David Sanborn - Here & Gone

Alto sax legend returns to his blues roots

There’s just no getting away from it: David Sanborn’s CV as a sideman really does read like a who’s who of jazz, pop, soul and rock. In a career that stretches back to the late 60s, when he appeared at Woodstock with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Sanborn’s played with anyone who’s anyone in popular music, from David Bowie, Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder, to Miles Davis, The Eagles, Gil Evans, Paul Simon, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But apart from being a sax for hire, the 63-year-old Florida-born horn player has forged a noteworthy solo career that has witnessed 22 albums in 33 years.

Following his recent cameo on the fourth volume of Jazzmatazz by hip-hop doyen and former Gang Starr member, Guru, Sanborn kicks off his new deal at Decca with a terrific Phil Ramone-helmed R&B-soaked collection that pays tribute to two of his early saxophone idols: Hank Crawford and David “Fathead” Newman. Both men, of course, played in Ray Charles’ trailblazing R&B band in the late 50s and early 60s, and Charles’ influence on this new record is almost palpable. Joss Stone fronts a powerful, soul-infused version of the Charles-penned I Believe To My Soul, while blues-rock guitarist Derek Trucks lends some bottleneck axe licks to the Marcus Miller-scribed tribute song, Brother Ray. There are also ear-catching cameos by Eric Clapton and Sam Moore, but they don’t distract from Sanborn’s gutsy sax, which shines most refulgent on Gil Goldstein’s elegant big band arrangements of St Louis Blues and Basin St Blues. Undoubtedly Sanborn’s best set in years.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Decca | tbc

Reviewed by Charles Waring
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