Conversation with
David Sanborn
by Mark Ruffin.

Two days before this year's Grammy telecast in Los Angeles, the possibility of winning his sixth statue from the National Academy for the Recording Arts and Sciences didn't seem to be on the mind of saxophonist David Sanborn. Speaking by phone from Colorado, where members of his band were attending a wedding, a very relaxed Sanborn genuinely showed more emotion about his new album, Inside, making the best of 1999 list in a number of publications, than in accepting congratulations for his Grammy nod.

If you blinked right after Jennifer Lopez' R-rated appearance on the Grammy telecast, right before the first commercial break, you may have missed the less than two-second sub-titled acknowledgement that Sanborn did indeed win in the Best Contemporary Jazz category

Serious fans of this veteran musician know that his public persona man is that of a reserved, cool, self-effacing dude of not many words whose very influential horn does his talking. On this day, Sanborn wanted to talk about Chicago, which was the next stop on his concert tour

"You know I went to school in Chicago, " said the youthful looking 54 year-old St. Louis bred musician who attended Northwestern. " I spent of lot of time in Chicago and had many magic nights that I really quite enjoyed. If I didn't live in New York, I think the only other place I could live would be in Chicago. It's the most quintessential American city and it has everything from great art to great down to earth people."

One of Sanborn's magic nights in Chicago resulted in one of those Grammy awards on his mantle.

His first came in 1981 in the category of Best R&B Instrumental Performance for the song All I Need Is You. Then in 1985, he won four straight, starting with two for Best Jazz Fusion for the albums Straight To The Heart and Double Vision. His last win, before this year, was in the Best Pop Instrumental category 12 years ago for Best Pop Instrumental for "Close Up.

The most memorable Sanborn Grammy for all jazz fans in our six-county area was in 1987 for the tune Chicago Song, which once again placed him in the slot of Best R&B Instrumental performance.

"That was the result of another wild, magic night in Chicago," Sanborn recalled with a laugh.. "It was at a club called the Park West and the Bears were fresh from the Super Bowl and I mean fresh."

The scene was set that night 14 years ago when Sanborn's then bassist Marcus Miller, convinced his mates to premiere a brand new, untitled song that night at the Lincoln Park club. Having been a witness to this event, this writer can tell you, they rocked the Park West off it's rafters. I can also confirm that after everyone calmed down and Sanborn shocked the audience by divulging the infancy of the tune, that someone did scream out "you better call it Chicago Song."

After the thunderous applause seconded the notion, Sanborn announced "well if the Chicago Bears say so, I guess I will." There were a party of Bears down front and the legend emerged that it was Otis Wilson, Richard Dent and Revie Sorey who were among the group that cajoled Miller and Sanborn to name the Grammy award-winning song.

Miller, who will go down in history as the Miles Davis' last record producer, is another favorite subject of the saxophone player. The bassist, who also plays bass clarinet on Inside, is an integral part of the success of David Sanborn, having produced many of produced many of his nearly 20 albums. But the new one is the first Miller-produced Sanborn session for in a number of years.

"I think people come together and drift apart and come back together again, " said Sanborn simplifying his relationship with the much in-demand Miller. "It was just the ebb and flow of our lives, mostly scheduling, that kept up apart.

"Marcus is such a prolific songwriter and is always great to work with," he continued. "With such a wide range of talent like that, you can really relax because you know everything is covered. Plus, since we've worked so long together for so many years, we just have this shorthand language we can use."

Most of the album was done at Sanborn's in-home studio, which he says is why the music is so warm. He also hinted that that's part of the reason the album has its title. He wouldn't elaborate, but teased that the word has many meanings to him.

"I'd rather not say inside what," he said, "it could be inside my head or just inside. Just the implication of the word goes a lot of different ways."

The album also features vocal work by his fellow 2000 Grammy winner Sting, as well as Eric Benet, Lalah Hathaway, and Cassandra Wilson, who he says both he and Miller knew instinctively was the only person to sing their version of Aretha Franklin's classic Daydreaming.

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