As I approached the Pikes Peak Center on Cascade Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs on Sunday evening, I thought I was plenty early to find parking on the street and get in and get a drink since it was only 6:05 p.m. But I started to get confused. I started seeing more and more people still two blocks away walking in the direction of Pikes Peak Center. Traffic was slowing down. The closer I got, the more bewildering it was: Kenny G was playing tonight, and it was a mob scene.

I admit I didn’t know what to expect. Kenny G is practically a household name and like many successful commercial

and pop artists is the butt of his share of jokes. But like him or not, his music helped solidify and define the “smooth jazz” genre. He has sold millions of albums and has millions of fans worldwide, but this was Colorado Springs: was there something else going on I didn’t know about? Some folksy music festival, maybe, outside Pikes Peak Center earlier? No, it’s simply this: He’s. Packing. Them. In.

 Let’s assume for a minute the name doesn’t ring a bell. You’ve probably heard his high soaring soprano saxophone on smooth-jazz radio stations, during Christmas specials on TV, and maybe in an elevator or two. But did you know his first Christmas album “Miracles: The Holiday Album” (Arista/January 1994), with just over 7 million sales in 15 years is the second all-time greatest selling Christmas album after “Elvis’ Christmas Album” (RCA Victor/October 1957) with 9 million sales in 50 years?

Among those smooth jazz lovers, the man is adored. And it was very clear Monday night that if Colorado Springs isn’t the center of the Kenny G adoration universe, we’re at least close to it. What looked like a near sold-out house was made up of mostly high-toned and well-heeled, a good looking people in the 30-60-year-old range — many couples but also quite a few single men and women. Speaking with a few people in the lobby illustrated just how faithful this crowd was: nearly everybody I talked to claimed to have all his albums (and I count 20 altogether when you include the three Christmas albums and four “Best Of” type albums), claimed to have bought their tickets the minute they went on sale, and appeared very excited to get to see him live.

 The general excitement level rose as Kenny came through the crowd about 20 minutes before the show to a merchandise sales area to sign autographs on the CDs and other items for sale, his trademark long curly hair staying remarkably well-behaved as he laughed and joked with people coming through the line.

 And here’s where another thing becomes abundantly clear: Kenny G comes off as a pretty genuine guy. He’s accessible to his fans, good natured, and, as became clear later on during the show when he was bragging about being up to 135 pounds – he doesn’t take himself too seriously.

 His music is generally well arranged, and feels lush and embracing, romantic and rhythmic, invoking soaring birds and rippling streams. With musician-friends that have been with him for years, Kenny G experienced live is an emotionally satisfying experience. 

Many detractors don’t consider his music sophisticated. They say it’s commercial fluff. But last night, what I heard was an amalgam of styles and cultural influences, with solos taken by each of the supporting musicians that showed the chops these guys have, and put to rest any qualms I might have had going in about Kenny G being “pedestrian.”

Completely surrounded by a dizzying array of chimes, multiple conga drums, timbales, cymbals, cowbells, blocks, whistles, gongs, and devices that generated sounds of bugs and birds, this was an explosive segment that was stunning and full of excitement and flair. As the band came back in, Ron got up to the front of the stage and led a “call and response” percussion jam with the audience clapping back rhythms generated by Ron on undoubtedly the best tambourine work I’ve ever seen. Not to be confused with the merely “tapping in time” style of tambourines you may think of from your elementary school days, this was a physical gyrating syncopated acrobatic attack that got everyone totally engaged and enthusiastic, earning him a big round of applause.

Moving through other material like “G-Bot” and “Forever In Love” got the crowd back into easy-going jazziness and romance people like about Kenny G. Taking a break from playing for a minute, Kenny riffed with the crowd a little, commenting on everything from hand warmers in his pockets, golfing, his hair (”Maybe I should cut it? But my career would go down the toilet like Michael Bolton’s!”)

One of the highlights was Louis Armstrong’s classic “What A Wonderful World,” with video work juxtaposing Kenny on stage with Louis Armstrong on screen in a nice rendition of what has become a favorite of Kenny G fans everywhere. It must be said that this piece has garnered Kenny G the most derision from the serious jazz musician community, but I thought it was tasteful and respectful.

Not to let everybody get too mushy, the band slammed into a raucous version of Average White Band’s “Pick Up The Pieces,” with an outrageous lightshow bathing the audience in blazing lights timed with the music.

Bassist Vail Johnson got a chance to stretch out his chops on a collage of material starting with the Beatles’ “Come Together” from Johnson’s own album (Sony/ATV, January 2009) of the same name. Now, when I say “stretch out,” I mean Vail played the bass in an exhibition of punchy, funky, syncopated slap bass, seeming to simultaneously play his own rhythm, lead, and percussion lines on his instrument in triplets, chords, strums, plucks, 32nd note runs, through what must have been a veritable “black page” of sheet music that was nothing short of amazing. With the band joining back in, minus Mr. G, into a punchy, bass-driven version of Bill Withers “Ain’t No Sunshine,” the crowd was stimulated into near hysteria.

Kenny G reappeared up in the balcony winding his way through the audience with various band breaks while Kenny made his way down a level into the main auditorium for more personal one-on-one serenading of audience members, leading into the big finale onstage with a standing ovation.

Coming back onstage for “Cadenza” and one of first major commercial hits “Songbird,” Kenny and band closed out the night leaving everyone on their feet from this totally satisfying and entertaining show.

Photo by BUTCH LEITZ