‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ is one if we need something else. “’Pick Up the Pieces,’ that’s a song that floats in our set. With a veteran band that’s been with him for years, Kenny is comfortable throwing something in that wasn’t part of the original set list. Our set list keeps (the audience) interested. “If you heard ballads all night, you’d want to hear something up-tempo. He says it’s important that a concert has the right ebb and flow, too much of the same style can begin to pall. Throughout a tour, the set list is pretty consistent from show to show, but he may switch things up to keep the audience’s interest. “There are certain Christmas songs that really sound great live,” he says. On the holiday tours, however, those songs are fully half his set. He’s since released three more holiday collections and says he continually gets requests for holiday music even in the midst of summer. He became a staple on smooth jazz radio, and his first holiday recording Miracles topped the charts. His fourth album, Duotones, contained the hit “Songbird,” and a decade after his debut, his album Breathless was a massive seller.
The silky smooth saxophonist released his first album as a leader in 1982 following two recordings (as Kenny Gorelick, his given name) with keyboardist Jeff Lorber’s band Fusion. “When I’m in the studio, it can be any day, any weather,” Kenny says of putting his heart and soul into his music. He says that is true whether he’s on stage or recording, playing bossa nova or holiday favorites.