Dave Sanborn

One of the first releases on the resurrected Okeh Records imprint, 2013's Quartette Humaine features pianist Bob James and saxophonist David Sanborn performing a set of mostly original songs that walk the line between funky contemporary jazz and more thoughtful post-bop. It’s also the first collaboration between the two giants of contemporary jazz since their 1986 Grammy Award-winning album Double Vision. However, rather than revisit that album's funk and smooth jazz leanings, here James and Sanborn summon the spirit of the legendary Dave Brubeck quartet featuring saxophonist Paul Desmond. While they don’t play any Brubeck songs, the album was recorded with Brubeck's adventurous, often challenging acoustic jazz spirit in mind.

Just in time for David Sanborn's 75th birthday, England's Soul Music label delivers the goods with a remastered, three-disc, 46-track overview of the saxophonist's iconic Warner Bros./Elektra period, which netted no less than 17 charting albums – in a row. While the vast majority made the upper rungs of the jazz and/or smooth jazz charts, some attained places in the higher reaches of the Top 200. None of this material is unreleased, but this collection goes far deeper, given its length and scope, than any other Sanborn compilation. Further, it was curated aesthetically rather than chronologically by Los Angeles-based musicologist and set producer and annotator A. Scott Galloway. He carefully and judiciously offers radio edits of singles alongside full versions.

When David Sanborn debuted on Elektra with Another Hand after a 13-year stay at Warner Bros., the altoist swore off formulaic, radio-oriented muzak and vowed to make artistic considerations his main priority. There's nothing shallow or contrived about the album, an exploratory, heartfelt effort generally defined by his introspective, soulsearching improvisations. Sanborn tends to be reflective rather than extroverted – an exception being the soul-jazz gem "Hobbies." Instead of avoiding complexity as some of his more commercial recordings did, Another Hand often thrives on it. The album's main flaw lies in the fact that too often, the sidemen tend to serve as a backdrop for Sanborn instead of being active soloists. But given the depth and overall excellence of Sanborn's playing, one tends to overlook that shortcoming.

Directly following his adventurous Another Hand, some listeners were disappointed with the fact that David Sanborn did not permanently switch from R&B/crossover to creative jazz. However, Upfront is generally quite appealing and takes some chances within its genre. Although bassist Marcus Miller is once again an important collaborator, the emphasis is on "real" instruments, most notably the organ of Ricky Peterson. Other musicians in the backup groups include John Purcell on various reeds, trumpeter Randy Brecker, drummer Steve Jordan and guest Eric Clapton, who takes a guitar solo on "Full House." The most unusual selection is the final cut, a version of Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'" that finds Sanborn, Miller, Peterson and Jordan joined by the avant-garde trumpeter Herb Robertson.

Conceived and recorded entirely under the umbrella of COVID-19, A New Day is a deeply comforting yet forward-thinking 11-track collection (with one bonus track on the physical CD. A New Day features collaborations with David Sanborn on "Side by Side", Brian McKnight and Earth, Wind & Fire percussionist Ralph Johnson (on "Summertime in NYC"), Bob James, Marc Antoine, Meshell Ndegeocello (playing bass on the album's only cover song, the Beatles' "Yesterday"), Paul Jackson, Jr., Jeff Lorber, David Mann, Antwaun Stanley (of funk band Vulfpeck), Philippe Saisse and Chris "Big Dog" Davis.

Randy Brecker has been at the forefront of jazz since the late 1960s. His debut album as leader way back in 1969 was Score (Solid State). In addition to numerous albums under his own name he's also recorded with George Benson, Duke Pearson, Dreams and Larry Coryell's Eleventh House, to name just a few. But perhaps he is best known for the albums he produced with his younger brother, the late Michael Brecker as The Brecker Brothers. Lest people forget what a significant force of nature the BBs were, Stuart Nicholson in his book Jazz-Rock: A History, described the Breckers' horn lines as becoming "the model for countless fusion bands in the 1980s and 1990s."

Before his world-renowned work fronting the Yellowjackets, Bob Mintzer led one of the heaviest big bands in jazz. The New York saxophonist and arranger enlisted some of the world’s top players for his first Horn Man Big Band album, Papa Lips. Featuring big sounds and fierce blowing from Mintzer and fellow horn men Dave Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker and Marvin Stamm, the album also features swinging, funk-influenced rhythm work by bassist Will Lee and drummer Peter Erskine, and tasty piano chops from the late great Don Grolnick. A rare gem previously released in only Japan, this new release showcases a glorious start to an important latter-day big band.