David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanbornis an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school. Sanborn has also worked extensively as a session musician, notably on David Bowie's Young Americans...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSaxophonist
Date of Birth30 July 1945
CityTampa, FL
CountryUnited States of America
I started out, obviously, as a sideman, and I had some really good gigs as a sideman.
The music is going to change anyway, whether or not the record companies get behind it or not. The music is there, and it's happening, and it's going on out there.
While St. Louis is technically regarded as part of the Mid-West, it's actually - geographically and emotionally - more part of the South. I mean, the sensibility of St. Louis is really very much that of a Southern Mississippi river-town.
So I get it worked out beforehand so I can be really efficient in the studio.
Somebody like George Coleman has an approach and a pedagogical approach to teaching and can really kind of lay it out with exercises and demonstrations and different things that will improve your playing.
Music is an expression of individuality; it's how you see the world. All art is, for that matter. You take how you experience the world, interpret it, and send it out there - express it - whether it's sculpture, dance or singing.
Maybe I call the shots, but it's not about them and me. It's about me as a part of everything.
Pop used to actually routinely sell 10 million records. Now if they get there at all it takes them quite awhile.
All the music that I've made in the past I've believed in. I think some of it has been more commercially successful than others, but it wasn't premeditated.
When you see the same familiar faces, it's nice when you get a chance to play with the same musicians. You start to develop this shorthand so everybody knows where you're at and where you're going, but then again, there are always surprises. But the more people are comfortable with the material, the more free you can be with the music.
Well, I guess my unease with that is... I'm always a little uneasy with that phrase - smooth jazz, as opposed to what?
I try to do things that keep me interested. And play music that moves me. I like to move around and play in a lot of different ways.
I think, in a lot of ways, it's easier to play a smaller room. You can exploit the quieter dynamics you would shy away from in larger venues.
I think that, given a real choice, people would like to hear something interesting, not something bland and right down the middle.