Education Quote by Kenny G

Kenny G isn’t trying to mythologize genius here; he’s doing something more strategic and, frankly, more revealing: he’s legitimizing himself. By framing his growth as “on the road and in the studio with Jeff,” he borrows authority from proximity to a mentor figure (Jeff Lorber, the bandleader behind the Jeff Lorber Fusion). It’s a classic musician’s move in a scene obsessed with lineage: I didn’t just arrive fully formed; I was apprenticed, tested, and sharpened in the two arenas that actually count - touring and recording.

Then comes the subtle pivot: “but I’d always played a lot of gigs in Seattle.” That “but” matters. It’s not modesty; it’s balance. He’s resisting the narrative that his career began when he joined a known act. Seattle becomes his proof of pre-existing legitimacy - not fame, but grind. Lots of gigs means repetition, stamina, learning how to win a room, how to survive the unglamorous parts of being a working musician. He’s positioning himself as both coached and self-made, which is the most durable kind of credibility in pop-jazz culture.

The context is late-70s/early-80s jazz-fusion professionalism, where chops and reliability were currency and the studio was its own instrument. Kenny G’s later mainstream success often made him an easy punchline among purists; this quote quietly counters that caricature. The subtext: whatever you think of the smooth-jazz brand, the foundation was earned the hard way - through road miles, studio discipline, and a hometown circuit that didn’t hand out myth for free.