David Sancious talks Belmar piano tribute, Basie show, Springsteen Night Shift band
Music fans come from around the world come to see E Street in Belmar, where band member David Sancious grew up.
In the future, they'll be able to leave a lingering melody in the center of the borough.
The Belmar Arts Council's Piano 4 Pyanoe Plaza initiative will install a weatherproof piano at the plaza in honor of David Sancious, former keyboardist for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, and his mom Stelma Sancious, an educator in Neptune and Belmar who helped generations of students.
“I'm very honored by that,” said Sancious of the piano project, for which funds are being raised. “I had a good sense of how much my mom was appreciated and of the people she helped. My mom helped more kids from Asbury Park and Neptune get into college than people will ever know in all kinds of ways.”
Sancious is the music legend who played keyboards on Springsteen's first two albums, “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." and “The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.”
The band rehearsed at Sancious' home at 1105 E Street.
“My recollection is we were on the bus one night trying to come up with a band name,” said Springsteen at the 2017 “A Conversation with Bruce Springsteen” at Monmouth University. “(E Street Band) seemed pretty easy — it just had a nice ring to it … E Street. E Street. Well, David lives on E Street. David was a big, important part of the band at the time, and it just came up.”
The Pyanoe Plaza piano is a digital instrument inside a weatherproof concrete shell made in Israel by Cadenza. There are only a handful of them around the world. The project's estimated cost is $75,000. Visit belmararts.org for more information.
There are a few opportunities to hear the real thing in the area this weekend. “An Evening with David Sancious” is Friday, Jan. 6, at the Vogel theater inside the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank. Living Colour drummer and multi-Grammy winner Will Calhoun will join Sancious on stage, and the two will delve into music they've previously composed and more.
“It’s a reprise of that project that we call Open Secret,” Sancious said. “That project is a combination of material that I composed and also material that Will has composed — and then we actually composed some music together.”
Sancious has also played with Eric Clapton, Sting and Peter Gabriel. He left the E Street Band to form Tone, and has released solo albums.
The show is presented by Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University. The archives is also presenting “The 50th Anniversary: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,” marking the 50th anniversary of the release of Springsteen's debut album, on Saturday, Jan. 7, at the university. The event will include appearances by original E Street Band members Sancious, Garry Tallent and Vini Lopez, along with former Springsteen manager Mike Appel.
The E Streeters will perform “Greetings” songs with area musicians at the close of the event, which is sold out.
More:Bruce Springsteen Archives to present 'Greetings' symposium, plus new Boss books, events
Sancious has the spirit. He recently performed with Springsteen on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” The newly constructed Night Shift band performed songs form Springsteen's latest album, “Only the Strong Survive.”
“We had a ball,” Sancious said. “We had two band rehearsals in New York City with some days in between the first and second rehearsal, and then we had two days consecutive at NBC filming four songs.”
The Night Shift featured 19 members, including the E Street Horns and E Street Choir.
“It was such a well-organized project,” Sancious said. “I have to say Bruce’s whole team of management and technical crew and the whole staff ... made it as smooth as an experience as possible .. That was a big band, but it was great.”
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The Night Shift band might not be a one and done affair. While not speaking for Springsteen, Sancious said he thinks the Boss "would like to ... do some more live performances with that ensemble” down the road.
Go: An Evening with David Sancious with Will Calhoun, 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, Vogel, Count Basie Center for the Arts, 99 Monmouth St., Red Bank, $20 to $79; thebasie.org.
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: David Sancious talks Belmar piano tribute, Springsteen
