BOBBY SANABRIA - radio vinilemania web-radio Latin - Jazz

BOBBY SANABRIA (DRUMMER, PERCUSSIONIST)

Bobby Sanabria - drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer and educator -has performed with a veritable Who's Who in the world of jazz and Latin music, as well as with his own critically acclaimed ensemble, Ascensión. 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, Chico O'Farrill, Candido, Francisco Aguabella, 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. He received their prestigious Faculty Association Award for his work as an instrumentalist. Since his graduation, Bobby has become a leader in the Afro-Cuban and jazz fields as both drummer and percussionist, and is recognized as one of the most articulate scholars of la tradición. 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. His most critically praised work has been with the famed Mario Bauzá and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. With them he recorded three Grammy-nominated CDs, considered to be the definitive works of the Afro-Cuban big-band jazz tradition. Mr. Sanabria was also featured with the Mario Bauza orchestra in two PBS documentaries about Bauza and also appeared on the Bill Cosby show with the Bauza orchestra. He appeared prominently in a PBS documentary on the life of Mongo Santamaria and on camera in the CBS television movie Rivkin: Bounty Hunter.

In 1993 Mr. Sanabria and Ascensión released NYC Aché! on Flying Fish Records (now available on Rounder 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 latest recording, ¡Quarteto Aché!, on the ZOHO label, documents 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.

Mr. Sanabria has been the recipient of many awards, including an NEA grant as a jazz performer, various Meet the Composer awards, and the INTAR Off-Broadway Composer award. Most recently he has received the Mid-Atlantic Foundation Arts Connect Grant for three successive years. In 2003 he was presented with an "Outstanding Achievement Award" by Ivan Acosta, head of Latin Jazz USA, in recognition of Bobby's extraordinary creative contribution to Latin jazz. He also received a second Grammy nomination in 2003 for, 50 Years of Mambo - A Tribute to Damaso Perez Prado. Mr. Sanabria co-produced the nationally broadcast documentary, THE PALLADIUM - Where Mambo Was King, for the BRAVO network which received the Best Documentary award for cable networks in 2003.

Mr. Sanabria was recently voted "Percussionist of the Year" for 2005 by the readers of DRUM! Magazine, a worldwide publication devoted to drums and percussion. He is currently working on another documentary in conjunction with City Lore in NYC entitled, From MAMBO TO HIP HOP - Music and Survival in the South Bronx, scheduled to be broadcast on PBS in 2006.

In addition to being Chair of the International Association of Jazz Education's (IAJE) Afro-Cuban Jazz Resource Team, Mr. Sanabria is rounding out his 13th year as an Associate Professor at the New School University's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program and has also been Professor at Manhattan School of Music since 1999. He is a member of NARAS, LARAS, AF of M, BMI, SAG and the Universal Jazz Coalition. Mr. Sanabria proudly endorses TAMA drums, Sabian cymbals, Latin Percussion Inc., Remo drum heads, Factory Metal Percussion, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets.

VIDEOS

BOBBY SANABRIA - MAMBO CONGA NAMM SHOW 2006

more videos

BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND URBAN FOLKTALES (2007)

Bobby Sanabria - Arranger, Drums, Marimba, Vocals (bckgr), Choir, Chorus, Handclapping, Producer, Vibraphone, Executive Producer, Vocal Arrangement, Mixing, Concept, Soloist, Screams, Caja, Percussion Arrangement, Shouts
Peter Brainin - Kazoo, Sax (Soprano), Soloist
Kevin Bryan - Trumpet, Kazoo, Lead
Justin Davis - Trumpet, Kazoo, Soloist
Joe Fiedler - Trombone, Arranger, Kazoo, Soloist, Trombone Arrangement, Lead
Alex Hernandez - Kazoo, Vocals, Bass (Acoustic), Soloist
Gene Jefferson - Choir, Chorus
Ricardo S. Pons - Flute, Kazoo, Sax (Baritone), Vocals (bckgr), Choir, Chorus, Handclapping, Soloist, Prayers
Christian A. Rivera - Conga, Kazoo, Vocals
Ray Santos - Arranger
Tim Sessions - Trombone, Kazoo, Soloist
Charenée Wade - Vocals, Scat, Soloist
Chris Washburne - Arranger, Kazoo, Trombone (Bass), Soloist

review by Patricia Albela: BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND URBAN FOLKTALES (2007)

review by Michael P. Gladstone: BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND URBAN FOLKTALES (2007)

review by Jerry D'Souza: BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND URBAN FOLKTALES (2007)

review by Chip Boaz: BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND URBAN FOLKTALES (2007)

review by Edward Blanco: BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND URBAN FOLKTALES (2007)

review by Peter Watrous: BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND URBAN FOLKTALES (2007)

