While Kenny G may not be the king of cool, he certainly has kept himself relevant in the pop circuit. Appearing on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last Sunday, the saxophone player has announced he intends to break the record of the longest note held on the instrument.
How, you ask? Well, the saxophone player has remained tight-lipped on the subject--no pun intended.
The current record is one already held by the musician. In 1997 he won the title for holding an E-flat on the sax for 45 minutes. A seemingly impossible task yes, but Kenny G is capable of regulating his breathing, not unlike "a sea mammal."
As Paste reports:
"The only way Kenny G is capable of this is because he can control his breathing like a sea mammal. Instead of just holding his breath however, he uses something called 'circulation breathing' which is concurrently breathing out of his mouth (to play the note) while breathing in with his nose (to keep him alive, obviously). Basically, Kenny G is superhuman and capable of things us mere mortals could only dream of. Or something like that."
Say what you will, but Kenny G has been more than successful at keeping himself relevant in the always changing landscape of popularity. He performed "Regulate" on Jimmy Kimmel with Warren G, stuck his neck out on a Funny or Die sketch and now is the center of John Oliver's final segment on the show.
As John Oliver dubbed him the "future winner of the Nobel Peace Prize," G's music is most closely attributed to the idea of "going home." Having already landed himself in hot water with China earlier for posing with Occupy Central protestors and then bowing out when he was reprimanded for doing so, Mr. G could certainly use any kind of PR to get back in the nation's good graces.
His song "Going Home" is central to his repertoire and Kenny G has no prospects of stopping anytime soon.
So without further ado, here is Kenny G performing on John Oliver.
Caution, video contains strong and/or graphic language.
