Alex Henderson

David Sanborn

By Alex Henderson   

Over the years, David Sanborn has had a way of coming up with intriguing album title—titles that have included Songs from the Night Before, Hearsay, Voyeur and Another Hand. There is always an interesting story behind the titles that Sanborn comes up with, and Timeagain is no exception. How did Timeagain, the veteran alto saxophonist’s first project for the Verve Music Group after a nine-year stay at Elektra, get its title? Sanborn explains: “I came up with the title ‘Timeagain’ because much of this album is reexamining things from my past. On Timeagain, I’m readdressing songs that have meant a lot to me over the years—some of which I heard when I was growing up in St. Louis.”

Produced by Stewart Levine, Timeagain finds Sanborn bringing his distinctive, instantly recognizable alto to a variety of time-tested classics—which range from Earl Hagen’s “Harlem Nocturne” (a major hit for the Johnny Otis Orchestra in 1945) to Stanley Turrentine’s “Sugar” to the Champs’ 1958 hit “Tequila.” But Timeagain isn’t strictly an album of standards; Sanborn also provides three original pieces and an interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s “Man from Mars,” which the folk-pop singer unveiled on her Taming the Tiger album in 1998. Nor is Timeagain the work of someone who claims to be a jazz purist—it is, however, the work of a well respected, versatile improviser who has credibility in the jazz world as well as the R&B/rock/pop world.

Like many of Sanborn’s previous releases, Timeagain combines the freedom and spontaneity of jazz with the groove-oriented accessibility of soul and funk. And he does so with the help of an all-star cast that includes Gil Goldstein (who handles the horn and string arrangements), trumpeter/flugelhornist Randy Brecker, vibist Mike Mainieri, bassist Christian McBride, drummer Steve Gadd, guitarist Russell Malone and percussionist Don Alias.

“I’m a product of my influences, and my influences are jazz influences as well as blues and R&B influences,” asserts the 57-year-old Sanborn, who now lives in New York. “So I needed to find people who had empathy with that point of view. One of the things that Stewart Levine, Randy Brecker, Russell Malone and the rest of the musicians on this record have in common is the fact that they’re all very open-minded. They know the tradition, and they know the history of jazz. But they’re also well versed in a variety of other music. Don Alias, for example, has played with everyone from Jaco Pastorius to Nina Simone.”

Sanborn couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate producer than Levine, whose credits range from British pop-soulsters Simply Red to the Crusaders (a band whose name, like Sanborn’s, is synonymous with soul-jazz and jazz-funk). Timeagain is the first Sanborn project that Levine has produced, although the two of them crossed paths in 1993 (when Sanborn appeared on singer Oleta Adams’ Evolution album and Levine served as producer/arranger).

“Stewart was really a pleasure to work with on Timeagain,” Sanborn comments. “I really felt like we were on the same page—we have a lot of the same cultural references and are very compatible. And Stewart is a saxophone player himself.”

Sanborn continues: “Another thing the musicians on this record have in common is the fact that they can think compositionally—they’re the kind of guys who will ask, ‘What is this tune about? What can I play that will serve the tune well?’”

For all its R&B-friendly accessibility, Timeagain is far from an album of note-for-note covers. Timeagain has a groove, but it also maintains an improviser’s mentality—and Sanborn, true to form, has no problem bringing something fresh and personal to familiar melodies. His interpretation of “Tequila” is moodier than the Champs’ original version, and his version of “Isn’t She Lovely” is more relaxed and contemplative than Stevie Wonder’s original 1976 recording (which was quite exuberant). Meanwhile, Earl Hagen’s evocative “Harlem Nocturne” is taken at a livelier pace than usual.

