Bobby Sanabria
"Bobby Sanabria is equally adept at the swinging big band sounds of drummers Buddy
Rich and Louis Bellson along with another boyhood hero, fusion pioneer Billy Cobham and timbale titan Tito Puente."
- Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times
BOBBY SANABRIA - drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer,
filmmaker, conductor, educator, activist, multi-cultural warrior and multiple Grammy nominee –
has performed with a veritable Who's Who in the world of jazz and Latin music, as well as with
his own critically acclaimed ensembles. His diverse recording and performing experience includes work with such legendary figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera,
Charles McPherson, Mongo Santamaría, Ray Barretto, Marco Rizo, Arturo Sandoval, Roswell
Rudd, Chico O'Farrill, Candido, Yomo Toro, Francisco Aguabella, Larry Harlow, Henry Threadgill, and the Godfather of Afro-Cuban Jazz, Mario Bauzá.
Bobby, the son of Puerto Rican parents, was born and raised in the "Fort Apache" section of New
York City's South Bronx. Inspired and encouraged by maestro Tito Puente, another fellow New
York-born Puerto Rican, Bobby "got serious" and attended Boston's Berklee College of Music
from 1975 to 1979, obtaining a Bachelor of Music degree and receiving their prestigious Faculty
Association Award for his work as an instrumentalist. Since his graduation, Bobby has become a
leader in the Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and jazz fields as both a drummer and percussionist, and is
recognized as one of the most articulate musician-scholars of la tradición living today.
He has been featured on numerous Grammy-nominated albums, including The Mambo Kings and
other movie soundtracks, as well as numerous television and radio work. Mr. Sanabria was the
drummer with the legendary “Father of the Afro-Cuban Jazz movement,” Mario Bauzá’s AfroCuban Jazz Orchestra. With them he recorded three CD’s (two of which were Grammynominated) which are considered to be definitive works of the Afro-Cuban big-band jazz tradition. Mr. Sanabria was also featured with the orchestra in two PBS documentaries about Bauzá
and also appeared on the Bill Cosby show performing with the orchestra. He also appeared and
performed prominently in a PBS documentary on the life of Mongo Santamaria and on camera in
the CBS television movie, Rivkin: Bounty Hunter.
In 1993 Bobby and his nonet Ascensión released ¡NYC Aché, on the Flying Fish label (now available on Concord Records). It received worldwide acclaim and garnered four and half stars in
Down Beat magazine, as well as receiving a nomination for Best Record of the Year by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD). In June 2000 Bobby released
Afro-Cuban Dream... Live & In Clave!!! on the Arabesque label. Recorded live at Birdland in
New York City, it features Bobby powering a big band of twenty all-stars. Critically acclaimed
worldwide, it has been hailed by both the jazz and Latin music cognoscenti as a masterpiece, and
was nominated for a mainstream Grammy as the Best Latin Jazz Album of 2001. Afro-Cuban
Dream...Live & In Clave!!! was also nominated for the Jazz Journalists Association 2001 Award
for the Best Afro-Cuban Jazz Album of the Year.
His next recording, ¡Quarteto Aché!, released in 2002, on the ZOHO label, documented Bobby's
virtuosity in a small group setting and was hailed a "classic" by Modern Drummer magazine and
critically acclaimed by the New York Times. It was also nominated for Best Latin Jazz recording
of 2003 by the Jazz Journalists Association. He also received a second Grammy nomination in
2003 for, 50 Years of Mambo - A Tribute to Damaso Perez Prado.
Bobby and his Quarteto Aché toured Armenia in June of 2007 being personally
invited by the President of Armenia and the U.S. Embassy to represent the United States in a series of concerts. Headlining in the final event, The Cascade Jazz festival in Yerevan, Armenia’s
capitol, the group received a thunderous ovation from the estimated 8,000 person audience which
was broadcast throughout the country. His group has the unique distinction and honor of being the
first ensemble ever to perform Latino oriented jazz in this country and spread clave consciousness
in a unique master class that he held at the Yerevan Conservatory.
Bobby’s second big band CD, Big Band Urban Folktales, on the Jazzheads label, was nominated
for a mainstream Grammy in 2008 for best Latin Jazz recording, his third nomination. It has
proved to be his most lauded work and garnered critical acclaim for its futuristic approach to the
Latin jazz big band canon. Big Band Urban Folktales also won the 2008 Jazz Journalists Award
for Best Latin Jazz Recording of 2008.
“… (Mr. Sanabria) expands the possibilities, moving the sound of bands like that of (Puente,
Machito), with all the heft and intricacy and clave-based dance rhythm, into the harmonically
oriented sophistication of current New York jazz players. It’s New York up and down, and back
and forth across the last century, from the street to the mambo palaces to the conservatories.”
