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Tony Saunders (b. 1955) is an American bass player and synthesizer player in the genres of jazz, gospel, R&B, pop and world music. He is a composer, arranger, music producer, and head of his own studio.
Saunders was born in 1955 in San Francisco to a musical family.[1] His keyboardist father, Merl Saunders, got him started at an early age. He began singing at the age of five and played piano from age eight. Herbie Hancock and Sly Stone were among Saunders’ early teachers. Stone gave Saunders an organ at the age of ten. At age fourteen he began playing the bass. While growing up he was exposed to musicians including Eddie Moore, Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine, Sonny Rollins, Dewey Redmen, George Duke, Al Jarreau, Bole Sete, and John Handy.
Saunders received one of his first piano lessons from Herbie Hancock. He was awarded a fellowship at the prestigious San Francisco Conservatory of Music for piano.[2] His first Fender bass guitar was a gift from Tom Fogerty, brother of John Fogerty and rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He graduated from the Conservatory of Music in San Francisco. He received an Emmy at 14 years old with his father for the children's special Soul Is, a PBS documentary featuring Black poetry accompanied by Saunders on the bass. The second Emmy was for an Episode of Digital Journey titled "China The Digital Economy"
Career
At age 17, he began playing with his father and Jerry Garcia and was a featured musician in Merl Saunders & Aunt Monk. Later Saunders played in the original Rainforest Band, and recorded on all other projects of his father. Legendary bassists Chuck Rainey, Jack Casady and John Kahn all took interest in Saunders's ability. Kahn turned Saunders on to James Jamerson, and Saunders modeled his playing around all of his teachers. Other influences include Stanley Clarke, Alphonso Johnson, Rufus Reid, Ralphe Armstrong, and current favorite Marcus Miller. This has led to a flexible and diverse style. Anthony Davis and Lee Miles were the bass players who made Saunders leave the piano behind.
Saunders has scored movies, corporate videos, TV shows, and commercials, and produced many CDs, primarily out of his studio, Studio 1281. He wrote the music to the stage play Zetta, performed in San Francisco by the American Conservatory Theater, and also assumed the role of musical director for the show. He was the musical director of Rock Justice, written by Bob Heyman and Marty Balin of Jefferson Starship.[2]
Artists collaborating with him on projects have included Nils, Jeff Lorber, Paul Brown, Gail Jhonson, Jeff Ryan, Marion Meadows, Mavis Staples, John Lee Hooker and Austin "Auggie" Brown, the nephew of Michael Jackson. (Auggie's project was sold to Midas Records.) Saunders was first hired as a staff producer for San Francisco Records, having previously worked for the Label President Ron Umile when he was at Associated Booking in NY. Umile hired Saunders to work with Martha Reeves, Randy Crawford, and others. Saunders's first solo album, Bigger than Outside, was released in October 2011. It remained on the charts for 70 weeks.
His second CD Appaloosa, was released on January 22, 2014. It features Grammy winners Howard Hewett, Bill Champlin and Tony Lindsay on vocals, with seven instrumentals and six vocal songs. Tom Politzer from Tower of Power, Rock Hendricks from Paul Hardcastle's jazz master series also grace the CD with their saxophone playing. Longtime friends of Saunders, Fred Ross and Sakai, background singer with Train, also sing on the duet "The Question Is".
The third CD for San Francisco Records was called Uptown Jazz. It featured Gabrial Mark Hasselbach, Rock Hendricks, Sakai, Paul Harcastle Jr., and Gerald Albright. Saunders latest single "Rock Steady" is a cover of The Whispers' 1980s hit. This hit was produced in Atlanta by Magic Mendez. Harmony Blackwell, The Whispers programmer/background vocalist, and Mendez did the vocals with Mendez laying all the music tracks himself. Nils and Saunders played the lead lines to the song which was written by Babyface.[clarification needed]
His next album, Sexy Somethin' was slated to be released on February 21, 2020, on San Francisco Records. It features Jeff Lorber, Marion Meadows, Paul Brown, Nils, Gail Jhonson, Jeff Ryan, Ray Chew, and Paul Jackson Jr.
Saunders has been influenced by gospel music since he was a young child. He studied under choir director Leon Patillo. Saunders met the Hawkins family when he was 14, and credits them with not only inspiring him to play bass but also with giving spiritual guidance to his life. He played with Walter Hawkins, Edwin Hawkins and the Love Center Choir in the 1980s, and released He Lifted Me Up, his first gospel project, in 2005. Among the other gospel artists Saunders has played with are Andrae Crouch, the Clark Sisters, the late Reverend James Moore, Daryl Coley, James Cleveland and the Williams Brothers, The Mighty Clouds Of Joy and Shirley Ceaser. He completed a gospel project that featured Derrick Hughes, Alfreda Lyons-Campbell, and Saunders' longtime friend, gospel bassist/drummer Joel Smith (Walter and Ed's nephew).
Saunders has also had the pleasure of playing with his father with Jerry Garcia, Buffy St Marie, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, David Soul, Max Gail jr. Stevie Wonder, Bob Weir, Bill Kruetzman, Brent Myland, Vince Welnick, John Cippolina, Paul Butterfield, Nick Gravinites and Sly Stone.
In 2021, Saunders signed to the label Baja/TSR Records and produced a new CD called All About Love .
