I turn my music in and I've heard Clive Davis tell me things that he wants different: 'Kenny, it needs more snare drum.' And I take it back and I'm thinking, “This is not correct. (Laughs) It doesn't really matter what they say. Kenny G: Nope, not one of them, to be honest with you. Q: Did any of the critics featured in “Listening” make any points about your music or hit upon something you hadn’t thought about before? Where does having your own documentary rank in terms of life accomplishments? Question: You’ve sold more than 75 million albums, China embraced your song 'Going Home' as a national anthem of sorts, and you've even won some golf trophies. The Grammy-winning musician, 65, chats with USA TODAY via Zoom about the new film, a key moment in his career and the last time he got a haircut. “Honestly, the first 10 minutes was nothing I hadn't seen or heard before so it wasn't that big of a deal.” He was more offended by Lane’s inclusion of his cheesy first video, for 1983’s “Hi, How Ya Doin’?”: “It was just awful. “When (Lane) put the film together, she warned me, ‘You're going to hate the first 10 minutes, but please get past that and trust me, at the end of the movie, you win,’ ” says Kenny G, who begins an American tour on Thursday and on Friday releases 'New Standards,' a collection of original songs inspired by 1950s and '60s jazz ballads.

But “Listening” also examines why some people love and others despise Kenny G’s works, letting several critics opine on what exactly is so detestable about his “smooth jazz” jams. Ranked: All the best movies we saw at Toronto Film Festival (including sci-fi epic 'Dune')ĭirector Penny Lane’s filmchronicles Kenny’s G journey from a Jewish teenager in his Seattle high school jazz band to one of the best-selling musical artists of all time. Whatever you think about his ubiquitous mega-hits like “Songbird” and “Silhouette” from the 1980s and ‘90s, Kenny G (real name: Kenny Gorelick) comes off as a fun, self-deprecating guy – who just happens to play a soprano saxophone like nobody else – in the new documentary “Listening to Kenny G” (now onHBO and streaming on HBO Max), which was unveiled at Toronto Film Festival. That's me! Where's my royalties, China?’ ” Kenny G quips with a laugh. “When I'm in an elevator in like, Wuhan, China, and I hear my music, I go, ‘Wow.’ And then when I'm on the flight to China and they play one of my songs, sometimes I stand up and go, ‘Excuse me, everybody. When some folks randomly hear a Kenny G song in a mall or at a waiting room, they’ll go, “Ugh, not him again.” Not so with Kenny G.

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