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On the Road With Vail Johnson: Kenny G: Setting the Record Straight…
Meet Vail Johnson
I’d like to take a moment to introduce myself in this, my first article written for Bass Musician Magazine.
First off, yes, I play bass for Kenny G. Even though I play with many other great artists, Kenny G has the most visibility by far.
That brings me to my first topic; Kenny G does not play jazz. There, I said it! The angry folks that slam Kenny G for not playing ‘real’ jazz have missed the boat entirely. That’s like ragging on Madonna because she’s not a ‘real’ Heavy Metal artist, for example. Of course she’s not, she never said she was, she never played any Heavy Metal, etc., etc.
Kenny is a pop/ R&B instrumentalist. That’s his focus and his self- described category. The genre ‘Smooth Jazz’ was created after Kenny’s popularity exploded back in the late 80’s. I know because I was there!
Kenny has had top-10 hits on the POP charts over the years. He had the number 2 album on the Billboard pop chart for many weeks, not quite able to knock Whitney Houston ‘Bodyguard’ off the top of the heap… Sold around 75- 80 million records world- wide, blah, blah, blah.
Hopefully, we can now avoid all the silly hate messages about “Kenny G is this-or-that”.
That brings me to the primary topic: “The Road”
Many of you may be wondering what it’s like out on the road with a major touring act, so I would like to offer some insight for enlightenment and entertainment purposes.
You can click the “Day in the life” link below and see a tongue- in- cheek video ‘smooth jazz-umentary’ of a day in the life of the Kenny G band. There’s some pretty funny stuff!
We have a great time on the road, lo these 20 some years together.
Sometimes the schedule is brutal, 4 countries in 4 days can really take it out of you. Sometimes we get a cushier schedule and have a day off in Mexico City like today and I’m taking advantage of it by writing this article!
Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, we traveled ‘large’. Several buses, a jet, 3 tractor-trailers filled to the brim…15,000 seat arenas sold out every night; unbelievable for an instrumental artist and may never be equaled.
Well, times have changed for us as they have for most everyone in the 21st century. It’s a study in contrast as I will illustrate:
Sometimes you’re stuck in a center seat on a commuter plane flying through a winter storm, praying the pilots know how deal with the ice on the wings. Other times you’re on a Gulfstream/ Citation/ LearJet and get to live the ‘high life’ for a bit.
There will be Ritz Carlton’s in Tokyo and dodgy hotels out in the middle of nowhere.
Luxurious Symphony Hall backstage arrangements, to ‘less than sanitary’ accommodations in some run-down old theatre.
Fancy dinner parties stocked with celebrities, to searches for McDonalds in ‘3rd world’ places where anything familiar is a blessing!
Royal Albert Hall in London or maybe a small Casino in the mid- west.
It really runs the gamut for us but we are very grateful to be working, so no complaints these days.
What it takes to be happy and ‘thrive’ on the road is flexibility and acceptance. The minute you start taking yourself too seriously, nature has a way of reminding you, but quick!
Stay humble, take music seriously but have fun and give yourself a break when things don’t quite work out as planned.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this first effort for BMM.
There are a lot of fun vid clips of my playing on youtube if you would like to check them out. Just look for ‘Vail Johnson’.
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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