Sanov, Sheldon

Teacher and violinist who has had success as a classical musician and a session man for over four decades.

He was one of the featured performers at the Midwinter Conference on Early Moravian Music at Northwestern University in 1959. In 1972, he appeared with the American Chamber Players and the Los Angeles Baroque Players as part of the South Bay Chamber Music Society’s concerts. Six years later, he showed up at the same event with the Los Angeles Baroque Ensemble and the Sanov-Speltz-Swiatkowski Trio. By then, he had already made in-roads as a studio musician.

He had three Carole King albums under his belt and had recorded with Stanley Clarke, Jaye P. Morgan, Noel Pointer, and Jimmie Spheeris. He had also contributed to the soundtrack of The Enforcer. In 1978, he would perform similar duties on Nunzio.

He would also appear on Frank Zappa’s Studio Tan album, Sergio Mendes’s Brazil 88, Lalo Schifrin’s Fire and Ice, Bautista’s The Heat of the Wind, and Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams That’s What Friends Are For. A year later, he recorded with Walter Murphy on his Discosymphony and on Frank Sinatra’s Trilogy.

It was really just the beginning for Sanov, who quickly realized that studio work paid a lot better than teaching. In the 1980s, he appeared on a string of Earth, Wind & Fire records, including 1983’s Powerlight. He also continued his collaboration with Stanley Clarke, on 1980’s Rock, Pebbles and Sand, and The Clarke/Duke Project, Vol. 1, released in 1981. Other ’80s albums you can find him on are Prince and the Revolution’s Parade, Diane Schuur’s Timeless, and Teena Marie’s Naked to the World.

The ’90s would pair up Sheldon Sanov with an even more eclectic mix of artists, including Roberto Carlos, Harry Connick, Jr., Will Downing, George Duke, Five For Fighting, Joao Gilberto, Endre Granat, Jennifer Love Hewitt, James Ingram, Alan Jackson, Barry Manilow, Luis Miguel, John Patitucci, Leonard Pennario, Chynna Phillips, Nathaniel Rosen, Lea Salonga, Nino Tempo, Nancy Wilson, and Yellow Jackets. In 2002, he appeared on The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire and John Tesh’s A Romantic Christmas.

Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
S CBS 6164B (UK 45)

He performs here…

https://youtu.be/mXfbp3Jzg68

Sources:

Sanov, Sheldon

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