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David Sanborn David Sanborn's new album, the appropriately titled Inside, is one of the more intimate records he's ever made. "I recorded a lot of it at home," says Sanborn. Utilizing the studio in his New York City loft took some of the "routine" out of the process, enabling Sanborn to approach his 15th solo effort in a much more relaxed atmosphere. "It allowed me a certain amount of freedom. I could record when I felt like it, and not have to be rushed about the whole process." The multiple Grammy winning veteran says the idea to fully equip his studio (including state-of-the art mics) really came to fruition after his 1996 critically acclaimed Songs From The Night Before LP. "On that one I did a lot of the demos at my home. I noticed that by the time I went through the full recording process of redoing the demos and cutting vocals and everything, I was losing something in the translation. By the time you get to the final version you realize that the first take was the best. You don't have a lot of time to think about it, so there's a freshness there that you often don't get on subsequent takes." On Inside, Sanborn worked closely with producer/songwriter/musician Marcus Miller (who wrote many of the tracks) to retain as much spontaneity as possible. The two would trade tapes, fleshing out the songs into more complete pieces, complementing each other's respective styles. That process was perfectly realized on the Aretha Franklin penned "Daydreaming," which features vocals by Cassandra Wilson. "That song was pretty much all done at home except for Cassandra's singing," says Sanborn. "Marcus sent me a tape of a track he did in California. I did some solos and fills at home. The feeling of that song - the laid back riffs - caught that effortless kind of feel I wanted for the whole album. It's a more offhanded sound for me. I wanted to capture the moment." There are countless such "moments" on the ethereal Inside, like the casual, careening funk of "Trance," which uses a sample of the Dr. John song "I Walk On Gilded Splinters." "I just happened upon that old Dr. John song," says Sanborn. "It has this strange kind of vibe to it. The kind of vibe I wanted to get on a tune for this album. I ended up using a sample because it worked so well with it." Another gem Sanborn stumbled upon was a long ago performance he did with Sting of the Bill Withers' classic "Ain't No Sunshine." It surfaced one night when he was watching an old re-run of his TV show Night Music. "I happened to catch it when BET was rebroadcasting the show one night. The performance was so good I called Sting and told him I wanted to put it on my album. He loved the idea. We got the multi-track tape of the performance and just re-did a few parts. It really fits with the feel of the album." As usual, Sanborn has surrounded himself with only the best musical talent for Inside, with players such as Don Alias, Michael Brecker, Wallace Roney, Ricky Peterson, and Bill Frisell, among others, contributing to the ten song disk. Sanborn, of course, began his illustrious career as a session musician himself in the early 70's. He first impacted the pop music scene working with superstars such as David Bowie and Stevie Wonder, among others. His early schooling at St. Louis jazz clubs playing with legends such as Albert King and Little Milton (and later playing with Gil Evans in New York) taught him the importance of playing with a visceral emotion. Sanborn carried that into his session work, eventually commanding his first solo LP, 1975's Taking Off Sanborn. The disk helped spur record company interest in fusion music, but it wasn't until Sanborn's fourth album, the acclaimed Hideaway, that the musician was crowned pop's premier saxophonist. The album garnered Sanborn the first of many Grammy nominations. He eventually snared his first statuette for 1982's Voyeur. He won another Grammy for 1986's platinum-plus Double Vision with Bob James. Sanborn's two decade-plus career has seen him sell close to 7 million albums worldwide, with one platinum disk, and six gold albums under his belt. 1992's Upfront, which explored urban and hip hop themes, and the fully orchestrated Pearls, released in 1995, reflected again Sanborn's zeal for diverse experimentation. He has also ventured into other mediums, including hosting the aforementioned TV show Night Music, a syndicated radio show, and more recently, a weekly music segment on Good Morning America. 1996's Songs From The Night Before saw him return to the adventures of contemporary urban pop. Which naturally, brings the thematically minded Sanborn back home, to Inside. And though upcoming special performances with his lifelong idol Ray Charles at the New Orleans Jazz Festival (he's never performed with him), and a benefit concert with Eric Clapton and others for Clapton's Crossroads Center will keep him on the road, he's quick to remind the listener that the heart of his latest album is home. "The good side to this record was that I wasn't feeling the anxiety and pressure of being in the studio," he smiles. "I've learned as a musician you have to kind of ambush yourself psychologically. Trick yourself into saying this is just a demo. And once in awhile you come up with something that is just magic. That's the rewarding part." More info: Passion, Power and Purity - a David Sanborn-fan-site |
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