Kenny G knows people hate him. And he's so unbothered by it that he agreed to participate in a documentary about his life with no expectation of controlling or curtailing its narrative. __ChrisLee spoke with the musician and director Penny Lane
“I wouldn’t have approached Kenny if I thought he was going to be super-sensitive,” Listening to Kenny G director Penny Lane explains. “It was very clear to me that he doesn’t give a shit.” Photo: HBO Kenny G gets it.
Kenny, this film does such a thorough job of contextualizing how you and your music have been misunderstood over the years. But you are the first to say you are not angry at your critics and you’re not angry at the comedians who have taken swings at you. So what was your agenda here? PL: Well, first I’m going to disagree with your premise. I think that people watch a film about someone like Taylor Swift, and they’re perfectly willing to extend sympathy. I don’t think success is a stumbling block to feel empathy for somebody. But I sort of know what you mean in the sense that maybe someone would think I was making a film that was, I don’t know, apologizing for Kenny or something. But I’ll deal with your second part of the question.
KG: Not really. No. Penny has the editing authority to do what she wants. But actually it’s not stuff I haven’t heard.PL: We did not cast the film with assholes who are just there to trash him. We tried to find people who maybe didn’t love his music but had interesting things to say. KG: I thought about it more since I saw the film. But I still go back to the way I’ve always thought about it, which is: There weren’t radio stations just waiting for a white guy to play the sax. Oh, we’ve been waiting for this instrumental that we really wanted to play because we didn’t want to play any Black musicians. I don’t think that was ever the case. What happened was that smooth-jazz radio started almost because of my sound. And now there’s a place for this kind of music.
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