Quote:

except for the really talented bands, most are staffed by musicians who have their stock riffs that they use over and over in all their songs.



I will share a story with you to make a point.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely HATE Kenny G. I think Kenny G is the prototype for people who sold out to the music business and sold their creativity to the devil in the process. All of that pablum he plays....

Now, I LOVED Kenny Gorelick when he played for Jeff Lorber. Back then he played with feel, with soul, and has not yet sold out. He played mostly tenor and fit Lorber's band perfectly. When he went solo....

We used to have a venue her in Cleveland that was called The Front Row. It was a theater in the round with a rotating stage that was only like 24 rows deep so there was literally not a bad seat in the house. The sound system was immaculate. THE best place ever to see a concert.

A fellow sax player and I got seats in the 4th row. We were JAZZED to go see this guy. He started with a nice uptempo tune that really had the place feeling the groove. Then he went into the soprano stuff, doing circular breathing in every song, running those long scales.....

Now at this point I have to inject that I am in AWE of his technical skills. He is the cleanest, most immaculate technician on the sax I have ever seen. But you know what, I would rather hear Sanborn or Grover or someone who plays that soulful instrument with soul. Of those long lines the way Coltrane played, or the scat of Charlie Parker. Those guys play more than notes. They play feel.

My friend and I looked at each other during the 4th song and said, almost at the same time, "He is repeating licks already". We left during the 4th song because we had seen everything he knows how to do. When you are out of ideas in the 4th song.....

The point of the post is to support the comment that even the most skilled musicians have "stock" licks, and honestly I find that boring. Sure the song has a melody line, but when the break comes and you get your 32 bars to shine, geeze have something fresh for people who pay a day's salary to see you. Parker prided himself on never playing the same thing twice. Kenny played the same thing twice within 20 minutes of the downbeat.

Once again, before any Kenny G fans jump on me, he is an amazing technician. Flawless. He is just SO white bread.....