He was backed up by Guitar wizard Dean Brown.
Bonjour and welcome to the David Sanborn workshop!
| "I alway joke about the fact that I can explain everything I do technically in about 15 minutes, which is actually not a joke, but it's true!" he begins the workshop, which - nevertheless - is about 55 minutes long. In the first part, David talks about his early influences and motivations to become a musican. |
| "The moment when I really decided I want to become a saxophone player
was when I heard Ray Charles/Hank Crawford/David Newman. That music was the perfect combination
of R&B, what I consideres jazz and gosple. And this was the music of the time. It was not like I had to reach far
to hear this music. This was going on all around." This is the basis of David's way to deal with "musical stituations", but not only his background influenced his playing: "I think that a lot of the way I play has to to with certain physical limitations I have; for example I have a very weak left hand. I can't get to certain things - techincally. Especially in the early stages of my career, I would shy away from some of the more difficult things, because it was hard for me to do. It let me to a certain way of playing." |
| After telling that even he made mistakes when he was younger
e.g. getting lazy about the creative side of his work, David plays First Song.
Afterwards, members of the audience are allowed to ask question. Somebody asks about his equipment
(yes, Mark VI from the early 60s "I had it since 1983 and it kind of looked like that when I got it.
Lately I've been working a lot with the Vandoren mouthpiece, they are pretty costistent.")
and how he got "that Sound" ("accidently"). He also talks about the music buisness: "I had no great illusion about ever really being successful, in the 60s the best thing that could happen to be that I was: maybe someway I get in a really good band." About his praticeing he says: "I try to slow down, because my tendency is alway to fill up the space, but the rest is as important as the note you play. In a way making music is as much about interupting the silence as it is about creating the sound. When you realize that the sound of the sound is what people are waiting for, then you get to the essence of music." He names Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and Charly Parker. "They paint a whole picture. It's about when he played it, what he did before and after and that's the art! It's something you have to learn. Listen to the masters of music. Don't be lazy; do it yourself. It boils down to the rudimental work. You're laying the foundation of what you are later to become. That is what is importent. The pay-off is enormous: that's something nobody can take away from you; the money comes and goes, but if you know that what you're doing is right, that's a resource of strength that can sustain you through a lot of tough times." |
| "The more you learn about music, the more you hear. It's endless,
an open road, you'll never get to the end of it." A true statement that unfortunately doesn't refer to this workshop, which is closed after some more playing. Au revoir and thanks for stopping by. |
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The quothes may be abridged. All quotes and pictures taken from the Montreuxjazz recording.