David Sanborn (78) was born in 1945 in Tampa, Florida where his father was stationed in the US Air Force. David grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri, a western suburb of St. Louis. He contracted polio at the age of three. He “accepted his fate stoically” and endured a “miserable childhood”. He was confined to an iron lung for a year, and polio left him with impaired respiration and a left arm shorter than the right.
While confined to bed, David Sanborn was inspired by the “raw rock ‘n’ roll energy” of music he heard on the radio, particularly saxophone breaks in songs such as Fats Domino‘s “Ain’t That a Shame” and Little Richard‘s “Tutti Frutti”. He loved the sound of the saxophone and at the age of eleven was happy to change to saxophone from piano lessons when doctors recommended that he take up a wind instrument to improve his breathing and strengthen his chest muscles. When he was 14, he was competent enough playing saxophone to play with blues musicians in local clubs. Alto saxophonist Hank Crawford, who was a member of Ray Charles‘s band at the time, was an early and lasting influence on Sanborn.
Sanborn attended college at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois directly north of Chicago and studied music. He transferred to the University of Iowa in Iowa City east of Des Moines where he played and studied with saxophonist J. R. Monterose.
Sanborn performed with blues musicians Albert King and Little Milton at the age of 14. In 1967 Sanborn took a Greyhound bus to San Francisco to join the “Summer of Love.” While visiting recording studios he was invited to sit in on a session with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. He made such an impression that he joined the band for five years. He recorded on four Butterfield albums as a horn section member and a soloist from 1967 to 1971. Early in the morning on August 18, 1969, he appeared with the band at the Woodstock Music Festival in Bethel, New York.
In 1972, Sanborn played on the track “Tuesday Heartbreak” on the Stevie Wonder album Talking Book. In 1975 he worked with David Bowie on Young Americans and on the James Taylor recording of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” on the album Gorilla. In the mid-1970s, Sanborn became active in the popular jazz fusion scene by joining the Brecker Brothers band, where he became influenced by Michael Brecker. With the Brecker brothers he recorded his first solo album, Taking Off, which became a jazz/funk classic. Sanborn’s solo release of Taking Off —still considered a classic—further solidified his career. His 1979 release of Hideaway became a popular hit and further propelled Dave’s ascent with the single, “Seduction” being featured in the movie, American Gigolo.
Veteran bassist and composer Marcus Miller joined Dave on the 1981 album, Voyeur. The single, “All I Need Is You” won Dave his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. In 1983, Dave released the hit album Backstreet that included Luther Vandross as a featured guest vocalist. Later albums have included guest artists such as Jack DeJohnette, Bill Frisell, Charlie Hayden, Wallace Roney, Kenny Barron, Christian McBride, and Eric Clapton. In 1985, Sanborn and Al Jarreau played two sold-out concerts at Chastain Park in Atlanta. Although Sanborn was most associated with smooth jazz, he studied free jazz in his youth with saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Julius Hemphill.
He found life on the road increasingly difficult but continued to tour. Moving onto television seemed to be the answer to that dilemma. Dave hosted the show, Night Music from 1988 to 1990. Produced by Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, the show featured films of jazz legends like Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck and Billie Holiday, as well as banter and memorable music jams by a remarkable list of musicians including Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Joe Sample, Pharoah Sanders, and many others. Additionally, Dave regularly hosted the “After New Year’s Eve” TV special on ABC. During the 1980s and 1990s, Dave hosted a syndicated radio program, The Jazz Show with David Sanborn. Dave has also recorded many shows’ theme songs as well as several other songs for The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder.
In 1994, Sanborn appeared in A Celebration: The Music of Pete Townshend and The Who, also known as Daltrey Sings Townshend, a two-night concert at Carnegie Hall produced by Roger Daltrey of English rock band The Who in celebration of his fiftieth birthday. In 1994 a CD and a VHS video were issued, and in 1998 a DVD was released. In 1995 Sanborn performed in The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True, a musical performance at Lincoln Center to benefit the Children’s Defense Fund.
In 2006, he featured in Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band’s album The Phat Pack on the track “Play That Funky Music”, a remake of the Wild Cherry hit in a big band style. Sanborn often performed at Japan’s Blue Note venues in Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo. Sanborn played on the song “Your Party” on Ween’s 2007 release La Cucaracha. On April 8, 2007, he sat in with the Allman Brothers Band during their annual run at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan, New York.
In 2010, Sanborn toured with a trio featuring jazz organist Joey DeFrancesco and Steve Gadd. They played the combination of blues and jazz from his album Only Everything. In 2011, Sanborn toured with keyboardist George Duke and bassist Marcus Miller as the group DMS. In 2013, Sanborn toured with keyboardist Brian Culbertson on “The Dream Tour” celebrating the 25th anniversary of the song “The Dream”. Besides playing alto saxophone as his main instrument, Sanborn also played baritone, soprano and sopranino saxophones; saxello; flute; and keyboards/piano on some recordings.
In 2017, Dave teamed up with his nephew and brother-in-law to create a new show called “Sanborn Sessions,” available on Youtube. In 2017, despite plans to reduce his workload to no more than 150 gigs a year, he embarked on a tour which included Istanbul and Nairobi, Kenya.
David Sanborn passed Sunday afternoon, May 12th, 2024 after an extended battle with prostate cancer with complications a disease he was diagnosed with in 2018. The six-time Grammy winner amassed eight gold albums and one platinum record in his career. He also played for others on dozens of albums. David won Grammy Awards for ‘Voyeur’ (1981), ‘Double Vision’ (1986) and ‘Close Up’ (1988). In 2004 he was inducted into the St Louis Walk of Fame.
Albums he has played on include:
George Benson ‘In Your Eyes’ (1983)
James Brown ‘Reality’ (1974)
David Bowie ‘David Live’ (1974)
Stevie Wonder ‘Talking Book’ (1972)
Paul Simon ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ (1975)
Bruce Springsteen ‘Born To Run’ (1975)
Elton John ‘Blue Moves’ (1976)
Linda Ronstadt ‘Living In The USA’ (1978)
The Eagles ‘The Long Run’ (1979)
Steely Dan ‘Gaucho’ (1980)
Billy Joel ‘An Innocent Man’ (1983)
The Rolling Stones ‘Undercover’ (1983)
Eric Clapton ‘Journeyman’ (1989)
James Taylor ‘JT’ 1977)
Sanborn had a part in the Bill Murray movie ‘Scrooged’ (1988) and ‘Magnum PI’ (1986). He also composed music for the movies ‘Lethal Weapon 2, 3 and 4’.
David Sanborn was a seminal figure in contemporary pop and jazz music. It has been said that he “put the saxophone back into Rock ’n Roll.”
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