Songoftheday 6/10/15 - Pat Metheny's not so favorite artist...

"Songbird" - Kenny G
from the album Duotones (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's SOTD comes from the smooth-jazz saxophonist Kenny G (the "G" for surname Gorelick), who grew up in Washington state and was performing with the likes of soul star Barry White as early as 1973 in his teens, and then later with lite-jazz artist Jeff Lorber (who also had a contemporary hit of his own with "Facts Of Love"). Kenny got his solo break in the early 80s releasing his first self-titled album in 1982. While his first three albums became popular in the "quiet storm" lite jazz radio format, his mainstream success started with his third album Duotones. A cover of the Jr. Walker classic "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" with vocals from Ellis Hall made the top-20 on the R&B chart, but it wasn't until a year later with an instrumental, "Songbird", which surprisingly got him major pop radio airplay. Written by Kenny and co-produced with Narada Michael Walden, the dreamy sax riff sounded nothing like anything else on the air, yet captivated people enough to buy the single and the album in droves...

"Songbird" became Kenny G's first big pop hit, climbing into the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 in July of 1987. The single went a notch higher at #3 on its Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, and crossed over to #23 on its R&B chart. The record even made the British top-40 at #22 (a rarity for a pure soul record in the UK at that time).

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Here's Kenny performing "Songbird" live in 1988...

...and from another show in 2008...

(This post title refers to this notorious interview with modern jazz artist Pat Metheny, who mind you didn't have it beneath him to score a decidedly non-jazz top-40 hit with David Bowie in "This Is Not America"...)