Jim Sanborn Dunin, Elonka

Time and the River, the new album from David Sanborn, is his first collaboration in the studio with producer and bass player Marcus Miller in over fifteen years. Through the years, the two have worked together on a number of records, winning five Grammy Awards ® and seven Gold Records. Time and The River is a modern groove oriented album, with funky beats and beautiful ballads where Sanborn can show the emotional side of his legendary saxophone skills. Along with Miller, the album features Roy Assaf on alto flute, Justin Mullens on trumpet, Tim Vaughn on trombone, Ricky Peterson on organ, Javier Diaz on percussion and Marcus Baylor on drums. Guest vocalists include R&B and jazz singer Randy Crawford on "The Windmills of Your Mind,"…

A Change of Heart is a fairly typical '80s outing by the popular R&B-ish altoist David Sanborn. The main difference from his past work is that the music often uses synthesizers and electronic rhythms to a greater degree than it had previously, but Sanborn's distinctive crying sound was still very much intact. The music is produced by Marcus Miller ("Chicago Song" and "Imogene"), Michael Colina, Ronnie Foster or Philippe Saisse; each of the producers plays keyboards and is responsible for the backgrounds behind the leader.

Released in 1980, Hideaway earned David Sanborn fame beyond that of the average studio musician, and rightfully so. Many releases by studio musicians suffer from weak compositions and overproduction, including some albums by Sanborn himself. However, Hideaway features a stripped-down, funky sound that showcases the artist's passionate and distinctive saxophone sound. This includes two tunes co-written with Michael McDonald and the "love theme" from the motion picture American Gigolo, appropriately entitled "The Seduction." All eight tunes on Hideaway are winners.

With bassist Marcus Miller acting as producer and some memorable tunes being performed (most notably "Hideaway" and "Straight to the Heart"), this is one of altoist David Sanborn's better R&B-ish recordings. Joined by keyboardist Don Grolnick, guitarist Hiram Bullock, bassist Miller, drummer Buddy Williams and various guest musicians, Sanborn sounds fairly inspired and is in top form.

This 1980 recording is an excellent example of David Sanborn's music. The highly influential altoist is joined by familiar studio veterans (including guitarist Hiram Bullock and drummer Steve Gadd) with bassist/composer Marcus Miller being a key figure in creating the funky rhythms and colorful backgrounds. Miller, who shared the writing chores with Sanborn, not only contributed his powerful bass, but backed the altoist during a duet version of "Just for You" on piano. Easily recommended to fans of R&B-ish jazz.

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.

Altoist David Sanborn has long been one of the leaders of what could be called rhythm & jazz (R&B-oriented jazz). His debut for Warner Brothers was a major commercial success and helped make him into a major name. The music is fairly commercial but certainly danceable and melodic. Even at that point in time, Sanborn's alto cries were immediately recognizable; the Brecker Brothers, guitarist Steve Khan and Howard Johnson on baritone and tuba are prominent in support.

As a rule, David Sanborn's Elektra output of the '90s had integrity. Whether he was being exploratory and introspective on Another Hand or taking a more commercial, R&B-minded approach on Inside, Sanborn avoided recording outright schlock during that decade. Make no mistake: Inside is far from straight-ahead acoustic jazz.