [Remix] [with Savion Glover] (Kenny G/Walter Afanasieff) - 3:59

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Kenny G - Alto, Tenor & Soprano Saxophone, Bass, Drums, Producer

Walter Afanasieff - Bass, Drum Programming, Drums, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, Producer, Programming, Synclavier, Synthesizer, Synthesizer Bass
Paulinho Da Costa - Percussion
Nathan East - Bass
Greg Phillinganes - Piano
Dan Shea - Dep, Drum Programming, Drums, Keyboards, Programming, Rhythm Programming
Michael Thompson - Guitar
Sheila E. - Percussion

Babyface - Drum Programming, Keyboard Programming, Keyboards, Producer, Vocals, Background Vocals on [5,10]
Toni Braxton - Vocals, Background Vocals on [5]

Marc Nelson - Background Vocals
Dede O'Neal - Background Vocals

Steve Albini - Producer
Dana Jon Chappelle - Engineer
Humberto Gatica - Engineer
Brad Gilderman - Engineer
David Gleeson - Engineer
Johnny Richards - Engineer
Steve Shepherd - Engineer
William Ross - Mixing, Orchestral Arrangements, String Arrangements
Chris Boardman - Mixing, String Arrangements
Mick Guzauski - Mixing
Matthew Rolston - Photography
Angela Skouras - Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Is Kenny G smart or what? Here's a guy with nothing more to rely on than fairly mediocre skills as a saxophonist, a boyish manner and great hair, and what does he do with it? He makes himself the No. 1 instrumentalist in the history of the music charts.

"The Moment" is G's ninth album, and the title single has already burst through on the airwaves. Expect to hear more. There is, first of all, a long lineup of soupy ballads, played with quivering emotionalism by G's thin-toned soprano and tenor saxophones. The titles are obviously intended to underscore the appropriate sentiments: "Passages," "Moonlight," "Northern Lights," "The Moment," "Innocence," "Always" and "Havana" (which, despite the title, is completely lacking in Latin soul).

Two vocals - "Everytime I Close My Eyes" with Babyface and "That Somebody Was You" with Toni Braxton - supply potential crossover singles, and the folk-like melody of "The Champion's Theme" and the non-jam rhythms of "Eastside Jam" fill in the gaps. "Gettin' On the Step," a direct descendant of "Steppin' Out With My Baby," is the only tune in which G actually dips into the kind of jazz-tinged improvising that suggests where he might have taken his career.

DON HECKMAN - October 05, 1996
Copyright © 2015 Los Angeles Times



Critics really get off on the visceral impact of edgy, aggressive music. Give 'em guitars that will peel paint off the walls and synths that can rip through ears like a rusty fishhook, and you're almost guaranteed a rave review. But frankly, not all listeners want their paint peeled or ears ripped, thank you very much. These folks would rather hear something soothing and tuneful — music as comfortable as an old shirt. And Kenny G has made millions providing it for them.

Naturally, this hasn't exactly earned him critical praise: His music has been called everything from bland as oatmeal to the jazz equivalent of a lobotomy. Some critics have even gone so far as to call the G-man a disgrace to the saxophone, as if the instrument of Coltrane and Shorter had somehow been defiled by G's fondness for easy-listening fare.

But beating up on Kenny G for not being a jazzman misses the point. His music isn't about cerebral intensity or improvisatory invention — it's about melody. And to that end, The Moment is everything a beleaguered pop fan could want. Not only does it emphasize mood over momentum and tenderness over tension, but it wraps each engaging melody in arrangements that seem soft no matter how high the volume.

From the dreamy chorus of the title tune to the prayerful refrain of "Innocence," listening to The Moment is like settling into a comfy chair. Everything on the album is set to a slow simmer. It generally takes G a couple choruses to get to the improvised "solo," and even then, he never quite lets things come to a boil. It's not listening music so much as a kind of aural atmosphere, the sort people put on to let their minds wander and cares drift away.

