Listening to Kenny G

Initially, Bill Simmons, the creator of HBO’s Music Box series, invited Penny Lane to make a music documentary. Lane chose Kenny G as the subject of the film because he is "a musician who is objectively popular, by way of record sales, but is also hated by the 'critical class'." Kenny G himself had no control of the content of the film.{{Cite web|url= https://variety.com/2021/film/news/toronto-kenny-g-1235061399/|title= Penny Lane Tunes Up 'Listening to Kenny G' Doc at Toronto Festival|work=Variety|date=2021-09-11|first=Addie |last=Morfoot}}

Listening to Kenny G premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.{{Cite web|last=Morfoot|first=Addie|date=2021-09-08|title=Toronto's Scaled-Down Slate Features Documentaries on Devastating Fires, a Prison Uprising and Kenny G|url=https://variety.com/2021/film/news/toronto-documentaries-kenny-g-thom-powers-1235058261/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=Variety|language=en-US}} The film screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival.{{cite web |title=Release info Listening to Kenny G |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15174040/releaseinfo/ |publisher=IMBD |access-date=22 November 2023}} It aired on HBO as part of Bill Simmons' Music Box anthology.{{Cite web|last=Blauvelt|first=Christian|date=2021-09-12|title='Listening to Kenny G' Review: Penny Lane Can Challenge Conventional Wisdom Better Than Anyone|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2021/09/listening-to-kenny-g-review-documentary-by-penny-lane-1234663980/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=IndieWire|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Fienberg|first=Daniel|date=2021-09-12|title=HBO's 'Listening to Kenny G': TV Review {{!}} TIFF 2021|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/listening-kenny-g-1235011662/|access-date=2021-09-12|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US}} It debuted on December 2, 2021 on HBO and was also available to stream on HBO Max.{{Cite web|url= https://pressroom.warnermedia.com/us/media-release/hbo-documentary-listening-kenny-g-portrait-one-most-beloved-and-reviled-figures-jazz|title= HBO Documentary LISTENING TO KENNY G, A Portrait Of One Of The Most Beloved And Reviled Figures In Jazz, Debuts December 2|work= Warner Media|date=2021-11-02}} It was screened as the opening night film at DOC NYC 2021.{{Cite web|url= https://www.docnyc.net/film/listening-to-kenny-g/|title=Listening to Kenny G|website=DOC NYC}} It was released on December 11, 2021 on Binge in Australia.{{Cite web|url= https://tvtonight.com.au/2021/11/airdate-listening-to-kenny-g.html|title= Airdate: Listening to Kenny G|website=TV Tonight|date= November 29, 2021}}

The New Yorker listed Listening to Kenny G as one of the best films of 2021.{{Cite magazine|url= https://www.newyorker.com/culture/2021-in-review/the-best-movies-of-2021|title= The Best Movies of 2021|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2021-12-02}} Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote, "By listening attentively to Kenny G, Lane delivers, in a buoyant, amiable way, a ferocious denunciation, one in which she herself doesn't voice a negative word—because he does most of the inadvertent, unconscious damning."{{Cite magazine|url= https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/listening-to-kenny-g-is-an-ironic-masterpiece|title= Listening to Kenny G" Is an Ironic Masterpiece|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2021-12-04|archiveurl= https://archive.today/20211206022757/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/listening-to-kenny-g-is-an-ironic-masterpiece|archivedate=2021-12-06}}

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote, "The movie's animating question is why a musician who has brought an abundance of pleasure to so many listeners makes so many others almost incoherently angry. Some interviewees, including Kenny G himself, imply that judgments against his work are de facto judgments of the people who love it. That's a specious conclusion, one which the movie could have unpacked better."{{Cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/movies/listening-to-kenny-g-review.html|title= 'Listening to Kenny G' Review: Good Sax?|date=2021-12-02|work=The New York Times|archiveurl= https://archive.today/20211206011637/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/02/movies/listening-to-kenny-g-review.html|archivedate=2021-12-06}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|15174040}}
• [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/listening_to_kenny_g Listening to Kenny G] at Rotten Tomatoes

{{Kenny G}}

Category:2021 films

Category:2021 documentary films

Category:HBO documentary films

Category:Documentary films about jazz music and musicians

Category:2020s English-language films

Category:2020s American films

Category:Films directed by Penny Lane

Category:English-language documentary films