A Man for All Seasons: Alto Saxophonist David Sanborn Returns With a New Album

In many ways, David Sanborn's career shouldn't work. The alto saxophonist will play with just about anybody at any time, ranging from 'Diamond Dogs'-era David Bowie to Cheech and Chong to famous jazz arranger Gil Evans to the 'Lethal Weapon' soundtracks, yet his own material is steadfastly jazz. No matter the context, his tone retains an earthy blues streak and some of the honk of early rock and roll and rhythm and blues. Ever the consummate musician, Sanborn even had a stint in the late '80s as a TV host for 'Night Music,' which impressively sought out a wide array of musicians as guests each week for a late-Sunday-night slot on NBC. For music heads who saw it, the show made an indelible impression, particularly the genre-bending jams at the end of the show.

Some things don't change: On the day we catch up with Sanborn, he says he's moving a little slow (which wasn't really the case) after a very late night jamming onstage with the rock band Moe. When it's pointed out that it's "not bad for a grandpa," the saxophonist defends himself with a playful "Easy there, fella!"

Now Sanborn returns with a new album titled 'Only Everything,' which continues on the path of 2008's 'Here & Gone.' Such Sanborn heroes as Ray Charles and Charles saxophone sidemen David "Fathead" Newman and Hank Crawford inspire both albums. Here he tips his horn to their gritty soulful sound, even covering songs either written by or associated with them.

"The change is the Hammond B3 at the center of the sound for this one," Sanborn says of the latest. "I really kind of share the solo time with Joey DeFrancesco, and that was a little different for me and it was great. I was such a huge fan of his playing and we had actually never played together before we did this album. We'd known each other for years, and talked about it, but never played together."

Finally at the end of 2008, he caught Steve Gadd and DeFrancesco playing a gig in Japan and the two were so locked in that Sanborn realized that it had to happen ASAP, so they went into the studio in the spring of '09. With famous producer Phil Ramone at the helm, as he was with their previous 'Here & Gone,' 'Only Everything' is primarily about the chemistry among Gadd, DeFrancesco and Sanborn, but five of the eight tunes actually feature an additional four-piece horn section to fill out the sound.

"Part of the reason was to continue on with the sound of the last record," Sanborn says. "Part of it was because of the songs. You couldn't do 'The Peeper' as a trio because Hank's horn arrangement is such an important part of that song. I wanted to play 'Hard Times,' and that also needs horns because of the gospel feel."

The new record has Sanborn thinking about his Missouri roots, and he rattles off a long list of players including Fats Domino, Red Holloway and Big Joe Turner. While his parents were listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, which Sanborn loved, he was digging early R&B and rock 'n' roll. "It was just raw and physical," Sanborn says of the non-jazz stuff. "I didn't realize it at the time, but it was also sexual. It was body music that involved you on every level -- it wasn't just intellectual or silly. It was great fun to play because it had this backbeat to it, and you could commit to it physically."

These days, Sanborn doesn't differentiate between cerebral and physical so much. To him it's a matter of whether it grabs him or not, and it's that same barometer with which he measures his own playing. According to the saxophonist, "I tend to play in way that feels natural to me. To me that's authentic for myself. I play by where I'm led by some sense of where I feel I'm supposed to be. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about why I'm supposed to do things -- it's really a matter of 'This feels right to do.'"

Sanborn's sound has a bit of gospel pitch to it. When his solos pick up speed (as they always do), they tend to take on a testifying aspect of gospel music, peaking near the end and then getting out. What is particularly remarkable is how successful the saxophonist has been at adding his singular sound to such a wide array of performances.

"It was great for me because it allowed me to do such a wide variety of things," Sanborn says of the work. "It's stimulating. I really consider myself lucky. What is the chance that alto player playing as a soloist able to survive by playing in a lot of different idioms for this long? People probably thought I saw a guy kill his mother or something and he had to use me [laughs]."

The pinnacle of this ecumenical approach came in his TV show 'Night Music.' "I loved doing it and I loved the fact that people still remember it and the fact that people still connect to it," Sanborn says of the show. "I wish we could get all the clearances to get all the shows out on DVD. Even musicians ask me about episodes like Phil Woods with the Pixies, and the Residents with Conway Twitty. Sun Ra and Al Green with Al singing 'Space Is the Place.' The fact that we got away with that show is really amazing."


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