Customer Reviews

Hearsay

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this CD back in '96, a year or so after it was released, and delayed my purchase because I thought it wasn't a good Sanborn release. Unexpectedly, this CD really gives you some regular 'Sanborn-type' compositions, especially after the free formed and conceptual 'Another Hand', and the laid-back/ballads 'Pearls'. It was 'Another Hand's' disappointment which really kept me off 'Hearsay'. Upon my first listen, I realized that Sanborn was making a strong effort to regain his old audience with some upbeat tunes along with the production help again of Marcus Miller. 'Jaws' really lights up the joint and 'Long Goodbye', 'Little Face', and 'Back to Memphis', all have a strong blues influence which works really well. This one is worth a strong listen to.

Contrasting an earlier reviewer, I find this entry from sax wizard David Sanborn to be a highly enjoyable musical experience. Sanborn weaves a varied listening tapestry with slow jams to mid-tempo gems to downright funky scorchers. His reworking of Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" pays homage to the original party song, which in itself was more of an instrumental (with Gaye's voice serving as the "horn"). Other strong highlights are the African-influenced "Ojiji" and the down-home sound of "Back to Memphis."

David Sanborn gained a lot from his musical experiences during 1991-92 first with his Another Hand release,which found him pursueing a completely unexpected musical direction and the following years B000002HA6 which found him in a more modern funk state of mind and with a popular new hit "Bang Bang". His creative journey as a solo artist had taken him in many directions. At this point it wouldn't have been hard,especially approaching middle age to just fall back on the session playing that made him famous. But he didn't have any intention of going backward. He was creatively rejunivated. And at last had discovered that it wouldn't be that difficult to make his soulful jazzy funk within the "keeping it real" ethic of the time.

Consisting of the likes of guitarist Ricky Peterson,drummer Steve Jordan,percussionist Don Alias and of course Marcus Miller's bass this album continues on the funk oriented direction Sanborn had been pursuing on his previous release. Only the rhythms are a lot more organic in flavor. "Savanna" is a great opener,a riveting jazz-funk number with a lot of great rhythmic meat to it. "The Long Goodbye",with it's prominant organ and "Little Face" both deal very heavily with the blues,the first on the slower side and the next one with this jazz-rock rhythmic shuffle and a catchy sax hook for Sanborn. A cover of "Got To Give It Up" as well as "Jaws" and "Bigfoot" and we're dealing with some serious funk that's all the way live,in others words just as powerful onstage likely as it is here.

"Mirage" is a slower,more textured and jazzy type track while Sanborn's affinity for funky Southern soul jazz comes out on the chunky "Back To Memphis". It's back to the very Afro-Carribbean roots of funk on "Ojiji" as Alias's percussion is locked in tight with Sanborns played. From song to song,beginning to end this is yet another musical success for David Sanborn. He has a small group that could easily take this music to the stage and manages a relatively difficult feat-to produce funk in the 90's that could function perfectly both in a live and studio setting. Often times either the sound is too obsessed with instrumental "naturalness" or some variety of electronics. This is very balanced both ways. And nobody's pushing too hard either. Everyone knows each other's abilities in this band enough by now to know what to expect and flow with the grooves. And it makes the music all the more captivating.

I enjoyed listening to the CD. The tunes are catchy and I recommend it to any other jazz music fan.

This is not a very good effort from David. The music has no soul, its boring and overall play is just plain. I have played this album maybe twice in ten years... and that`s a lot. I can wait to get rid of it.

I had seen David Sanborn perform on many occasions as a guest musician with Paul Schaffer's band on the David Letterman Show, and I thought that listening to one of his albums might be an enjoyable experience......man was I wrong! Most of the songs sound like the musical version of a kid doing his homework while watching TV--a half-hearted effort by someone whose attitude is, "Well I know I have to write SOMETHING, so here goes..." The result is an album full of tunes that could well have been written and performed by a garage jazz band--but definitely NOT what you would expect from an accomplished musician. The one redeeming feature of this CD is that it makes an interesting and decorative (although expensive) coaster. Don't waste your money on this one!