David Sanborn is an American saxophonist, most commonly associated with smooth jazz. He was born on July 30, 1945 in Tampa, Florida.

Sanborn, who suffered from polio in his youth, has been a highly regarded session player since the mid 1970s, and one of his earliest guest recordings was on David Bowie's "Young Americans". In the late 1980s he was regular guest member of Paul Shaffer's band on Late Night with David Letterman. Around the same time, he co-hosted a late-night music show on NBC with Jools Holland.

Throughout his career, Sanborn has skirted the edges of free jazz: In his youth he studied with Roscoe Mitchell and Julius Hemphill, and performed on Tim Berne's Diminutive Mysteries, dedicated to Hemphill. His 1991 album Another Hand, produced by Hal Willner, features Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, and various other players not usually associated with smooth jazz.

In television, Sanborn is well-known for his sax solo in the theme song for the NBC hit drama L.A. Law.