Life in the Key of G

Saxophonist Kenny G plays all the expected notes in his endearing if perfunctory debut memoir, cowritten with Dadditude author Phillip Lerman. Born Kenneth Gorelick in 1956 Seattle, the author had an idyllic and largely unmusical childhood. He gravitated toward the saxophone only after catching an inspiring performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in the mid-’60s (though he never confirmed the saxophonist’s identity, he speculates it might have been Sal Nistico). Gorelick writes rapturously of playing the instrument in his high school band, which ended up netting him his first professional gig when his teacher offered him up as a last-minute replacement saxophonist for Barry White’s orchestra, who were performing in Seattle. He made such an impressive showing that he soon started booking professional gigs across the city. In 1980, record executive Clive Davis saw Gorelick perform in New York City’s Greenwich Village and signed him to Arista Records. From there, the memoir is mostly a parade of anecdotes about performing with such giants as Whitney Houston and Miles Davis. Gorelick’s offstage life, including his two marriages, hardly gets a mention, resulting in a curiously unbalanced account. Still, the musician’s fans will enjoy this chronicle of how a “nice Jewish boy from Franklin High School in Seattle” ended up a Platinum-selling Grammy winner. (Sept.)