David Sancious

When David Sancious left Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band to pursue a solo career in 1975, his admirers tended to assume that his own albums would be Springsteen-like. It was a logical assumption, but an incorrect one. Recorded for Arista in 1978 and reissued on CD by One Way in early 2001, True Stories by Sancious and his group Tone doesn't sound anything like Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ or Born to Run. This album is pure progressive rock, and it has more in common with Yes, Genesis, ELP, Pink Floyd, and early Journey than the Boss. Though True Stories contains a few instrumentals, most of the tunes feature vocalist Alex Ligertwood (of Brian Auger's Oblivion Express fame). A bluesy, gritty belter, Ligertwood has some inspired moments on imaginative tracks like "Sound of Love," "Ever the Same," and "Matter of Time." This is, without question, an ambitious album, although it's a different album from the one Sancious originally had in mind. At first, Sancious envisioned a collection of four suites, but Arista feared that such a project would be ignored by radio. So Sancious made True Stories more radio-friendly, although it was still imaginative and risk-taking. Comparing this album to an LP by Yes, it might be said that the songs are closer to the radio-friendly "Roundabout" than the extended "The Gates of Delirium." Many of the lyrics have a spiritual quality and call for a nicer, more loving world, although Sancious avoids sounding preachy on this consistently appealing CD. - All Music

When David Sancious left Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band to pursue a solo career in 1975, his admirers tended to assume that his own albums would be Springsteen-like. It was a logical assumption, but an incorrect one. Recorded for Arista in 1978 and reissued on CD by One Way in early 2001, True Stories by Sancious and his group Tone doesn't sound anything like Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ or Born to Run. This album is pure progressive rock, and it has more in common with Yes, Genesis, ELP, Pink Floyd, and early Journey than the Boss. Though True Stories contains a few instrumentals, most of the tunes feature vocalist Alex Ligertwood (of Brian Auger's Oblivion Express fame). A bluesy, gritty belter, Ligertwood has some inspired moments on imaginative tracks like "Sound of Love," "Ever the Same," and "Matter of Time." This is, without question, an ambitious album, although it's a different album from the one Sancious originally had in mind. At first, Sancious envisioned a collection of four suites, but Arista feared that such a project would be ignored by radio. So Sancious made True Stories more radio-friendly, although it was still imaginative and risk-taking. Comparing this album to an LP by Yes, it might be said that the songs are closer to the radio-friendly "Roundabout" than the extended "The Gates of Delirium." Many of the lyrics have a spiritual quality and call for a nicer, more loving world, although Sancious avoids sounding preachy on this consistently appealing CD. - All Music

…Without David Sancious, there would be no E Street Band.
Which is to say that one night in 1973 as the band returned home from touring in Texas, the van pulled up to Mr. Sancious' childhood home at 1105 E Street in Belmar and Mr. Springsteen now had a name for the band. Mr. Sancious, 51, now makes his home in Woodstock, N.Y., with his wife, Kieran, in a sprawling mountaintop estate that has a recording studio in the basement and several gold records on the wall. He has little regret over leaving the E Street Band for his own record deal just before the Springsteen Express pulled out of the station.
''I felt at the time I wanted to give my songwriting the same kind of focus and attention that Bruce was giving his,'' Mr. Sancious said recently over dinner at a Woodstock bistro. ''I didn't want to give it my spare time.''
A classically trained piano player, Mr. Sancious quit Manasquan High when he was 15 to try to make a life in music. By the time he met Mr. Springsteen at the Upstage and joined his band in 1970, he was all of 17 and a fierce guitar player in his own right. Playing with Mr. Springsteen, who had already achieved a certain level of fame in the small pond of central and coastal New Jersey, was considered the best gig in town.
''Bruce was so creative, such a presence and so deeply into his music that you couldn't be around the guy and think nothing but death is going to stop him,'' he said. ''It wasn't a question of would he hit or not, but how long would it take for people to recognize his talent.''
With Mr. Springsteen's counsel, Mr. Sancious left the E Street Band and formed his own jazz-fusion outfit called Tone with Boom Carter, the drummer who replaced Mr. Lopez. When their first record, ''Forest of Feelings,'' was complete, Mr. Sancious drove to Mr. Springsteen's apartment by the beach in Long Branch and previewed it on his turntable. Mr. Springsteen was impressed.
Tone released a few more critically acclaimed, if not commercially viable, records before Mr. Sancious became a sought-after session musician for boldface names like Sting, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton and Seal. Still, his days in the E Street Band loom in his memory.
''I'm so proud and so privileged to be part of something that's become musical history,'' Mr. Sancious said. ''The E Street Band, whatever you say about it, like it or love it, fan or not, it has really found a place in the history of modern popular music. Nobody did it thinking anything like this would happen. It depicts a slice of America, a slice of humanity. It's not just a regional thing, it's about the human spirit, the setting just happens to be the Jersey Shore.''
A few weeks ago in Atlantic City, David Sancious was playing a concert with Annie Haslam at one of the big casinos when he saw an unexpected face in the crowd. It was Vini Lopez, an old friend who lately had been calling about a future collaboration, perhaps on a Steel Mill Retro record. They met for drinks in the hotel bar and talked about the old crowd from the Upstage but mostly about the future.
Thirty years down the road, there is still work to be done.
Mr. Sancious is writing and recording new material that he will release through his fledgling label, Not by Sight Music, while Mr. Lopez is trying to piggyback on Mr. Springsteen's latest parade by setting up dates for Steel Mill Retro in cities playing host to the ''Devils & Dust'' tour.
''I made the commitment when I was all of 7 years old to devote myself to music,'' Mr. Sancious said. ''It's not about who I'm playing with, how much money I'm making or the size of the room I'm playing in. It's about being in music. That's the reward. Peaks and valleys, they don't define you. What's important is to devote yourself to your art form.''
Mr. Lopez, for his part, is not looking back, either.
''I've got regrets,'' Mr. Lopez said. ''But they're long gone. I just want to keep doing what I'm doing. That's all.'' ”
- New York Times

