StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: The Sanborn Chronicles, part 2

Today, we have the second of two posts featuring saxophonist and former St. Louisan David Sanborn, who's celebrating his 66th birthday today. Sanborn will be back in town to play a concert with keyboardist George Duke and bassist Marcus Miller next Sunday, August 7 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center under the auspices of Jazz St. Louis.

Last week's post offered a smorgasbord of video clips from various stages of Sanborn's career. This week, we've got several clips from the first leg of Sanborn's tour with Duke and Miller, which began back in May. Because there have been only ten dates so far by DMS, as the band is being billed, the selection of videos available online is rather limited, but these at least should provide an idea of what to expect next Sunday night.

In the first clip up above, DMS work their way through Miller's composition "Tutu," a song originally written for Miles Davis, during the tour's first show on May 28 at the House of Blues in Orlando, FL. In his spoken intro, Miller jokes about the band's lack of a trumpet player, followed immediately by Duke offering a fairly convincing synthesized approximation of a Harmon-muted horn.

Down below, there are two clips that, together, comprise an almost-complete version of "Chicago Song," which Sanborn made popular as part of an album produced by Miller. The first part is from the May 28 House of Blues show, while the conclusion comes from a performance a month later in Kettering, OH.

Below that, there's a partial performance of "Run For Cover," another well-known song from the Sanborn/Miller catalog. Ignore the wobbly camera work, and the chatter from a nearby audience member, and dig the way Duke shreds some guitar-style licks on the synth.

Next up is a performance of Miller's composition "Blast," which serves as a showcase for an extended bass solo. The recording quality of this clip is sub-optimal, but Miller gets some nice licks in, including a crowd-pleasing quote from the O'Jays' "For The Love of Money."

Finally, we have a clip of a song that may or may not have been on the setlist for that June show in Ohio: "Da Butt," originally made famous by the go-go group E.U. and sung here by Miller. While it's pretty much an unremarkable straight-up cover version of the tune, it's kind of fun to see Sanborn, Miller and Duke just goofing around a bit.