David Sanborn, the saxophonist who played the famous solo of David Bowie's “Young Americans” and collaborated with many other pop-rock stars, such as Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Carly Simon and the Rolling Stones, has died. Sanborn passed away at the age of 78, in Tarrytown, New York, on Sunday afternoon. A message on social media from the musician himself in recent days cited complications after a long battle with prostate cancer.
Earlier this month, Sanborn canceled a series of dates scheduled for May. “For the past few weeks I have been dealing with incredible pain in my spine that has prevented me from walking, let alone playing the sax,” Sanborn wrote in a note.
Below is the famous performance on the Dick Cavett Show in 1974, in which a wild David Sanborn on sax accompanied Bowie in “Young Americans”.
About the title track of the ex-Ziggy's 1975 album Stardust, Rolling Stone reported a curious backstory. Sanborn, in fact, would have been the only one to believe in the overall vision of the “Young Americans” project, even more than Bowie himself. The saxophonist, who had studied jazz, had already had experience in the world of pop as a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and as a guest on Stevie Wonder's “Talking Book”. For Bowie, the song that gave the album its title had to tell the restlessness of American teenagers, who demanded something more from life, from America and from President Nixon, verses which were counterbalanced by the mocking and recurring chants “all right ”. However, the energy of Sanborn's sax was decisive for the success of the song, as it seemed to play more notes than Bowie sang during the entire song.
In addition to his collaboration on the “Young Americans” album, Sanborn also joined Bowie for the Diamond Dogs Tour – he is present on the double album “David Live” – and participated in the performance of the London dandy in two other songs presented at Cavett's show, namely “1984” and “Footstompin'”.
Born in Florida in 1945, Sanborn began playing as a child: he studied music at Northwestern University, in Illinois, and then at the University of Iowa, with saxophonist JR Monterose. He was active mainly from the 70s, collaborating with some of the main pop-rock stars. He was part of the band on the popular television entertainment program Saturday Night Live and was a recurring guest in the band on Late Night with David Letterman. He won six Grammys, performed on numerous tours and hosted various programs on TV and radio.
Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM