1999 · Album
Inside
Elektra Records · Released: 1999 · Grammy Award: Best Contemporary Jazz Performance (2000)
A Master Saxophonist Stays Still
Inside won Sanborn a Grammy, proving that restraint and clarity could matter as much as flash.
By 1999, David Sanborn had already spent decades establishing himself as one of jazz's most recognizable alto saxophonists—a player comfortable in funk, fusion, and straight-ahead jazz, someone who'd worked everywhere from Stevie Wonder's band to his own smooth-jazz crossover hits. Inside arrives late in a long career, not as a reinvention or a sharp left turn, but as something quieter: a statement of what Sanborn sounds like when the distractions fall away. The album is spare and focused, built around his horn and a tight ensemble. There's no attempt to chase trends or prove anything. It's just Sanborn playing the way he'd learned to play—with clarity, taste, and a refusal to oversell a phrase. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, and that rating feels right: it's a solid, grown-up record made by someone who knows exactly what he's doing. In 2000, the album won Sanborn the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance, which validated the approach—playing it straight, letting the melody and the tone do the work. It's not the album to start with if you're new to Sanborn. But if you already know his work and wonder what he sounds like stripped down and honest, Inside is worth hearing.
Who's playing
Neil Jasonbass
Marvin Sewellguitar
Dean Brownguitar
David Spinozzaguitar
Michael Breckertenor saxophone
David Sanbornalto saxophone
Ronnie Cuberbaritone saxophone
Lenny Picketttenor saxophone
Wallace Roneytrumpet
Ricky PetersonHammond organ
Steve Gadddrums
Don Aliaspercussion
Jody Linscottcongas
Gene Lakemembranophone
Ronnie Bauchviolin
Julian Fifercello
Guillermo Figueroaviolin
Liang-Ping Howviolin
Benjamin Hudsonviolin
Joanna Jennerviolin
Ralph MacDonaldfinger cymbals, triangle
Richard Shercello
Ruth Watermanviolin
Carol Zeavinviolin
Where next?
More by David Sanborn
All 26 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
