Kenny G: no flash, all musicianship

He’s a curly-haired, diminutive, soft-spoken sax player and not the kind of musical act you’d expect to keep an album in the Billboard Top 10 for 33 straight weeks. But that’s exactly what Kenny G has done with “Breathless.”

A properly titled album, to be sure, for that’s the state in which G left the audience of close to 5,000 in attendance Wednesday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

G, along with co-headliner Peabo Bryson, gave the crowd their money’s worth with a three-hour, 20-minute concert. Bryson supplied the charisma and the vocals, while G provided the virtuoso musicianship on soprano, alto and tenor sax.

Bryson, resplendent in black pants and shirt and yellow jacket, and his nine-member band energized the crowd with a sizzling 50-minute opening set. Bryson’s vocal talents and stage presense should have him sharing the love-song-master crown with Luther Vandross, but so far he hasn’t gotten enough of the right material to stake a better claim.

The stocky Bryson, glistening in the sweltering Civic Center, dazzled on his own “Whenever You’re In My Arms Again” and “Can You Stop The Rain?” and his renditions of Michael Bolton’s “Soul Provider” and Al Green’s “Show and Tell.”

Also Bryson, best known for his duet work, combined on three such songs with his backup singers. Heather Troup filled in for Robert Flack on “Tonight,” Gigi Allen covered for Regina Belle on the Oscar Award-winning “A Whole New World,” and September Gray subbed for Celine Dion on the Grammy and Oscar-winning “Beauty and the Beast.”

Throughout the set, Bryson introduced each song, emphasizing love, women and his religious faith. The audience rewarded him for his performance and rapport with a standing ovation at the end, and Bryson in turn tossed about two dozen long-stemmed roses into the crowd.

Where Bryson was gregarious, G was mute. He didn’t speak for the first half-hour of his set, and after that, primarily talked only to direct applause to his band.

G, on his first trip to Maine, was overwhelmed by applause as soon as he took the stage. He even stopped playing to acknowledge the audience.

While very bashful, G was gracious to his fans. One young girl brought an autograph book to the edge of the stage. G took the book and playfully flipped through it. When he prepared to sign it, the girl emphatically pointed to the exact spot she wanted it signed, which G did, good-humoredly.

Perhaps two-thirds of G’s numbers came from “Breathless,” including his current adult No. 1 single “By The Time This Night Is Over,” for which Bryson and his backup singers came back on stage to provide vocals.

G’s musicianship was stunning. He held one note for four minutes. Also, he did quite a bit of frenetic fingering, racing up and down his instruments’ keypads. Not all songs were instantly recognizable, as G would take the song’s basic framework, then improvise around it.

G displayed a self-deprecating sense of humor as well. As a backdrop painted with a street scene moved into place for the band’s acoustic version of “Alone,” G explained, “This looked good on paper. We wanted to make this arena feel more intimate. But, instead, it just looks silly.”

G was also very generous with his talented band: pianist Robert Damper, bassist Vail Johnson, drummer Bruce “Boo-Boo” Carter, percussionist Ron Powell and guitarist John Raymond. Each got his own opportunity for extended solos. Damper was particularly impressive, combining with G on “The Wedding Song,” and then caressing the piano during a lengthy solo during the 15-minute encore of “Songbird.”

G really got in touch with the crowd late in the program. While Raymond was cranking out a guitar solo, G slipped offstage. About two minutes later, his soprano sax was heard, but he was nowhere to be seen. A spotlight shone on him in the stands at the back of the Civic Center, as he wandered through the aisles while playing. A sustained standing ovation followed him offstage after that.

Perhaps the real appeal of Kenny G is this: in an era of rap and grunge rock, people are looking for real musicianship, made by man, not machine. G and his band certainly gave that to his Maine fans.