Kenny G @ The Symphony Hall, 28th June 2016
Firstly let’s give the venue a big thumbs up, this place looks amazing, every little bit down to the fine detail, the layout, the décor and even the seating. The layout acoustics were amazing – you would not think this place has trains running underneath
Starting the evening we have Ventriloquist Steve Hewlett who was at the finals of Britain’s Got Talent. He has the crowd in stitches from start to finish. He brings with him his keen energetic charisma and bold confidence along with his United Kingdom trunk with an array of goodies, from his “talking water” and his cheeky puppet Arthur Lager and other props. He has Arthur chatting up a lady in the front row and talks about his previous job in Harrods amongst other humorous events; a great way to start the night
Following on we have the main act of the night; the record breaking, award winning Saxophonist Kenny G. Kenny, having sold 75 million albums worldwide is a one of a kind, spanning 3 decades outselling all others. The performance begins with Kenny G in the middle of the audience. He’s engaging the fans, smiling, waving, giving thumbs up signs, whilst displaying his skills with slow and fast tempo flourishes, ending by holding a note and proceeded to walking back towards the stage and back up onto the platform, holding the note for over 2 ½ minutes, showing he is a true world record professional. If you didn’t know his world record was for holding an e flat for 45 minutes and 45 seconds, WOW!
We see many of the hits played tonight, starting very early on with Forever in Love. Kenny speaks to the audience and tells us a little about his Saxophone “unfortunately is the longest relationship I have ever had. I’m still using the same Saxophone that I used in high school”. He says how grateful he is to the audience and all his school teacher and music teachers and thanks everyone graciously moving straight into Havana.
We then see each of the instruments and musicians take turns to have solos, the best to watch were the drummers, the main drummer with the array of lights and colours strobing and the hand percussionist who has the crowd eating out of his hands as he use a tambourine and has the audience repeat after him, trying to catch us out. He then showed us the tricks throwing up and around, rolling over arms, neck and shoulder and over chest, up and over legs, spinning it around horizontally, vertically and pretty much anything. It was very impressive and received great applause.
We now move on to my favourite track of the night Sentimental, this is probably one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen, its already awesome in its recorded state let alone live in this auditorium .
He also brought a couple who won a raffle for one of his saxophones on stage to serenade them. But it was engaging and often funny which made the couples evening barely blinking and not once taking her eyes off him truly a dream.
We have an excellent The Moment followed by another speech from Kenny G about jazzing the place up with his “special machines shrinks buildings and turn them into jazz clubs from the USA” before we hear more of the newer content and the self composed bossa nova self-from his latest Brazilian nights album, following by Songbird where we see more of Kenny G and his amazing Sax playing skills.
We move into another amazing My Heart Will Go On with a flurry of blue downlights sprinkling around the room to provide ambience and probably some of the best visuals of the night, with Kenny ending the performance with a gracious bow and lots of smiles and waves. Many in the audience get up to leave but a few shout for more and we see the band hastily come back to perform Somewhere Over The Rainbow to the backdrop of some appropriate lighting.
In summary I loved most of tonight’s performance every track was greeted be a deservedly applause. Kenny G is a truly professional musician and the amazing venue made the night a fantastic one. Would I go again? Definitely! Kenny G is not just for jazz fans, he is for anyone who appreciates great live music.
Words and photographs: Chris Bowley