- Attended Northwestern University (Evanston, IL).
- He contracted polio in his youth, and he began playing saxophone on a physician's advice to strengthen his weakened chest muscles and improve his breathing, instead of studying piano.
- He was active as a session musician, playing on several albums by various artists.
- According to an April 1988 interview published in the jazz magazine DownBeat, he had a preference for Selmer Mark VI alto saxophones in the 140,000-150,000 serial number range, all produced in 1967.
- He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but had been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school and was a session musician long before its release.
- He was often identified with radio-friendly smooth jazz, but expressed a disinclination for the genre and his association with it.
- Besides playing alto saxophone as his main instrument, Sanborn also played baritone, soprano and sopranino saxophones; saxello; flute; and keyboards/piano on some recordings.
- In 2004, Sanborn was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
- Though Sanborn worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B.
- In the mid-1970s, Sanborn became active in the popular jazz fusion scene by joining the Brecker Brothers band where he became influenced by Michael Brecker, and it was with the brothers that he recorded his first solo album, Taking Off, nowadays regarded as something of a jazz/funk classic.
- David Sanborn was an American alto saxophonist.
- In 2021 as the coronavirus pandemic paused live music performances in public venues, Sanborn hosted a series of master classes on Zoom and also virtual productions of "Sanborn Sessions" with artists such as Marcus Miller, Christian McBride, Sting, Michael McDonald, which involved live performances and interviews from his home in Westchester, New York.
- One of the most commercially successful American saxophonists to earn prominence since the 1980s, Sanborn was described by critic Scott Yanow as "the most influential saxophonist on pop, R&B, and crossover players of the past 20 years.".
- Sanborn won six Grammy Awards and had eight gold albums and one platinum album.
- During the 1980s and 1990s, Sanborn hosted a syndicated radio program, The Jazz Show with David Sanborn.
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