David Sanborn

Its all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave it alone.

You’ve got to be willing to put stuff on the line, otherwise it doesn’t have much meaning.

The more you play, the more you hear and the more you hear, the more you want to play.

You never get it figured out. You just keep playing.

I don’t know where Jazz is going. Maybe it’s going to hell. You can’t make anything go anywhere. It just happens.

I think when my brother (Claude who founded vocal sextet Take Six) got his deal and I saw him on the Grammys that was when I said, ‘oh, you know what? If he can do it then maybe I can do too’ and that’s when I really focused on trying to make it in this business.

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

I’ve been married twice. Most women would rather not be married to a traveling blues singer.

There is no doubt that the first requirement for a composer is to be dead

What I look for in concert is a connection with the audience.

Everybody did something. It was very entertaining. We had a lot of fun. Lot of fun. And there was no segregation, that I could see. I never saw any.

Jazz amounts to Blues, your unique sound and the elusive genius of improvisation.

I thought I had swell ideas and wonderful musicians but no one else did.

It is people’s hearts that move the age.

If a player is pushing their ability, a certain amount of failure is inevitable. Maybe even desirable.

He almost adds a Chet-like sound to it.

You can cage the singer but not the song.

I feel like….Music is the – it’s the answer. It’s the reason.

You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the ass.