I thought I'd write about a very peculiar saxophone solo which a pupil requested a transcription for. He wanted to learn the song Last Friday Night by Katy Perry, which I'd never heard. When I looked it up I discovered an elaborate music video including the hated Kenny G cast as 'Uncle Kenny'. He's also referenced by other people in the video and has a starring role playing a solo from an elevated position I believe. Anyhow, I was struck firstly by the tone, which was weirdly strong and not at all the usual soupy smooth jazz sound Mr Gorelick is so renowned for. Secondly I noted a bit of electronic skullduggery applied to the saxophone, culminating in a note that I initially thought too high to be a real note on tenor sax. I dutifully transcribed the solo but was feeling more and more puzzled because its whole style was so unlike Kenneth Bruce's usual manner. I looked into this and it turns out that the recording is actually the fantastic Lenny Pickett, who does indeed blast out some ridiculous altissimo notes. Quite strange that Kenny G should be happy not only to mime to someone else's solo, and be featured so prominently on the video. Or is strange that Lenny Pickett passed up the opportunity to be in the music video? I'm no Katy Perry fan, but it's a very odd situation, and the saxophone geek in me would love to know how this bizarre situation came about.
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June 2022
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