Originally published in Upstage Magazine
Coming Home
David Sancious
Performs in Red Bank
By Ken Shane
First a confession; when
it comes to David Sancious’ post E Street Band music,
I’m uneducated. So I didn’t know quite what to expect when I attended his
concert at the lovely Two River Theater in Red Bank. I knew that he was a great
keyboard player. That much is in evidence on the first two Springsteen albums,
and later on “Human Touch”. I knew that since those days David Sancious had not only fronted his own band (Tone, with
another Springsteen alumnus, Ernest Carter, on drums), but had also been a
sideman for people like Peter Gabriel, Sting, and Eric Clapton. It’s quite a
resume. Still, this was going to be a solo keyboard gig, and I was anxious to
hear what he has been up to.
The concert was a benefit
for a charity called
The appreciative audience
gave Mr. Sancious, a Long Branch native, a warm
welcome as he took the stage, set with only a keyboard, an acoustic guitar, and
a couple of microphones. Early on he noted that he saw a number of familiar
faces in the crowd, and clearly there were a number of long-time fans in
attendance. Between songs, he spoke of his recent collaborations with Francis Dunnery, and former Renaissance vocalist Annie Haslem, and gave the audience some insight into his artistic
process.
The songs played on this
night covered a variety of styles, from synth heavy
cosmic explorations, to beautiful orchestral piano pieces. Sancious
went all the way back to the Tone days for “Prelude #3” from the True Stories
album, and he played two songs, “Sleight of Hand”, and the title track from his
early 1980’s album, The Bridge. His latest album, Cinema, was represented by
the lovely “Moon and Night Sky”. This was the only song he played on guitar,
and I found it reminiscent of the great jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell. Other highlights were the Peter Gabriel
influenced “A Walk in the Woods”, also from the Cinema album, and the African
themed “Malinka”, from his recent collaboration with
Annie Haslem.
David Sancious
is clearly a very gifted musician. My personal taste leans more toward his more
piano-based compositions, and I’d welcome the opportunity to hear him play an
entire evening seated at a grand piano. The synth
explorations were interesting, innovative, and always musical. He seems to have
discovered nearly every sound available from his Motif keyboard. Now that I’ve
more or less caught up with David Sancious, I’m
anxious to hear what he gives us next.
The evening ended with a song
that was introduced as having started life as a German beer drinking song. By
the time David Sancious had finished playing a
beautiful, haunting, and oddly patriotic version of “The Star Spangled Banner”,
there was very few dry eyes in the house.