David Sanborn learned to play the alto sax at age 11; by his early teens, he was playing in blues clubs. As a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he performed at Woodstock; in the '70s and '80s, he collaborated with such major artists as Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen.
Sanborn also released his own albums, 17 of which made Billboard's 200 chart, and four reached number two on the jazz chart. His single "Bang Bang" peaked at number 53 on Billboard's Hot 100.
You can go here to watch him perform "Bang Bang" with Paul Shaffer's band on one of Sanborn's many guest appearances with David Letterman. I love how Shaffer really gets into banging on the piano keys and singing along. The comments below the video are good too. Here's one of them: "Caught his show at the Music Mill of Indianapolis in the spring of 2008. He hung out with fans during intermission. One of my best memories. Incredible music legacy, for sure."
The image in the thumbnail is from the cover of "David Sanborn Saxophone Play-Along Volume 8," published by Hal Leonard and available on Amazon and on the publisher's website.
In the chapters, you'll also see a Down Beat magazine from 1983 with Sanborn on the cover, as well as a picture of Sanborn performing at the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in 2008.
This tribute is one of 41 stories that Sheldon Zoldan, a longtime journalist, has written and recorded in honor of the music notables who passed away in 2024. He's written tributes for other years as well. You can listen to the ones from 2023 on Everyday Creation. We'll have the 2022 tributes available later this year.
Sheldon also is the creator of Song of the Day, a story that he sends by email to a list of subscribers. To get on his subscriber list, email shzoldan@comcast.net with the subject line ADD ME TO SOTD.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.
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