David Sanborn: Straight to the Heart ( 1984 )

      I just want to take a few minutes to remember the legendary alto saxophonist, David Sanborn, who passed away a couple days ago. I played the saxophone in my youth and David Sanborn was one of my heroes. I played the tenor sax, and I'll admit I was kind of snobby about the alto sax. I thought the alto was too squawky. That is until I was exposed to David Sanborn. In his hands, the alto sounded smooth and soulful. It's safe to say, every saxophonist of the past 40 years is standing on the shoulders of Sanborn. His sound is ubiquitous. 

     David Sanborn was afflicted with polio as a child and his doctor suggested playing the saxophone to build up his chest muscles. Hank Crawford of the Ray Charles band was a major influence on Sanborn's style. By the age of 14, he was playing with Albert King. In the late 60's he was in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and performed with them at Woodstock. He played the amazing sax solo on James Taylor's version of "How Sweet It Is". The list of people he played with and albums he performed on is vast and all-encompassing. Bowie, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Steely Dan, and even Ween. 

     When my wife's uncle passed earlier this year, I acquired a couple of David Sanborn records from his collection. As I'm typing this, I have the album Straight to the Heart playing in the background. The album came out in 1984 and won the 1986 Grammy for Best Jazz Fusion Performance. The brilliant Marcus Miller produced and played bass on this record. In addition, the tremendous Hiram Bullock is on guitar. Straight to the Heart features the Sanborn track, "Hideaway", the fantastic Marcus Miller track, "Run For Cover" and a couple great covers of "Love and Happiness" and "One Hundred Ways". Most, if not all, of these songs were live recordings. 

     When great jazz musicians are discussed, David Sanborn is seldom mentioned. For better or worse, he is credited with starting the "smooth jazz" genre, which is looked down upon in jazz circles. It's a great disservice to Sanborn's career to pigeon-hole him in this way. He is easily one of the most influential jazz musicians of the past 50 years. David Sanborn's fingerprints are all over the playing of every saxophonist of the last 40 years. Hopefully, with his passing, his career will receive a long overdue reassessment. Peace.