Awards and honors
Saunders won a 2022 Telly Award for the video "Black Lives Matter", which he co-authored with Nona Brown. Saunders has also received two Emmy Awards. He also won the New York Film Festival's Grand and Silver Award for educational compositions.[2]
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band's contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to the Steve Miller Band. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album, Children of the Future. It went on to produce the albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, The Joker, Fly Like an Eagle, Book of Dreams, among others. The band's Greatest Hits 1974–78, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. In 2016, Steve Miller was inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
New Train is an album by Paul Pena, recorded in 1973 and released in 2000. The album was recorded at Bearsville Records and produced by Ben Sidran.
Matthew Tyler Murphy, known as Matt "Guitar" Murphy, was an American blues guitarist. He was associated with Memphis Slim, The Blues Brothers and Howlin' Wolf. In 2012, Murphy was elected to the Blues Hall of Fame.
Merl Saunders was an American multi-genre musician who played piano and keyboards, favoring the Hammond B-3 console organ.
Steven Bookvich known as Muruga Booker is an American drummer, composer, inventor, artist, recording artist, and an autonomous Eastern Orthodox priest.
Legion of Mary was an American rock band, formed by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and his friend and musical collaborator Merl Saunders. The band existed from July 1974 to July 1975, and played about 60 live shows. Its members were Garcia, Saunders, John Kahn, Martin Fierro and Ron Tutt (drums). The previous lineup of the band, with Paul Humphrey on drums, is sometimes also referred to as Legion of Mary, but later research has shown that they did not use the Legion of Mary name.
The Rainforest Band was an American jam band that spans several genres, including jazz, rock, world music, R&B, and funk. Founded in 1990, it produced four albums and performed for ten years.
Rux Revue is the debut album by Carl Hancock Rux, released by Sony 550 Music which operated through Sony Music's Epic Records division. The album was produced in Los Angeles by the Dust Brothers, featuring drummers Joey Waronker and James Gadson, bassists Atom Ellis and Carol Kaye, keyboardist James Hall, bass guitarist Wah-Wah Watson and additional keyboard, Keyboard, Piano and Melodica by Money Mark. The album mixes soul, gospel, blues, rock, classical and hip-hop into a collage of machine samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, incorporating a gospel influenced Sprechgesang and Vocalese style reliant upon African American alliteration, consonance and assonance while abstaining from the common techniques of poetic monologue popular in spoken word and slam poetry.
El Amor is the seventh studio album by Spanish duo Azúcar Moreno, released on Sony International in 1994.
Shaunna Elizabeth Hall is an American composer and musician from the San Francisco Bay Area. As guitarist, she was a founding member of the band 4 Non Blondes and is currently a member of George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic.
Michael David Hinton was an American guitarist, residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his career, he played with numerous bands, including Norton Buffalo and the Knockouts, High Noon, Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band, to name a few. He appeared on several albums with the Rainforest Band and other Merl Saunders projects, including It's In The Air, Fiesta Amazonica, Still Having Fun, Merl Saunders With His Funky Friends - Live, and Still Groovin' .
Occupy This Album: 99 Songs for the 99 Percent is a four-disc compilation box set released in May 2012 through the record label Music for Occupy. The album concept, and initial production was initiated by Executive Producer Jason Samel. Jason Samel later recruited Producers Maegan Hayward, Alex Emanuel and Shirley Menard to assist with the project. The set consists of 99 songs inspired by or related to the Occupy movement. Proceeds from the album went "directly towards the needs of sustaining this growing movement."
Live at Keystone is an album by Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, and Bill Vitt. It was recorded live at the Keystone in Berkeley, California on July 10 and 11, 1973, and released later that year as a two-disc vinyl LP. It was re-released in 1988, with additional tracks, as two separate CDs, called Live at Keystone Volume I and Live at Keystone Volume II.
Fire Up Plus is an album by Merl Saunders and Friends. It contains most of the songs from two LPs from the early 1970s — Heavy Turbulence, and Fire Up. It was released on CD by Fantasy Records on July 9, 1992.
Keystone Companions: The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings is a four-CD album by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia. It was recorded live at the Keystone in Berkeley, California on July 10 and 11, 1973, and released by Fantasy Records on September 25, 2012.
Pure Jerry: Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974 is a three-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders Band. It contains the complete concert performed at the Keystone in Berkeley, California, on September 1, 1974. The fourth in the Pure Jerry series of archival concert albums, it was released on December 28, 2004.
Well-Matched: The Best of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia is a retrospective album by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia. It contains selections from six of their albums, along with one previously unreleased track, all recorded between 1971 and 1974. It was released on CD by Fantasy Records on May 23, 2006.
One Way is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Tamela Mann, released on Mann's own independent record label Tillymann Music Group on September 16, 2016. One Way debuted at number 45 on the US Billboard 200 and topped the Top Gospel Albums chart, becoming Mann's second leader on the latter, where it led for 20 weeks. The album was supported by two successful singles, "God Provides" and "Change Me", which peaked at #1 and #2 respectively on the Billboard Hot Gospel Songs chart.
Garcia Live Volume 12 is a three-CD live album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It contains the complete concert recorded on January 23, 1973 at the Boarding House in San Francisco. It was released on December 20, 2019.
Garcia Live Volume 15 is a two-CD live album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It was recorded on May 21, 1971 at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco. It contains the complete concert from that date except for the encore, which was "Deal". It was released on December 4, 2020.
References
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll by Rolling Stone Editors Holly George-Warren, Patricia Romanowski, Patricia Romanowski Bashe, and Jon Pareles (2001) p. 429
Screen World 1998 by John Willis, Barry Monush (1999) p. 155
Crosby, Stills & Nash: The Biography by Dave Zimmer, Henry Diltz, David Crosby (2008) p. 246
Release Print: The Newsletter of the Film Arts Foundation (San Francisco, Calif.) (1993) p.21
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