Tone (also known as David Sancious and Tone) was a

jazz-fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and ke ...

band founded in 1974 by former

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band, and has been musician Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. For the bulk of Springsteen's recording and performing caree ...

keyboardist

David Sancious David Sancious (born November 30, 1953) is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on ''Human Touch'' (1992), '' Trac ...

and drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter. They made half a dozen albums between 1974 and 1980, some of which were billed as Sancious solo projects.

History

In August 1974 Sancious and Carter left the E Street Band and formed their own band Tone with bassist Gerald Carboy. At various times the band would feature

Gail Boggs Gail Charlene Boggs (born August 10, 1951) is an American actress. She played Louise Brown in the 1990 film '' Ghost''. Career Gail Boggs, the daughter of Willie Boggs, a tree surgeon, and Alice, a dietitian, described having always dreamed of ...

, Brenda Madison,

Patti Scialfa Vivienne Patricia Scialfa ( ; born July 29, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Scialfa has been a member of the E Street Band since 1984 and has been married to Bruce Springsteen since 1991. In 2014, Scialfa was inducted into ...

Gayle Moran Gayle Moran (born 1943) is a vocalist, keyboardist, and songwriter. She is from Spring Arbor, Michigan and graduated from Spring Arbor High School (now Spring Arbor University) in 1961. She was a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the ...

(from

Return To Forever Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhun ...

and The Mahavishnu Orchestra), former Brian Auger, and future

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vocalist

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Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

encouraged Sancious in his solo career and made sure music executives heard his demos, leading to a contract with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. Tone's 1975 debut album ''Forest of Feelings'' was produced by

Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian Americans, Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was indu ...

. Sancious' work with Tone was a radical departure from the music he played with Springsteen; Tone explored progressive rock, gospel chorus (Fade Away, Sound of Love), and instrumental jazz fusion and had more in common with

Return to Forever Return to Forever was an American jazz fusion band that was founded by pianist Chick Corea in 1972. The band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report, The Headhun ...

than Sancious' former boss. Another album, ''

Transformation (The Speed of Love) ''Transformation (The Speed of Love)'' is an album by keyboard player and guitarist David Sancious and his band Tone. It was recorded at Caribou Ranch in Colorado during October and November 1975, and was released by Epic Records in 1976. On the ...

'', followed in 1976, and a third album, ''Dance of the Age of Enlightenment'', was recorded. However a dispute between Epic and Sancious' new label,

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

, over ownership rights meant it was shelved. It would not be released until 2004 (when it briefly appeared as a Japanese bootleg CD). One more Tone album, ''True Stories'', came out in 1978 but the band subsequently broke up. Sancious released two solo albums, ''Just As I Thought'' (1979) and ''The Bridge'' (1980), and then put his solo career on hold. On Sunday, December 14, 1980, during the ten minutes' silence organized in memory of the recently murdered

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, Sancious performed an extended improvisation based upon Lennon's

Across the Universe "Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album ''No One's Gonna Change Our W ...

. Commissioned by New York radio station

WNEW-FM WNEW-FM (102.7 FM, ''NEW 102.7'') is a hot adult contemporary formatted radio station, licensed to New York, New York and owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios are located at the Audacy facility in the Hudson Square neighborhood of Manha ...

, the solo piano performance was broadcast live, with no audience present, from the empty stage of the

Capitol Theatre (Passaic) The Capitol Theatre was an entertainment venue located at the intersection of Monroe Street and Central Avenue in Passaic, New Jersey. Opened in 1921 as a vaudeville house, the Capitol later served as a movie theater, and then as a venue for rock ...

Discography

David Sancious and Tone

* ''

'' (1976) * ''Dance of the Age of Enlightenment'' (1977) * ''True Stories'' (1978)

David Sancious

* ''Forest of Feelings'' (1975) * ''Just as I Thought'' (1979) * ''The Bridge'' (1981)

References

Jazz fusion ensembles {{US-band-stub