Sanborn's Blues Album Is Saxophone at Its Best Famed tenor saxophonist David Sanborn exhibits a variety of blues styles in his latest CD “Here and Gone.”
by David Steinberg
For decades famed tenor saxophonist David Sanborn has been at home in jazz and pop music.
Back in the 1970s Sanborn soloed on David Bowie's hit "Young Americans." Over the years, Sanborn's sax has been heard blasting away on the "Saturday Night Live" theme.
And he and the Brecker Brothers teamed up for the horn section on Bruce Springsteen's "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out."
Sanborn's new CD, "Here and Gone," shows the world he can blow in the blues idiom, too.
"It sounded very comfortable, didn't feel like a stretch," Sanborn said in a phone interview.
"It feels like a natural extension of what I've been doing. This is kind of where I came from."
The album serves up a variety of blues styles.
Among the nine cuts are two traditional blues numbers in "St. Louis Blues" and "Basin Street Blues," the poignant ballad "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town," Percy Mayfield's "Please Send Me Someone to Love" and Ray Charles' "I Believe to My Soul."
Sanborn said the idea for the CD came out of his downloading music to his iPod.
"I was putting on some old Hank Crawford CDs that I hadn't heard in awhile. I thought, 'Man, I love this music,' " he said. "The whole period, the whole vibe. It's kind of where I came from -- that jazz, gospel, R&B mix."
Sanborn said Crawford was the principal arranger for Ray Charles' band and Crawford and David "Fathead" Newman shaped the sound of the band.
"Hank was, to me, the soulful center of that band. Him and Fathead were the pillars of the music."
In a tribute to Crawford, Sanborn included his tune "Stoney Lonesome" on the album.
Four of the CD's cuts prominently feature guest artists. Eric Clapton's vocals are heard on "Outskirts of Town." British blues singer Joss Stone wails on "I Believe to My Soul," Sam Moore's vocals rip through "I've Got News for You" and Derek Trucks' guitar on "Brother Ray."
Getting people you invite to guest on a CD is a crapshoot, Sanborn said.
"Sometimes you have to make a list of people and you end up with people who are second or third tier. This time I got the top of the list," he said.