Although the alto sax is Sanborn’s primary instrument, he plays the acoustic piano on four of Timeagain’s ten tracks: “Harlem Nocturne,” Ben Tucker’s “Comin’ Home Baby” (which was made famous by flutist Herbie Mann in the early 1960s), “Tequila” and the Wayne Shorter-influenced ballad “Little Flower.” Not to be confused with Freddie Hubbard’s “Little Sunflower,” the latter is a Sanborn original that he wrote for Timeagain. The album’s two other originals are “Delia” and “Spider B,” both of which favor a dusky, nocturnal type of sound. Sanborn co-wrote “Spider B” with keyboardist Ricky Peterson, another musician who appears on Timeagain; the song is named after a St. Louis radio deejay Sanborn listened to as a pre-adult in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Another highlight of Timeagain is pianist Duke Pearson’s “Cristo Redentor,” which was made famous by trumpeter Donald Byrd in 1963. A very haunting piece, “Cristo Redentor” combines jazz with Christian spiritual music. Sanborn notes: “‘Cristo Redentor’ is deceptively sophisticated. It seems very straight-forward, but harmonically, it goes in a lot of different areas. I remember hearing Donald Byrd’s version when I was about 17.”

Born in Tampa, Florida on July 30, 1945 but raised in St. Louis, Sanborn was exposed to a wide variety of music during his midwestern upbringing--not only jazz, but also, R&B, blues and rock. Early on, he was attracted to soul-jazz saxophonists like Gene Ammons, Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Forrest, King Curtis and Willis “Gator” Jackson—improvisers who swung hard and had massive chops but were also very warm, soulful and expressive. Improvisers who brought some intellect to their work but were still quite accessible. Although Sanborn appreciated a lot of tenor players, the alto saxophone became his main instrument—one of Sanborn’s strongest influences was alto great Hank Crawford. Like Crawford, Sanborn immersed himself in jazz but was never the least bit hostile to popular culture. And that open-minded outlook ultimately resulted in a variety of gigs for Sanborn, who has backed everyone from blues great Albert King to the Godfather of Soul James Brown.

In the 1970s, Sanborn earned a reputation for being both an improvising jazz instrumentalist and a busy R&B/pop/rock session player. Jazz heavyweights like Gil Evans, Jaco Pastorius, the Brecker Brothers, Joe Beck and Mark Murphy featured Sanborn on their albums in the 1970s, and that decade also found him backing David Bowie, the Eagles, Donny Hathaway, Bruce Springsteen, Carly Simon and other major non-jazz stars.

Sanborn started recording as a leader in 1975, when he signed with Warner Bros. Records and provided his debut album, Taking Off. The saxman went on to record at least ten more albums for Warner before singing with Elektra in 1990. At Elektra, Sanborn recorded several critically acclaimed CDs, including 1991’s Another Hand, 1992’s Upfront, 1993’s Hearsay, 1995’s Pearls (a collaboration with arranger Johnny Mandel) and 1996’s Songs from the Night Before. 1999’s Inside turned out to be Sanborn’s final Elektra session; in the early 2000s, he switched to Verve. 
It takes a truly eclectic musician to play with Gil Evans one minute and Bruce Springsteen the next, and Sanborn’s tastes haven’t become any less eclectic over the years. These days, he finds himself listening to everyone from bop icon Sonny Stitt to pop-rock/dance-pop star Pink to country veteran George Jones. Sanborn is into Ornette Coleman and Anthony Braxton; he also appreciates Gwen Stefani and No Doubt as well as gangster rapper Snoop Dogg. The bottom line is that Sanborn believes in keeping his ears open, and Timeagain underscores that broad-mindedness.

“I was never one to define myself in idiomatic terms,” Sanborn asserts. “The guys I grew up around in St. Louis would listen to a lot of different types of music and judge them on their own merits, and I’ve always felt the same way. I grew up listening to music with an open mind and drawing on different elements, which is what I’m continuing to do on this record. Whether I’m playing Joni Mitchell or Stanley Turrentine, Timeagain reflects the attitude I’ve always had: if it’s good, it’s good.”♦♦