In that sense, it's a mistake to compare G's gentle piping with the gripping fare the griping critics prefer, as his music is more at home whispering suggestions the way film music does. Cue up the Celtic-flavored "The Champion's Theme," for instance, and you can almost see some plucky Irish hero returning to his copper-haired colleen, while the jaunty "Eastside Jam," with its bluesy guitar and lazy, synth-based groove, could easily pass for the theme from some urban comedy.

Ambiance is far more important than content on Moment. Even as the song "Havana" wafts from the speakers like cigar smoke, G and coproducer Walter Afanasieff (Mariah Carey, Michael Bolton) avoid the specifics of Cuban jazz. Likewise, though "Moonlight" recalls the pop jazz of the early '60s, there's nothing terribly jazzy about what G plays; he seems less interested in how far improvisation can take him than in how far his repetitive approach can take the tune.

Maybe that's why Kenny G thinks not like an instrumentalist so much as a singer. Listening to the way he applies his breathy tone and carefully considered phrasing to the dreamily descending melody of "The Moment," it's hard not to think of Johnny Mathis — even the tight, quick vibrato is similar.

That ought to make the album's two duets more interesting than the usual singer-with-instrumental-obbligato arrangement, but the actual results are more of a mixed bag. "That Somebody Was You," with Toni Braxton, is far more sultry than anything on her latest, Secrets. Braxton's brilliantly understated delivery not only says more with swallowed syllables than most singers convey at full voice but finds a perfect match in G's crisp countermelodies.

On the other hand, "Everytime I Close My Eyes," which finds G going one-on-one with Babyface, is something of a mismatch. Granted, it's a great tune, but it's too focused on the vocal to make the sax man seem anything more than a sideman on yet another Babyface hit. No doubt it will sound great on the radio; here, though, it seems out of place, offering too much foreground for an album that — holy BarcaLounger! — elevates background music to a minor art form.

J.D. Considine, Oct 18, 1996
Copyright © 2014 Entertainment Weekly



While the success of Kenny G is undeniable, why choose "The Moment" over, say, one by Wayne Shorter or any easy-listening disc from Windham Hill or Narada? The mushy melodies and pedestrian instrumentalism? What's bad about "The Moment" is that Kenny G takes his cues from old Kenny Gorelick, rehashing his LP "Silhouette." His fixation on the Grover Washington Jr.-Bill Withers' tune "Just the Two of Us" again leads him to try the duet form, this time hacking at the talents of Babyface ("Everytime I Close My Eyes") and Toni Braxton. The latter is Anita Baker-lite on "That Somebody Was You," but at least the sax is understated. There are some flourishes as Kenny G plays alto ("Moonlight") and tenor ("Northern Lights"), but not enough to get him out of the category of John Tesh.

Brad Webber, November 08, 1996
ChicagoTribune.com



Although The Moment followed four years after Kenny G's blockbuster Breathless, the saxophonist didn't change his approach at all during his time off. Kenny G remains a sweet, melodic instrumentalist, who works entirely in lush, slick adult contemporary pop settings. His playing has improved somewhat in those four years -- he soars and dives with effortless skill, and his vibrato remains fleet and elegant -- yet after The Moment is finished, you wish that he had tried some new musical territories. That said, it is true that The Moment ranks second to only Breathless in terms of sheer consistency in Kenny G's catalog, thanks to the sustained vision of producer Babyface. Of particular note are the two vocal collaborations (Babyface's "Everytime I Close My Eyes," Toni Braxton's "That Somebody Was You"), which are the best duets to yet appear on any of Kenny G's records.

Thom Owens - All Music Guide



The Moment is the seventh studio album by saxophonist Kenny G. It was released by Arista Records in 1996, and reached #1 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, #2 on the Billboard 200, #9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #16 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

The second single taken from this album, "Havana", was remixed and released to dance clubs in the United States, and these remixes went to #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1997, earning Kenny G his first #1 on this chart. The remixes, by Todd Terry and Tony Moran, are different from the album version of the song.

Wikipedia.org
 

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