…Without David Sancious, there would be no E Street Band.
Which is to say that one night in 1973 as the band returned home from touring in Texas, the van pulled up to Mr. Sancious' childhood home at 1105 E Street in Belmar and Mr. Springsteen now had a name for the band. Mr. Sancious, 51, now makes his home in Woodstock, N.Y., with his wife, Kieran, in a sprawling mountaintop estate that has a recording studio in the basement and several gold records on the wall. He has little regret over leaving the E Street Band for his own record deal just before the Springsteen Express pulled out of the station.
''I felt at the time I wanted to give my songwriting the same kind of focus and attention that Bruce was giving his,'' Mr. Sancious said recently over dinner at a Woodstock bistro. ''I didn't want to give it my spare time.''
A classically trained piano player, Mr. Sancious quit Manasquan High when he was 15 to try to make a life in music. By the time he met Mr. Springsteen at the Upstage and joined his band in 1970, he was all of 17 and a fierce guitar player in his own right. Playing with Mr. Springsteen, who had already achieved a certain level of fame in the small pond of central and coastal New Jersey, was considered the best gig in town.
''Bruce was so creative, such a presence and so deeply into his music that you couldn't be around the guy and think nothing but death is going to stop him,'' he said. ''It wasn't a question of would he hit or not, but how long would it take for people to recognize his talent.''
With Mr. Springsteen's counsel, Mr. Sancious left the E Street Band and formed his own jazz-fusion outfit called Tone with Boom Carter, the drummer who replaced Mr. Lopez. When their first record, ''Forest of Feelings,'' was complete, Mr. Sancious drove to Mr. Springsteen's apartment by the beach in Long Branch and previewed it on his turntable. Mr. Springsteen was impressed.
Tone released a few more critically acclaimed, if not commercially viable, records before Mr. Sancious became a sought-after session musician for boldface names like Sting, Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton and Seal. Still, his days in the E Street Band loom in his memory.
''I'm so proud and so privileged to be part of something that's become musical history,'' Mr. Sancious said. ''The E Street Band, whatever you say about it, like it or love it, fan or not, it has really found a place in the history of modern popular music. Nobody did it thinking anything like this would happen. It depicts a slice of America, a slice of humanity. It's not just a regional thing, it's about the human spirit, the setting just happens to be the Jersey Shore.''
A few weeks ago in Atlantic City, David Sancious was playing a concert with Annie Haslam at one of the big casinos when he saw an unexpected face in the crowd. It was Vini Lopez, an old friend who lately had been calling about a future collaboration, perhaps on a Steel Mill Retro record. They met for drinks in the hotel bar and talked about the old crowd from the Upstage but mostly about the future.
Thirty years down the road, there is still work to be done.
Mr. Sancious is writing and recording new material that he will release through his fledgling label, Not by Sight Music, while Mr. Lopez is trying to piggyback on Mr. Springsteen's latest parade by setting up dates for Steel Mill Retro in cities playing host to the ''Devils & Dust'' tour.
''I made the commitment when I was all of 7 years old to devote myself to music,'' Mr. Sancious said. ''It's not about who I'm playing with, how much money I'm making or the size of the room I'm playing in. It's about being in music. That's the reward. Peaks and valleys, they don't define you. What's important is to devote yourself to your art form.''
Mr. Lopez, for his part, is not looking back, either.
''I've got regrets,'' Mr. Lopez said. ''But they're long gone. I just want to keep doing what I'm doing. That's all.'' ”
- New York Times