- Ben Ratliff, The NY Times
Also available is the DVD of Bobby and his nonet Ascensión’s scorching appearance at the 2006
Modern Drummer Festival currently released by Hudson Music and the CD, El Espiritú Jibaro, a
collaboration between legendary trombonist Roswell Rudd, Puerto Rican cuatro virtuoso Yomo
Toro and Bobby, with his nonet Ascensión, is available on the Sunnyside label. Just released is
the DVD “FROM MAMBO TO HIP HOP” – A SOUTH BRONX TALE, produced by City Lore,
on which Bobby was an Assistant Producer, on air personality and which was broadcast on PBS
in 2006 winning the 2007 ALMA Award for Best Television Documentary. Mr. Sanabria coproduced and was in the nationally broadcast documentary, THE PALLADIUM - Where Mambo
Was King,” for the BRAVO network which received the award for Best Documentary for a Cable
TV in 2003. Mr. Sanabria was a consultant in the Smithsonian’s historic four year traveling exhibit, Latin Jazz: La Combinación Perfecta and also featured in two of the exhibits short films.
Bobby has been the recipient of many awards, including an NEA grant as a jazz performer, various Meet the Composer awards, two INTAR Off-Broadway Composer awards, and on several
occasions the Mid-Atlantic Foundation Arts Connect Grant. In 2003 he was
presented with the "Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award" by Ivan Acosta of Latin Jazz
USA, in recognition of Bobby's extraordinary creative contributions to Latin jazz. Bobby was
voted “Percussionist of the Year" for 2005 by the readers of DRUM! Magazine, a worldwide publication devoted to drums and percussion. His three part video instructional series, “Getting Started on Congas,” originally released by DCI way back in 1995, now available through Alfred Music, set an industry standard by which all other instructional percussion videos must be judged by.
In 2006 Mr. Sanabria was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame having a permanent street
named after him on the Bronx’s famed Grand Concourse in recognition for his contributions to
music and the arts. Mr. Sanabria has been awarded the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award by
KOSA for his outstanding accomplishments in jazz and Latin music both as a performer and educator and the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Mentor Award presented to him by the Manhattan
Country School for his work in the world of jazz. In 2011 the Jazz Journalist Association named
him Percussionist of the Year.
Bobby has been featured as a guest conductor/soloist with the National All Star Jazz Orchestra of
Calgary, Canada, The Nova Scotia All Star Jazz Big Band, The Duke University Jazz Orchestra,
The Harvard University Jazz Big Band, the World Premiere of Marco Rizo’s Suite De Las Americas at the Mann Center in Philadelphia, the Amsterdam Conservatoire Jazz Orchestra at the North
Sea Jazz Festival, the Moravian College Big Band and the Dallas Latin Jazz Youth Orchestra.
2013 will mark the eight year in a row that he is the artist in residence at the Roberto Ocasio Memorial Latin Jazz Camp in Cleveland, Ohio. The camp provides musical instruction in the intricacies of Latin jazz performance for children 8 through 18 and is the only camp of its kind in the
world.
Mr. Sanabria has written numerous articles in nationally read publications including NY Latino,
Highlights In Percussion, Modern Drummer, the Descarga Newsletter, Allegro, TRAPS and
Downbeat and has written liner notes for over 30 CD’s. He has been featured as a subject in
DRUM!, The Beat, RHYTHM - World Music & Culture, Drums On the Web, Modern Drummer,
Descarga, The NY Post, The NY Daily News, The NY Times, Jazz Times, Jazziz, Jazz Improv,
All About Jazz.com, and a major six page feature piece on him in the July, 2007 issue of Downbeat magazine.
Bobby was the chair of the International Association of Jazz Education's (IAJE) Afro-Cuban Jazz
Resource Team, a position he held for six years. He is as an Associate Professor at the New
School University's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program and a Professor at Manhattan School
of Music since 1999 where he conducts Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestras at both schools preserving
and passing on the tradition as well as premiering new works moving it forward. He is a member
of NARAS, LARAS, AF of M, BMI, SAG and the Universal Jazz Coalition and is on the board
of The Duke Ellington Foundation and the advisory board of WHEDCO (Women’s Health and
Economic Development Corporation), a leading builder in the revitalization of the South Bronx.
He proudly endorses TAMA drums, Sabian cymbals, Latin Percussion Inc., Remo drum heads,
Vic Firth sticks and mallets and Factory Metal percussion. Bobby’s commentary on classic Latin
and jazz albums can be occasionally heard on NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. He appears in the groundbreaking 4 hour documentary on Latin music aired nationally on PBS in the
U.S.A. entitled, LATIN MUSIC U.S.A. in October, 2009 which is available on DVD and is featured in the interactive website. Mr. Sanabria was a presenter at the prestigious 2009 Aspen Ideas
Festival speaking about this ground breaking series.
