Duotones
| Duotones | |||||||||
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| Studio album by Kenny G | |||||||||
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Publication |
September 29, 1986 |
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| Label (s) | Arista Records | ||||||||
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Format (s) |
CD, vinyl record, music cassette, download, streaming |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
46:54 |
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| occupation |
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Preston Glass , Kenny G. |
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Duotones is the fourth studio album by American saxophonist Kenny G . It was released on September 29, 1986.
backgrounds
Kenny G composed seven of the ten tracks on the album himself. Don't Make Me Wait For Love was penned by Narada Michael Walden , Preston Glass and Walter Afanasieff , Slip of the Tongue was written by the first two. In What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) is a cover version of the by Harvey Fuqua , Johnny Bristol and Vernon Bullock written song by Jr. Walker was known. All tracks on the album were produced by Preston Glass, four of them together with Kenny G. Claytoven Richardson , Ellis Hall and Lenny Williams appear as guest musicians .
Four singles were released from the album: Don't Make Me Wait For Love , What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) , Songbird and Midnight Motion . The first and third singles were commercial successes in the US that could take positions 15 and 4 in the charts; furthermore, the second and third songs reached positions 64 and 22 in the UK .
music
With the exception of the tracks Don't Make Me Wait For Love , What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) and You Make Me Believe , all pieces on the album are entirely instrumental , and all of them can be assigned to the smooth jazz genre without exception. On Duotones there is a good balance between ballads and up-tempo numbers. In addition to the saxophone, which is used as the lead instrument on all songs , keyboards and synthesizers are also present; Moreover, some of the titles are Contemporary R & B - Beats highlighted.
Cover design
The cover artwork for Duotones shows a black and white photo of Kenny G from the stomach up. He looks into the camera with a discreetly smiling face and wears a jacket and a light shirt . He's standing on a coast ; A body of water can be seen blurred in the background . In the upper right corner is the interpreter's first name in black in thin, elongated letters , with the "G" across them in red . Below the name is the album title in small letters and in black.
Track list
| Duotones | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | title | length |
| 1. | Songbird | 5:03 |
| 2. | Midnight Motion | 4:08 |
| 3. | Don't Make Me Wait For Love (feat. Lenny Williams ) | 4:05 |
| 4th | Sade | 4:20 |
| 5. | Champagne | 4:45 |
| 6th | What Does It Take (To Win Your Love) ( feat.Ellis Hall ) | 4:06 |
| 7th | Slip of the tongue | 4:53 |
| 8th. | Three of a Kind | 4:45 |
| 9. | Esther | 5:25 |
| 10. | You Make Me Believe ( feat.Claytoven Richardson ) | 5:19 |
Criticism and Impact
The immense commercial success of Duotones , and above all the top ten single Songbird , is credited with the beginning of a smooth jazz boom that was particularly widespread in the USA in the late 80s and 90s . At that point in time it was considered extremely unusual for instrumental music to reach such high chart positions and appeal to a large audience. Radio stations that specialized in the style of music then increased significantly in number and were able to reach a large audience that was previously not interested in jazz music. As a result, the music style jazz was generally associated with the specific subgenre of smooth jazz by a large part of the population. Jazz purists, musicians and critics, however, rejected this development with harsh words; Smooth jazz would have made use of elements of jazz, copied them more mediocre and thereby achieved a much higher popularity. Kenny G, who was considered the figurehead of the subgenre due to his high level of awareness and sales figures, thus became a synonym for the commercial exploitation of jazz and a widely hated figure in the musical landscape. Nevertheless, Duotones occasionally received positive reviews on their own , praising the soft, easy play of the musician and the melodic, jazzy pop of the work.
success
For Kenny G, Duotones was the big commercial breakthrough in the USA . For the first time, an album by the artist managed to position itself in the front half of the Hot 100; at the same time, it was also his first work in the top ten. It reached number 6 and was also awarded five times platinum. In the UK it climbed to 28; in Germany on 21 and in Austria on 11. In addition, moderate placements were achieved in the Netherlands , Australia and New Zealand .
Individual evidence
- ↑ credits. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ "Don't Make Me Wait For Love" single. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" - single. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ "Songbird" single. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ "Midnight Motion" single. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ "Don't Make Me Wait For Love" US charts. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ "Songbird" US charts. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)" UK charts. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ "Songbird" UK charts. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ album cover. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ Flame Tree Publishing article in the "Legendary Jazz Albums" series. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ LA Times article. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ^ AllMusic review. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ US charts. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ US awards. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ UK charts. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Charts. Retrieved November 2, 2019 .