1. 57th St. Mambo
2. Pink
3. Since I Fell For You
4. D Train
5. El Lider
6. El Ache De Sanabria En Moderacion
7. Besame Mucho
8. The Crab
9. O Som Do Sol
10. Blues For Booty Shakers
11. The Grand Wazoo
12. Obrigado Mestre

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels

BOBBY SANABRIA & QUARTETO ACHE (2004)

Bobby Sanabria Musical director, drums, vox humana
John Di Martino Piano, vox humana
Jay Collins Tenor & soprano sax, flute, bansuri, pre-Colombian flute
Boris Kozlov Acoustic bass

BOBBY SANABRIA - REVIEW1

BOBBY SANABRIA - REVIEW2

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 01-Shaw 'Nuff

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 02-Soleshia

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 03-Funky Mr. D

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 04-Blue

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 05-Child's Walk

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 06-Ebb & Flow

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 07-El Trane

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 08-Aum

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché (2004) 09-Be-Bop

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels

BOBBY SANABRIA - BIG BAND AFRO-CUBAN DREAM... LIVE & CLAVE (2000)

Bobby Sanabria - drums, akwon & morua vocals
Wilson "Chembo"Corniel - congas
Roberto Quintero- bongos, cencerro, shekere
Hiram "El Pavo" Remón - maracas, guiro macho, shekere, vocals
John di Martino - piano
Boris Kozlov - acoustic bass, elec. bass on "Manteca"
Karolina Strassmayer - lead alto & soprano sax, vocals
Gene Jefferson - 2nd alto sax, guataca, vocals
Peter Brainin - 1st tenor sax
Jay Collins - 2nd tenor and soprano sax, pre-Colombian flute
Ricardo Pons - baritone sax, shekere, vocals
Michael Philip Mossman - 1st and 2nd trumpet
Tim Ouimette - 3rd trumpet, 1st on "Manteca"
Tanya Darby - 4th trumpet
John Walsh - trumpet
Chris Washburne - 1st and 2nd trombone
Barry Olsen - 1st and 2nd trombone, guataca, vocals
Joe Fiedler - 3rd trombone, 1st on "Donna Lee"
Dan Levine - bass trombone
Special Guests:
John Stubblefield - tenor sax on "Nuyorican Son," "Olukun," "Manteca"
Cándido Camero - congas on "Manteca"

BOBBY SANABRIA -REVIEW

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 01-The Opening

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 02-Mosscode

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 03-Angel Eyes

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 04-Nuyorican Son

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 05-Olokun Yemaya

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 06-Adios Mario

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 07-The Troubadours

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 08-Donna Lee

Bobby Sanabria afro-cuban dream live and in clave (2000) 09-Manteca

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels

BOBBY SANABRIA & ASCENSION - NEW YORK CITY ACHE' (1993)

special guests Tito Puente and Paquito D'Rivera
Bobby Sanabria - Drums, Timbales, Timbalitos, Vibes, Congas, Bongo and Cencerro, Panderatas, Claves, Shekeres, Guataca, Achere, Bkgd. Vocals
Eddie Rodriguez - Congas, Bkgd. Vocals, Iya Bata Drum
Eddie Bobè- Congas, Bkgd.Vocals
Tatyana Calzado - Bkgd. Vocals
Horacio Jimenez - Bkgd. Vocals
Tito Puente - Timbales, Timbalitos
Donald Nicks - Electric and Acoustic Bass
Julio Virella - Electric Guitar
Oscar Hernandez - Acoustic Piano and Synthesizer
Gene Jefferson - 1st and 2nd Flutes, Alto Sax, Vocals
Paquito D'Rivera - Clarinet
Jay Rodriguez - Tenor and Soprano Saxophones
Barry Danielian - Trumpet
Hiram Remon - Lead Vocals, Guiro
John di Martino - Acoustic Piano
Lewis Kahn - Trombone, Violin
Maxwell Hyman - Spoken Word