"It comes down to finding out the truth in the moment, about yourself, about how you see the world. When you hear Little Jimmy Scott or Billie Holiday sing--you say, that's the truth. It informs your life, helps you shape some reality for yourself."

"I just try to find the things that I connect to, that make me feel good," continues the alto sax specialist, "like what got me into music in the first place, listening to Ray Charles. I just connected to that music."

Born in July of 1945 in St. Louis, by the age of 15, David Sanborn had already connected himself to local St. Louis favorite Little Milton. Soon after, David was sitting in with R&B players and jazzmen in Gaslight Square.

Once out of high school, Sanborn became an established local session player.

His time at Northwestern University was cut short in 1967 when David joined the Butterfield Blues Band (whose career highlights included playing at Woodstock). After going solo in 1975, David released "Taking Off," "Sanborn," "Promise Me The Moon" and "Heart To Heart." His breakthrough release came in 1980 and was called "Hideaway." 1982 brought David's first Grammy for "Voyeur." "As We Speak" debuted the funk influence that would become a signature part of his later work.

David's next five records"Backstreet," "Straight To The Heart," "Double Vision," (with Bob James), "Change Of Heart" and "Closeup" brought Grammys and platinum sales. Warner Brothers has since put out a collection of "The Best of David Sanborn."

Late in the 1980's, David hosted "Night Music", which was a critically acclaimed late night TV show. It contained a guest cast of legends such as Sonny Rollins, Hank Crawford and David Newman and featured some wildly impromptu jams which could feature anyone from Sonic Youth to Sun Ra or Al Green.

Moving to Elektra in 1991, David released "Another Hand" and "Upfront." Recalling the "Upfront" sessions, David said, "We rehearsed for three days, went in and jammed, got the whole album done in five days."

David took the improvisatory funk of 1992's "Up Front" to a more complex level on his next album "Hearsay." Somewhat surprisingly, David credited his marriage for his new creative direction. "It makes you a lot freer to deal with the emotional roller coaster that music is."

You try to go as deep as you can in yourself, to those places where you're not always happy with what you find. I have a tendency to be obsessive and compulsive, like most people who do what I do. It's hard to extricate from that emotional quicksand that you sometimes find yourself in.

That's where marriage really helps, in having someone you really love and trust, so you can say "I'm going back in honey, I'll see you in a minute." David's most recent Elektra release is called "Pearls." For that album he shared the recording studio with a 60 piece orchestra for the first time in his almost 30 year career.

"On this album I had to find a new way to rehearse these songs. Normally I rehearse outside the studio because I like to spend as little time as possible in there. I like to keep things fresh and just do it. But when you have a 60 piece orchestra to consider you just can't find a place and say 'Let's rehearse.'"

David Sanborn concludes, "Sometimes when I play, I think, man, I feel so good-like whatever physical sense you want to ascribe to it, sex or food or spiritual fulfillment. When you're playing with people and you connect, that moment is worth all the bullshit you had to go through to get there."

Website :- www.davidsanborn.com