Transformation (The Speed Of Love) is the 1976 album (reissued in 2003 by Wounded Bird Records) by David Sancious and Tone, in which Sancious plays a wicked guitar in addition to his usually stellar keyboards. Sancious is a jazz/fusion keyboardist who, with his group Tone, released a few classic cult favorites during the 1970s. One of those was Transformation (The Speed Of Love), which features an 18-minute epic title track. Sancious was, as you may recall, one of the original members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. This album was originally issued on Epic Records in 1976, and features Gerald Carboy: on bass along with Ernest Carter on drums/percussion. Fusion fans will find this album to be an essential addition to their collection.
- Guitar Nine Records

Transformation (The Speed Of Love) is the 1976 album (reissued in 2003 by Wounded Bird Records) by David Sancious and Tone, in which Sancious plays a wicked guitar in addition to his usually stellar keyboards. Sancious is a jazz/fusion keyboardist who, with his group Tone, released a few classic cult favorites during the 1970s. One of those was Transformation (The Speed Of Love), which features an 18-minute epic title track. Sancious was, as you may recall, one of the original members of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. This album was originally issued on Epic Records in 1976, and features Gerald Carboy: on bass along with Ernest Carter on drums/percussion. Fusion fans will find this album to be an essential addition to their collection.
- Guitar Nine Records

David Sancious is a very difficult musician to categorize. The highly versatile keyboardist/guitarist/composer genuinely appreciates everything from classical to rock, jazz, blues, and funk, and while that may intimidate some marketing people -- who like musicians to fit neatly into one category -- it has earned Sancious the respect of everyone from Sting to Bryan Ferry. Born in Long Branch, NJ, on November 30, 1953, Sancious was only in his late teens when, in the early '70s, he was hired as the keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. After appearing on Springsteen's first three albums (Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, and Born to Run), Sancious left the E Street Band in 1975 and signed with Epic as a solo artist. A radical departure from the type of earthy, Bob Dylan-influenced roots rock he had played with the Boss, Sancious' own albums found him exploring progressive rock and instrumental jazz fusion. Sancious' first solo album, Forest of Feelings, came in 1975, followed by Transformation and Tone in 1976.
The following year, he left Epic for Arista, recording Dance of the Age of Enlightenment in 1977, True Stories in 1978, and Just As I Thought in 1979. After 1982's The Bridge on Elektra Musician, he waited 18 years before recording as a leader again. Not until 2000's unaccompanied Nine Piano Improvisations -- which Sancious released on his own Not By Sight label and sold over the Internet -- did he provide another album. But he was hardly idle in the 1980s or 1990s; between The Bridge and Nine Piano Improvisations, Sancious kept busy backing everyone from Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Bryan Ferry to African pop artist Youssou N'Dour. Most of Sancious' 1970s recordings are out of print, although One Way was scheduled to reissue True Stories and Just As I Thought on CD in early 2001.
- Alex Henderson, All Music

David Sancious is a very difficult musician to categorize. The highly versatile keyboardist/guitarist/composer genuinely appreciates everything from classical to rock, jazz, blues, and funk, and while that may intimidate some marketing people -- who like musicians to fit neatly into one category -- it has earned Sancious the respect of everyone from Sting to Bryan Ferry. Born in Long Branch, NJ, on November 30, 1953, Sancious was only in his late teens when, in the early '70s, he was hired as the keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. After appearing on Springsteen's first three albums (Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, and Born to Run), Sancious left the E Street Band in 1975 and signed with Epic as a solo artist. A radical departure from the type of earthy, Bob Dylan-influenced roots rock he had played with the Boss, Sancious' own albums found him exploring progressive rock and instrumental jazz fusion. Sancious' first solo album, Forest of Feelings, came in 1975, followed by Transformation and Tone in 1976.
The following year, he left Epic for Arista, recording Dance of the Age of Enlightenment in 1977, True Stories in 1978, and Just As I Thought in 1979. After 1982's The Bridge on Elektra Musician, he waited 18 years before recording as a leader again. Not until 2000's unaccompanied Nine Piano Improvisations -- which Sancious released on his own Not By Sight label and sold over the Internet -- did he provide another album. But he was hardly idle in the 1980s or 1990s; between The Bridge and Nine Piano Improvisations, Sancious kept busy backing everyone from Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Bryan Ferry to African pop artist Youssou N'Dour. Most of Sancious' 1970s recordings are out of print, although One Way was scheduled to reissue True Stories and Just As I Thought on CD in early 2001.
- Alex Henderson, All Music