Drummer-bandleader Brandon Sanders Carries Basketball Roles Into The Studio On His Feel-Good Fourth Album, The Game Changer

Out October 30, 2026 via Savant Records, The Game Changer features Warren Wolf, Jeremy Pelt, William Hill III, Stacy Dillard, Eric Wheeler and guest vocalist Briana Swann

“Instead of playing jazz in his youth, Sanders played basketball, and one can picture him dribbling the ball with the same springy energy….” —Chris Pearson, The Times of London

Album release concerts

• November 20 at Jazz Fellowship, Seattle
• November 27, 2026 at World Stage, Los Angeles
• January 16, 2027 at Sista’s Place, Brooklyn, NY

Long before he took to the kit, Brandon Sanders was controlling the court. A former college basketball player at the University of Kansas, he first came to the drums at the age of 25 and waited to record his debut album—2023’s critically-acclaimed Compton’s Finest—until he was in his 50s. Delivering nothing but net since that marked arrival, Sanders subsequently wowed listeners with 2024’s The Tables Will Turn and 2025’s Lasting Impression. Now, he stands poised to grab even more ears with The Game Changer.

In terms of the album title, there’s little mystery, only personal history at play. A self-defined musical point guard with an undeniable talent for overseeing tempo and pace, moving the ball and facilitating opportunities, Sanders is a true catalyst for development. “If you look at it from a basketball perspective, who's that guy that you put in the game that makes the difference,” he knowingly asks. “They change the dynamic musically, get people snapping their fingers, tapping their feet and feeling positive energy. Just put me in play and I'm going to do something to take the music to another level. That’s the game changer.”

Embodying that give-and-go aesthetic, Sanders powers and promotes an incredible lineup of heavyweights, familiars, and new faces. Vibraphonist Warren Wolf, ubiquitous in the drummer’s discography, keeps the magic flowing. Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, making his first appearance on a Sanders date, brings brass allure to the fore. Bassist Eric Wheeler—a partner in time in numerous scenarios—works hand in glove with the leader. And saxophonist Stacy Dillard, who looms large in the drummer’s studio life and basketball circles, gifts his signature energy. Rounding out the roster is pianist William Hill III, a young twenty-something taking the jazz world by storm; and vocalist Briana Swann, who graces two tracks with her sweetly soulful croon.

Presenting a program split evenly between highly approachable originals and well-chosen covers, this sticksmith aims to please and hits his mark in every instance. Opening on the shuffling title track, Sanders offers a winning display of hard bop bona fides while underscoring his ability to control and elevate a narrative: “If you listen to the instrumentation and the harmony, it'll remind you of The Jazz Messengers. Art Blakey is one of my favorite drummers and I tried to write the melody in tribute to him. You think about tunes like ‘Moanin’,’and that’s what we’re talking about.” Another Blakey-influenced burner—“Shrimp and Grits,” referencing a menu mainstay at Harlem’s Row House—proves zesty and complementary.

“Sunsets in Santa Monica,” a pseudo-samba ode to a picturesque California pier, offers the rare Sanders solo as an entryway. And two finely-crafted portraits demonstrate absolute respect for family: The stylishly strolling “James Arthur”—a cobalt-hued swinger centered on Wolf, with additional spotlights for Hill and Wheeler—salutes Sanders’ stepfather; and “Pamela the Queen,” a ballad shaped with diaphanous design(s) and true intention, lovingly honors his mother. The first Sanders album to dedicate significant space to his compelling originals, The Game Changer lives up to its name in more ways than one.

As for the covers, there’s both enthusiasm and elegance to spare. Backing a Dillard-fronted quartet, Sanders keeps the fire stoked on Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?” and offers subtle support on a brighter-than-normal trip through Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s “Isfahan.” He delivers a light and leading ride beneath the glowing embers of vibes, saxophone and muted trumpet on Pelt’s “SMB.” And elsewhere, his gentle (he)art perfectly serves singer and song(s), with a beautiful bossa nova groove underscoring Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” and a slow-jam feel forwarding Isley Brother classic “Footsteps in the Dark.”

The Game Changer, an extraordinary work considering catholic taste and singular musical embrace, truly sums up the man behind the music: “I grew up in the ‘70s when they used to stack records up on top of the pin, one falling and playing after another. There would be Lee Morgan, then James Brown, then the Isley Brothers, and on and on. So, this isn’t about what’s jazz or not jazz. It's all just music to me. It's all coming from the African-American tradition. That's just how I see it, how I grew up. I can't help it. That’s me.”

About Brandon Sanders

Born in Kansas City, where his grandmother ran the jazz club Casablanca, and reared in Los Angeles, in a home filled with jazz records, Brandon Sanders was directly exposed to the music from an early age. Concurrently, he developed a lifelong love of basketball. A walk-on at the top-seeded University of Kansas, Sanders went on to live out hoop dreams while completing his undergraduate degree in communications. At the age of 25, he first began drumming in earnest. Though he had never played prior to that point, Sanders’ dedication and sincerity made up for lost time. He matriculated at Berklee College of Music, where he upped his game further and made lifelong friendships with vibraphonist Warren Wolf and drummer Kendrick Scott.

Moving to New York in 2004, Sanders quickly made his presence felt. Over the course of the past two decades, he’s become a first-call drummer performing with the likes of Mike LeDonne, Peter Bernstein, Joe Lovano, Jeremy Pelt, Esperanza Spalding, Walter Smith III, Billy Pierce and numerous other top-tier musicians. In 2023, Sanders released his debut album—Compton’s Finest, featuring Warren Wolf, Chris Lewis, Keith Brown, Eric Wheeler and Jazzmeia Horn. One year later he delivered The Tables Will Turn, again with Wolf, Lewis and Brown, plus David Wong and Christie Dashiell.

Sanders’ most recent effort prior to The Game Changer—2025’s Lasting Impression, with return appearances from Wolf, Wheeler and Horn, and the addition of Stacy Dillard and Eric Scott Reed—was both a critical and commercial hit. Earning four-star rave reviews from Jazzwise, All Music, and The Times of London, it ultimately landed on “Best Albums of 2025” lists from some of jazz’s most respected journalists (Bill Milkowski, Phil Freeman). In DownBeat, Herb Boyd referred to the record as “…a slam dunk for the former hoopster.” And WBGO’s Gary Walker noted that Sanders lives up to the title’s suggestion offering “a Lasting Impression that he’s here to stay!”