Everyday Creation
Everyday Creation is about purpose, awe and good vibrations. The show's title refers to three types of creation: The ways we express ourselves (for example, with art, music and so many other pursuits fueled by purpose and passion); the parts of life that fill us with awe (birth, death, love, the big picture); and our personal power to create our best possible lives while also making the world a better place. Here, you’ll encounter interviews, essays and some episodes created simply for information and fun. I'm your host Kate Jones, welcoming you to Everyday Creation.
Everyday Creation
Virtuoso Saxophonist David Sanborn Did a Bang-Up Job Throughout His Stellar Career
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.
Sheldon:
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.640
Do bad things happen for a reason? David
00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.460
Sanborn might never have become a virtuoso
00:00:05.920 --> 00:00:06.420
saxophonist
00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:10.560
if polio hadn't attacked his leg, arm and
00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:12.820
lungs when he was 3 years old.
00:00:13.535 --> 00:00:16.355
Sanborn spent a year in an iron lung.
00:00:16.655 --> 00:00:19.215
He battled a weakened leg, and his left
00:00:19.215 --> 00:00:21.235
arm was shorter than his right.
00:00:21.855 --> 00:00:24.895
He turned from piano to alto sax when
00:00:24.895 --> 00:00:27.375
he was 11 at the recommendation of his
00:00:27.375 --> 00:00:27.875
doctor
00:00:28.340 --> 00:00:30.200
to help him build up his lungs.
00:00:31.220 --> 00:00:34.820
Sanborn died May 12 in Tarrytown, New York,
00:00:34.820 --> 00:00:36.200
from prostate cancer.
00:00:36.980 --> 00:00:38.440
He was 78.
00:00:39.220 --> 00:00:41.140
The Song of the Day is paying tribute
00:00:41.140 --> 00:00:44.495
to the singers, musicians and songwriters who died
00:00:44.495 --> 00:00:45.875
in 2024.
00:00:46.975 --> 00:00:50.095
Sanborn was playing in blues clubs three years
00:00:50.095 --> 00:00:51.555
after picking up the sax.
00:00:52.255 --> 00:00:53.235
After college,
00:00:53.690 --> 00:00:56.650
he joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and
00:00:56.650 --> 00:00:58.030
played with them at Woodstock.
00:00:58.890 --> 00:01:00.730
He would have made a name for himself
00:01:00.730 --> 00:01:03.390
without ever recording his own album.
00:01:04.010 --> 00:01:06.570
He recorded and toured with some of the
00:01:06.570 --> 00:01:09.925
biggest artists of the 1970s and
00:01:09.925 --> 00:01:10.425
1980s.
00:01:10.965 --> 00:01:13.785
He played on Stevie Wonder's "Talking Book,"
00:01:14.325 --> 00:01:16.265
David Bowie's "Young Americans,"
00:01:16.805 --> 00:01:20.085
James Taylor's "How Sweet It Is," and Bruce
00:01:20.085 --> 00:01:20.585
Springsteen's
00:01:20.965 --> 00:01:21.945
"Born to Run."
00:01:22.710 --> 00:01:24.710
He was a member of the "Saturday Night
00:01:24.710 --> 00:01:27.350
Live" band for a year and often played
00:01:27.350 --> 00:01:29.050
with Paul Shaffer's band.
00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:31.750
He co-hosted a music show in the
00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:34.410
1980s. He started a podcast
00:01:34.870 --> 00:01:35.770
last year.
00:01:36.945 --> 00:01:39.905
Sanborn began recording his own music with the
00:01:39.905 --> 00:01:43.125
album "Taking Off" in 1975.
00:01:43.665 --> 00:01:45.205
His music was pigeonholed
00:01:45.585 --> 00:01:46.965
as smooth jazz,
00:01:47.425 --> 00:01:48.725
a term he loathed.
00:01:49.980 --> 00:01:53.260
Seventeen of his albums reached Billboard's 200
00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:53.760
chart.
00:01:54.380 --> 00:01:57.180
Four of his albums reached number two on
00:01:57.180 --> 00:01:58.400
the jazz chart.
00:01:59.340 --> 00:02:02.140
"Bang Bang" was his only single to crack
00:02:02.140 --> 00:02:03.840
Billboard's Hot 100,
00:02:04.265 --> 00:02:05.645
reaching 53.
Kate:
00:02:07.065 --> 00:02:09.805
That was Song of the Day creator Sheldon
00:02:09.865 --> 00:02:11.965
Zoldan. And I'm Kate Jones,
00:02:12.265 --> 00:02:13.965
host of Everyday Creation.
00:02:14.905 --> 00:02:17.165
Thank you for joining us today.
