Tony Saunders (born 1955) is an American bass and synthesizer player. Saunders plays jazz, gospel, R&B, pop, and world music and is also a composer, arranger, music producer, and the head of his studio.
Early life and education
Saunders was born in 1955 in San Francisco to a musical family.[1] His father, Merl Saunders, a keyboardist, taught him music from an early age. Tony began singing at age five and started playing the piano at eight. Herbie Hancock and Sly Stone were among Saunders’ early teachers. Stone gave Saunders an organ when he was 10; when he was 14, he began playing the bass. While growing up, Saunders was exposed to musicians such as 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 and later was awarded a fellowship for piano at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.[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 San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Saunders earned the first of his two Emmys at the age of 14 for collaborating with his dad, Merl, on the PBS documentary Soul Is, and by 17, he was playing with Merl and Jerry Garcia on their collaborative projects. The second Emmy was for an Episode of Digital Journey titled "China The Digital Economy."
Career
At 17, he began playing with his father and Jerry Garcia, becoming 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. 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 Marcus Miller. This has led to a flexible and diverse style. Anthony Davis and Lee Miles encouraged Saunders to play bass full-time.
Saunders has scored movies, corporate videos, TV shows, commercials, and has produced numerous CDs, primarily at his Studio 1281. He composed the music to the stage play Zetta that was 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 New York. 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 performs saxophone on the CD. 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 is titled Uptown Jazz. It featured Gabrial Mark Hasselbach, Rock Hendricks, Sakai, Paul Hardcastle Jr., and Gerald Albright. Saunders' single "Rock Steady" is a cover of The Whispers' 1980s hit and 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. Nils and Saunders played the lead lines to the song which were written by Babyface.[3]
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).
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 won the New York Film Festival's Grand and Silver Award for educational compositions.[2]
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
