What is Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band named after?
David Sancious, a prolific studio musician who is mostly associated with jazz but has also done a lot of rock, pop and classical recordings, was in Springsteen’s band in 1973 and 1974, as well as in the studio with Springsteen in 1972. He played keyboards on Bruce’s first two albums, highlighted by his awesome organ solo on “Kitty’s Back” and virtuoso piano playing on “New York City Serenade”. He also played piano on the title track of “Born to Run” which was recorded well in advance of the rest of that album. He left the band in late 1974 to form his own jazz band called Tone, and was replaced by Roy Bittan. The story goes that Sancious’ mother lived on E Street in Belmar, NJ, and that the band often practiced there during his association with the band, and thus the name was born. Ironically, they were not billed as the E Street band until late 1974 when Sancious had already left the band.
