Dave Sanborn, the veteran saxophonist, and six-time Grammy Award winner, has announced he will soon present the first episode of his new music show, Sanborn Sessions. The new series is hosted by Sanborn and features a diverse roster of accomplished artists from a variety of genres and generations. In its initial season, Sanborn welcomes Kandace Springs, Terrace Martin, Michael McDonald, Brian Owens, Bob James, Jonatha Brooke, Charlie Hunter and Cyriille Aimee.
Bucking conventional presentation, the show lets viewers become voyeurs as world-class musicians come together to discuss, explore, and play music. “To me, this show is not just about dialogue,” Sanborn says. “It’s absolutely essential that we keep this authentic. Because then they [the audience] get the real unfiltered stuff. This show comes out of humor and friendship and just trying to get on the same musical wavelength. It’s intimate, fly-on-the-wall stuff.
While Sanborn Sessions is inventive in its lack of script, teleprompter, or studio audience, a good part of the impetus for recording the series came from Sanborn’s celebrated NBC music show in the late 1980s. Called Night Music, the show paired Sanborn with such legends as Eric Clapton, Lou Reed, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis, to name a few.
With his new show, Sanborn continues to explore the essence of music through candid conversations and free-flowing studio sessions. Full episodes contain deeper conversations, behind-the-scenes lead-ins to the music, and the performances themselves. Original song recordings that come from Sanborn Sessions will also be issued for individual consumption across digital audio platforms.
The series is co-produced and sponsored by music equipment juggernaut Sweetwater. “I’ve been a longtime fan and customer of Sweetwater,” Sanborn says. “They are the ultimate destination for musicians and they have been the perfect partner for us in bringing this vision to life.”
A true homegrown project, the show is executive produced by Dave’s nephew, Noah, brother-in-law, Steve, and Dave himself. Episodes will be released starting on December 3, and can be viewed along with the trailer at sanbornsessions.com.
