The Game Changer Brandon Sanders

• 1 The Game Changer 06:13
• 2 What Is This Thing Called Love 04:19
• 3 James Arthur 05:26
• 4 Sunsets in Santa Monica 05:45
• 5 Isfahan 05:23
• 6 Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars 03:33
• 7 Shrimp and Grits 05:27
• 8 S.M.B. 05:58
• 9 Pamela the Queen 05:46
• 10 Footsteps in the Dark 04:19
• Total Runtime 52:09

Info for The Game Changer

The Game Changer, Brandon Sanders' latest Savant recording, finds the drummer doing what he does best: setting the pace, creating opportunities, and elevating everyone around him. Joining the ensemble for this outing are Stacy Dillard, with his uniquely exciting saxophone sound, and the imaginative pianist William Hill III, alongside longtime collaborators Warren Wolf and Eric Wheeler. With special guest artists vocalist Briana Swann, who brings „a little grit, a dash of soul, and a whole lot of midnight in her voice,“ and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, of whom Nat Hentoff wrote „It is the beat of Pelt's heart… that underscores the future of jazz,“ Sanders has assembled a band that brings both seasoned authority and youthful energy to a program of originals and carefully chosen favorites. Rooted in the hard-bop tradition, The Game Changer draws on a wide variety of musical genres and influences, which Sanders enhances and expands, reflecting his broad musical vision and his belief that it's all just music.

Brandon Sanders, drums
Stacy Dillard, tenor saxophone
William Hill III, piano
Warren Wolf, vibraphone
Eric Wheeler, double bass
Guest musicians:
Jeremy Pelt, trumpet
Briana Swann, vocals

Brandon Sanders
As far as drummer Brandon Sanders is concerned, everyone should have a grandmother who runs a jazz club. It was at the Casablanca, his grandmother’s boite in Kansas City, that he was first exposed to the music that changed his life. During summer visits from his home in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s through the late ’80s, young Brandon not only encountered the music of such greats as Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, and Lou Donaldson, he also learned about their lives from the stories his grandma told him.

At 52, Sanders may be long removed from those formative days, but on his splendid debut album, Compton’s Finest, the influence of his grandmother, Ernestine Parker, can be detected in his stylistic foray into bop tradition and his ease with iconic tunes like “Body and Soul” and “Monk’s Dream.” The album may be the work of a late bloomer, but its emotional depth is the mark of a seasoned veteran.

The recording, which features vibraphone great Warren Wolf and young singing star Jazzmeia Horn, also draws from Sanders’s parallel career as a social worker. “It’s about trying to lift people’s spirits,” he says. “That’s what I try to do as a social worker. It’s about making sure that people leave feeling different than when they came in.”

With his understated, whispery light touch on the drums, Sanders breathes fresh life into the standards, which also include “In a Sentimental Mood” and “Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise.” And with a strong band including tenor saxophonist Chris Lewis, pianist Keith Brown, and bassist Eric Wheeler, the drummer shifts into a pop mode on the Michael Jackson hit “I Can’t Help It,” which, with Horn at her most alluring, boasts an Earth, Wind and Fire vibe.

Compton’s Finest, named for the town in which Sanders came of age, includes two original tunes by him. The bluesy title track reveals his deep streak of humanism in striving to rescue the image of Compton from its portrayal in films and rap songs. “When people think of Compton, they think negative thoughts, right?” he says. “I wanted to show that there is a positivity in Compton, that people have come out of there and done positive things.”

His other original, “SJB,” a cheery, Horace Silver-style hard bop tune, pays homage to a friend whose perseverance through difficult times “inspired me to push through and make things happen, no matter how challenging the circumstances may have seemed.”

And then there's the band’s lovely, prancing treatment of the Kenny Barron classic, “Voyage,” one of Sanders’s favorite compositions, which speaks to his sense of flow. “I was a deejay when I was like 14 or 15 and ever since, my whole objective has been to get the listener to go from tune to tune, like, you know you can’t stop.”

“Brandon Sanders, a Harlem favorite, is a swinging drummer who always establishes a good feel for whatever group he’s playing with.” - Lewis Nash

Booklet for The Game Changer