Influential saxophonist Sanborn dies at 78

David Sanborn, one of the most popular and influential saxophonists of the past 50 years, died May 11 after an extended battle with prostate cancer. He was 78 and had performed as recently as January. His death was announced on his social media sites: “Mr. Sanborn passed Sunday afternoon, May 12th, after an extended battle with prostate cancer with complications.”

Sanborn’s solo career ignited in the 1980s, but - both before and after that time - his versatility made him one of the most in-demand alto saxophonists in a multitude of genres. His many collaborators ranged from Stevie Wonder, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, James Brown and Linda Ronstadt to Roger Waters, Bruce Springsteen, Todd Rundgren and such jazz such jazz greats as Gil Evans, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Julius Hemphill and Bobby Hutcherson.

“What I do is an amorphous combination of styles that has elements of bebop, R&B and rock,” Sanborn said in a 1985 Union-Tribune interview. “Categorization tends to limit you to specific idioms and that’s not good for your growth.”

A Florida native, Sanborn was born July 30, 1945, in Tampa. He grew up in St. Louis, where by his middle teens - he was performing in the bands of such blues greats as Little Milton and Albert King.

He attended Northwestern University and the University of Iowa before turning his attention to music full time.

In 1969, at age 24, Sanborn performed at the legendary Woodstock festival as a member of the Butterfield Blues Band. In 1972, he toured the nation as a member of Wonder’s band. In 1975, he played in the “Saturday Night Live” house band for the show’s first season. In 1989 and 1990, he hosted the eclectic NBC show, “Night Music,” which saw him play alongside everyone from Al Green, Dizzy Gillespie, Betty Wright and Joe Cocker to Latin salsa master Eddie Palmieri, Boz Scaggs and Puerto Rican cuatro player Yomo Toro.

“Nobody wants to take chances anymore, and that’s what this show is about. We take chances, and that’s what people respond to,” Sanborn

said in a 1989 UnionTribune interview.

“We’re trying to put on music that you wouldn’t normally see on commercial TV . We want to present an eclectic mix that also gives some historical perspective to the music so that we can give an overview that music is one continuous thread - a tree with a lot of different branches that are all entertaining.”

As a solo artist, Sanborn became a pillar of smoothjazz in the 1980s. He managed to become one of its biggest stars while rising above the genre’s stifling restrictions and cookiecutter formulas. The grace and grit be brought to his soulful playing enabled him to consistently shine.

“I play the kind of music that gets me off; it’s really that basic,” Sanborn told the Union-Tribune in

1995. “What gets me off are things that appeal to me on a lot of different levels. And the older I get, the more I appreciate different things. Sometimes it’s hard to reconcile all those things into one.”

In a 1996 interview, Sanborn reflected on the most valuable musical lessons he learned from working with his many legendary collaborators. Here are excerpts from that conversation:

Albert King: “Phrasing and time. I was 15 years old, I wasn’t very experienced, and here was a guy who was physically imposing, to say the least, and had such a powerful presence as a musician. I’d been playing only four years, so I felt fortunate to be in his company. He didn’t throw me off the stage! He tolerated me.”

Paul Butterfield: “Again, phrasing, and sound. Paul had the best blues harp sound I’ve heard; I don’t think anyone else has come close. I learned a lot from him, about sound, using the amp, microphone technique and phrasing.”

Q: Didn’t you play the Woodstock festival with Butterfield in 1969?

A: “It was overwhelming. We were on the road, and had done a lot of gigs. Obviously, no one had any notion that we’d be playing at what turned out to be a historic event. After the fact, everyone started writing about it as a watershed event. And it was like,

‘Gee, how about that?’ When in fact, to us, it was a congregation of a half a million people in a muddy field in New York.”