His recording, KENYA REVISITED LIVE!!!, a masterful tribute and re-working of the Machito
Afro-Cubans legendary KENYA album features him conducting the Manhattan School of Music
Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. Nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz recording of
2009, it gave him his fourth nomination. Mr. Sanabria’s big band has performed at numerous festivals including the Chicago Jazz Festival, The Verona Jazz Festival in Italy, the Charlie Parker
Jazz Festival in NYC, to name just a few. In August of 2010 they played for over 17,000 people
for Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors Festival shattering the attendance record for any concert ever
performed there. Not only was their own forward thinking repertoire featured, but with the addition of a string section, extra percussion, and six background vocalists, they performed the NYC
premiere of Larry Harlow’s monumental SALSA SUITE which featured vocalists Ruben Blades
and Adonis Puente. Not to be outdone, Mr. Sanabria and his Quarteto Aché recently accompanied
World renowned poets Martin Espada (N.Y.C./P.R.) and Cuba’s legendary Nancy Morejón at the
Geraldine H. Dodge Poetry Festival. Filmed at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, excerpts
of the performance have appeared on PBS.
In 2011 his big band headlined at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater in a concert produced by
Bobby celebrating the 100th birthday of his mentor Mario Bauzá, the founding Father of the Afro-Cuban Jazz tradition. His 2011 CD, TITO PUENTE: MASTERWORKS LIVE!!! Bobby Sanabria conducting the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, was nominated for
Latin Grammy establishing this student ensemble as a shining example of the heights that can be
achieved through jazz education giving him his fifth nomination. As with KENYA REVISITED
LIVE!!!, partial proceeds of the sale of each CD go to the scholarship fund of the Manhattan
School of Music.
As an activist he has long been a champion for the recognition of Latin jazz as a legitimate art
form and its proper place of recognition in the history of the jazz continuum. In 2006 he spearheaded the campaign to restore the Latin Jazz Cruise, a weekly 2 hour radio program on Jazz 88
WBGO FM, Newark, NJ after it was suddenly taken off the air without an explanation. Organizing politicians like New York Congressman José Serrano and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez
as well as fellow musicians and fans of the music, the show was successfully brought back on the
air. The result has been that the station has also made Latin jazz an integral part of all of its regular day to day programming, thus expanding the audience for the genre as well as jazz in general.
In April, 2011 when NARAS, the governing body of the Grammys summarily cut 31 categories,
including Latin jazz, from the awards process with no rhyme of reason or any input from the
21,000 membership, Mr. Sanabria spearheaded a campaign uniting well known musicians from
both the west and east coasts. It also included the general public and internationally known personalities like Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitte, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Jessie Jackson, Dr.
Cornell West as well as national Latino organizations like Presente, National Institute of Latino
Policy, National Hispanic Media Coalition, National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, several
unions and others against this injustice. A subsequent law suit filed by Mr. Sanabria and fellow
plaintiffs Eugene Marlow, Ben Lapidus and Mark Levine in New York State Supreme Court finally pressured NARAS into reinstating the category this year. For his role as an activist and his efforts in restoring the category to the Grammys Bobby has received the BORIMIX Award from the
Society of the Educational Arts and the prestigious Puerto Rican Heritage Award from Comite
Noviembre, the leading Puerto Rican organization in the country.
On April 30, 2012, Bobby appeared with his Quarteto Ache’ with special guests Candido and
Sheila E. as part of the first Annual UNESCO International Day of Jazz. The inaugural event –
organized by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in partnership with the
Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which Herbie Hancock chairs – included star-studded concerts in Paris, New Orleans and New York as well as jazz-related events in several dozen countries from Algeria to Uruguay. The New York City concert, for which Bobby was selected to represent the Latin branch of jazz, was broadcast worldwide from the U.N. and featured such luminaries as Tony Bennett, George Duke, Jimmy Heath, Dee Dee Bridgwater, Esperanza Spaulding,
Christian Mcbride and many more as well as being hosted by Quincy Jones, Robert Deniro and
Morgan Freeman. Bobby’s dynamic appearance received the only standing ovation of the evening.
His current new big band CD released in August of 2012 on the Jazzheads label is entitled MULTIVERSE. Inspired by the writings of Mexican author Octavio Paz and the current scientific theories of multiple universes, it blurs the boundaries between jazz, Latin, funk, rock, r & b, gospel,
the avant garde and even rap. Featured are spoken word artist La Bruja in an amazing first ever
fusion of spoken word/rap big band Latin jazz tribute to the Father of Afro-Cuban jazz Mario
Bauzá and award winning vocalist Chareneè Wade in an incredible new treatment of Over The
Rainbow. MULTIVERSE has been praised by critics for its incredible multi-dimensional vision
bringing the big band into and beyond the 21st century. It has been recently nominated in two
categories for the Grammys: Best Latin Jazz Recording and Best Instrumental Arrangement – Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite for Ellington, giving Bobby a total of seven nominations for the coveted
award.
“MULTIVERSE is a thrilling trip through the Latin jazz cosmos, directed by one of the finest
percussive pilots on the planet.” – Dan Bilawsky, ALL ABOUT JAZZ
****1/2 - John Murph, DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE