Kenny G made the saxophone a sexy piece of metal and took jazz from the smoky insides of back-alley bars to the front of world-wide radio. After a sabbatical of three years, "Paradise" is an assortment of tranquil tunes and a couple of carnival rhythms.
"Brazil", the opening, is a festive, heady number, while the title track "Paradise" is a temperate, reined-in composition with a hint of buoyancy. "One More Time" is one of the two tracks accompanied by vocals - in this case, the soaring strains of Chante Moore, with Kenny’s stirring saxophone employing the interlude between the verses to impress upon listeners the ingenuity of the instrument.
"Seaside Jam" is a synthesis of zazz and R&B, blending the quicksilver of the sax with the cadenced beat of the guitar. "All the Way" sung by Brian McKnight, is of the R&B genre, with the sax loaning the rhythm to Brian’s vlues. "Midnight" ups the tempo with a definite velocity and "Peace" sums it up with serenity.
An instrumentalist of refinement, Kenny G is as elegant as he is contemporary. As the name suggests, "Paradise" is telling of the mood the album evokes - tranquility, interrupted by moments of revelry!
This article was first published on06 Nov 2002.