Sanborn to "Break In" New Music at Midland Concert

Courtesy of Midland Daily News - June 10, 2003

Grammy-winning jazz saxophonist David Sanborn, who will perform Thursday in a Matrix: Midland concert at Dow Gardens, said his new CD timeagain contains a combination of new songs and several jazz and pop classics. “They’re tunes that were important to me at different stages of my playing career,” Sanborn said in a telephone interview. “I wanted to revisit those songs and invest them with a bit of the feeling I had when I first listened to them.”

The CD, released just last week, includes a variety of familiar songs including songs including Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” “Tequila,” “Harlem Nocturne” and “Comin’ Home Baby.”

The Midland concert will be the first stop on Sanborn’s new tour, and he and his band will be “breaking in” the new tunes, he said. “We’re going to do at least four or five songs from the new record,” Sanborn said.

The new album is the first for Sanborn on the Verve label. While a collection of previously released recordings, Essentials, came out last year, timeagain is his first new album since 1999. Sanborn said he hadn’t planned on so much time between albums, but he had been “on the road non-stop for years” and needed some time off, also taking time to care for his ailing mother in St. Louis. “Before I knew it, a couple of years had gone by,” he said.

Sanborn, 57, first emerged on the jazz scene in the 1970s, when he gained attention on albums by Gil Evans, the Brecker Brothers, Joe Beck and others. He also worked as a session player for musicians including Bruce Springsteen, Carly Simon, the Eagles and David Bowie. His first solo album, Taking Off, was released in 1975. His six Grammy awards include wins for 1985’s Straight to the Heart and for Double Vision (1986) a joint effort with Bob James. His most recent Grammy came for best contemporary instrumental jazz performance for 1999’s Inside. Other Sanborn albums include Songs from the Night Before, As We Speak and Hearsay.

Asked about his favorite projects, Sanborn mentioned 1992’s Upfront and 1995’s Pearls, a collaboration with Oscar-winning composer and arranger Johnny Mandel. But he particularly enjoyed recording his latest album. “It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time making a record,” he said, describing his fellow musicians on the album as “phenomenal.”

Two of those musicians, percussionist Don Alias and keyboardist Ricky Peterson, will be in Sanborn’s band Thursday. While he has done television – hosting the show “Night Music” in the early 1990s and a weekly music segment on “Good Morning America” – radio and movies, Sanborn said he increasingly likes to focus on his music. “Primarily I like to play live and make my own records,” he said. “The older I get, the more I like concentrating on doing my own thing.”

Sanborn will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Dow Gardens. Tickets for the outdoor, general admission concert are $35, and are available at the Midland Center for the Arts box office. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and picnic dinners are welcome, although no alcoholic beverages are allowed. The event features lawn seating only, so concertgoers are encouraged to bring blankets or lawn chairs. – Roger Bryant