Stevie Wonder: “On just a technical musical level, I learned a lot about phrasing and the way he used grace notes. I really like the way he did that as a player and a singer. Plus, he was probably the most powerful singer I’ve worked with; his talent is just prodigious. What impressed me about him is, after each gig, he’d have all these keyboards brought up to his room and he’d work all night. And he taped everything. His work ethic really inspired me; he never stopped.”

Todd Rundgren: “He’s one of those Wunderkind people who is so talented in so many areas, and so smart. He was the first musician I’d come in contact with who was a master of the (recording) studio, and that was really impressive.”

David Bowie: “I learned a lot about the theatricality of stage performance, and what an important factor that was. Because I had really come from an era of not anti-performance, but that it was not hip (to be theatrical) and that you let the music speak for itself. From Bowie, I learned that it was a valid tool to use, to whatever degree, and that it would in fact enhance the music. And he was a great songwriter and had a tremendous work ethic. He was a fountain of creativity.”

Q: Bowie told me that he really enjoyed the electronic effects you used on your sax when you played with him. How did you like them?

A: “That was imposed on me. We were in the studio, using wah-wah pedals and different kinds of effects. I always felt very intimidated by studio hardware. To be honest, learning the instrument was so hard, and staying on top of it was so timeconsuming, that I felt I didn’t have time to do the other stuff.

“I’m not one of those people it comes naturally to; I have to work hard to maintain whatever ability I have. I felt a little intimidated by all the hardware -- it seemed to pull me away from the music.”

Linda Ronstadt: “Linda has a great voice, really powerful. She’s one of those people who’s innately musical. As good as people know she is, she’s even better than that. And she has an innate musicality where she just doesn’t make the wrong choices.”

James Taylor: “James is one of the great songwriters, and so prolific. What’s always been great for me, working with so many singer-songwriters, is a chance to be close to them, and having the opportunity - night after night - to hear them and see the little changes they make. To see how they approach the same songs, and how a melody could go one way or another each night.”

James Brown: “He has been such an influence on me. I was impressed by just how funky he was, where he put the notes, his power as a singer and his time. What I learned most from Stevie, James Brown and Albert King was their time - where they put notes.”

John McLaughlin: “John is just overwhelming, on the technical side and the musical side. He’s got his own take on being funky. He’ll do something that is almost perfect, and then he’ll (mess) it up in a way that’s so interesting and musical, and make it personal.”

Gil Evans: “I learned so much about melody, and the fact that - even in a large ensemble - every part can be the melody. And what’s so great about Gil’s arrangements is that, whatever part you played even if it was fourth tenor saxophone - you really felt like a part of the music.”

Paul Shaffer: “Paul is just a wealth of musical knowledge. He’s like the encyclopedia of pop music. He seems to know every tune ever written, and has such a quick mind.”

Eric Clapton: “Eric is another one of those people that is just innately musical. All he has to do is play one note, and you know it’s him. I think that’s a mark of a real creative individual.”

Hank Crawford and David Newman: “I think early on Hank was more of an influence. But they both were, because they were both playing sax with Ray (Charles). I think, initially, Hank was more of an influence because there was a certain spareness, elegance and a cry to his sound I picked up on.

His ‘From the Heart’ album, which I listened to over and over, was a huge influence.”

Q: Didn’t you use that title for one of your own albums?

A: “Yeah, but it was subconscious.”

Julius Hemphill: “What I liked about Julius was his ecumenical spirit. He was very nonjudgmental about styles, whether classical, rock, funk, jazz or Sousa marches. Whatever he could use to his benefit he would, and that attitude about music had the most profound effect on me.

“All of these people we’ve discussed, the running theme is that they had such a complete musicality. They saw music as a great universe, and not just a little window.

“Of course, people who came a generation before me would say: ‘I’m glad I came up when I did.’ It’s a matter of perspective, and it’s all a continuum. Creativity doesn’t die with a generation. There was a certain kind of openness about styles back then, and people were more willing to cross over. But musicians are always looking to cross over to other idioms. I want to avoid any implication that that time was better than this. It was great, but it was just different.”

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