Not Quite a Shining ‘Moment’ for Kenny G

** KENNY G

“The Moment”

Arista

Is Kenny G smart or what? Here’s a guy with nothing more to rely on than fairly mediocre skills as a saxophonist, a boyish manner and great hair, and what does he do with it? He makes himself the No. 1 instrumentalist in the history of the music charts.

“The Moment” is G’s ninth album, and the title single has already burst through on the airwaves. Expect to hear more. There is, first of all, a long lineup of soupy ballads, played with quivering emotionalism by G’s thin-toned soprano and tenor saxophones. The titles are obviously intended to underscore the appropriate sentiments: “Passages,” “Moonlight,” “Northern Lights,” “The Moment,” “Innocence,” “Always” and “Havana” (which, despite the title, is completely lacking in Latin soul).

Two vocals--”Everytime I Close My Eyes” with Babyface and “That Somebody Was You” with Toni Braxton--supply potential crossover singles, and the folk-like melody of “The Champion’s Theme” and the non-jam rhythms of “Eastside Jam” fill in the gaps. “Gettin’ On the Step,” a direct descendant of “Steppin’ Out With My Baby,” is the only tune in which G actually dips into the kind of jazz-tinged improvising that suggests where he might have taken his career.

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).