David Sanborn

David Sanborn was a Grammy Award-winning saxophonist whose range included smooth jazz, R&B, funk, pop, and rock. He had a long string of hit recordings and worked with some of the biggest stars in pop music - from David Bowie to Linda Ronstadt to Bruce Springsteen - as well as many great jazz performers. He also contributed music to films such as the Lethal Weapon franchise along with Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton. Born in Tampa, Florida on July 30, 1945, David Sanborn grew up in St. Louis and learned to play the saxophone as therapy after he was stricken with polio at a young age. Influenced by sax player Hank Crawford, he performed with blues guitarists Little Milton and Albert King when he was 14. After he moved to California in 1965, he made records and performed at the Woodstock Festival with the Butterfield Blues Band. Session work followed with a galaxy of top acts, and he began to make his own recordings including his debut solo album, Taking Off (1974). A move to New York in the 1980s led to more recordings and he became established as a major artist in his own right. He was nominated for his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance for “Anything You Want” in 1980 and won in that category the following year for “All I Need Is You.” He earned 16 nominations with six wins covering contemporary jazz, pop, jazz fusion and R&B. His 1994 release Upfront went to number 17 on Billboard's Jazz Albums Chart followed the same year by Hearsay which went to number 2. Love Songs (1995) reached number 13, Pearls (1995) peaked at number 2 and The Best of David Sanborn went to number 5. Songs from the Night Before (1996) hit number 3, Inside (1999) went to number 3, and timeagain (2003) rose to number 2. Further albums continued to climb high in the Jazz Albums chart including Closer (2005), Here & Gone (2008), Only Everything (2010), Quartet Humaine with Bob James (2013), Enjoy the View with Bobby Hutcherson and Joey DeFrancesco (2014), and Time and the River (2015). There have been several David Sanborn compilations over the years including The Best of David Sanborn (1994), Then Again: The Anthology (2012), and Anything You Want (2020). David Sanborn was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 and died on May 12, 2024, at the age of 78.

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