Jazz Articles about Bobby Sanabria

Bobby Sanabria: Big Band Urban Folktales

by Jerry D'Souza
August 3, 2007

Bobby Sanabria's concept of jazz is freedom. There is no arguing that point of view given the evidence he presents on this recording.

Sanabria finds this freedom in many avenues. It comes from his students and it filters through the musicians with whom he has forged relationships over the years. It springs from the bands he has led, culminating in his present big band. It resides in his music that assimilates several forms, brings them together, and opens the door ...

Bobby Sanabria: Big Band Urban Folktales

by Chip Boaz
July 15, 2007

At some point in their artistic development, every Latin Jazz musician studies the genre's forefathers, including Dizzy Gillespie, Machito (Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo) and Tito Puente. After the study ends, the musician must decide to approach tradition as a museum curator or an active experimenter. The museum curator creates replications of “classic material, closely imitating the original works. This requires extensive technical skill, but it limits creativity to the given model. The active experimenter fuses past musical concepts with new ...

Bobby Sanabria: Nuyorican Jazz

by Jason Crane
June 27, 2007

On the new episode of The Jazz Session, Jason Crane interviews percussionist, bandleader, composer and educator Bobby Sanabria. Sanabria is a living link to the great Afro-Cuban jazz tradition. He's played with just about everyone, including Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Charles McPherson, Mongo Santamaria, Chico O'Farrill and Mario Bauza. He's also a Grammy-nominated solo artist and a powerful force in bringing the Afro-Cuban tradition into the 21st century. This interview features a sneak peek at his new album, ...

Bobby Sanabria & : Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Ache

by John Kelman
June 19, 2004

One of the most obvious things about watching Dizzy Gillespie, in particular when pursuing his Afro-Cuban muse, was how much fun he was having. All too often musicians become so entrenched in the seriousness of their work that they forget music is also meant to be passionate and pleasurable, as much fun to hear as it is to play. Drummer Bobby Sanabria hasn’t forgotten this important aspect of the art, and with his current group, ¡Quarteto Ache!, he follows in ...

Bobby Sanabria: Quarteto, Ach

by C. Michael Bailey
October 14, 2002

Red Hot...

I always heard a Jelly Roll Morton “Spanish Tinge" in Gillespie—Parker’s “Shaw ‘Nuff" and sure enough, Bobby Sanabria coaxed a tinge into a full-blown blossom. That is just the first of two Be Bop anthems on this superb Latin-jazz outing. “Shaw Nuff" is blistering under the fire of Jay Collins’ tenor saxophone and Sanabria’s drumming. An auspicious opening that can only be honored with and equally auspicious closing, Sanabria breathes Latin fire into “Be Bop." Perfect tension is ...

Jorge Sylvester Afro-Caribbean Experimental Trio: In the Ear of the Beholder

by AAJ Staff
March 1, 2001

Jazz artists often approach Afro-Caribbean music from a reductionist rhythmic standpoint, neglecting the richness of the tradition. But Jorge Sylvester takes care to present the whole picture on In the Ear of the Beholder. Taking various Afro-Caribbean styles and paring them down to a raw trio format (sax/bass/drums), he compels each player to bring something unique to the mix.

Much of the improvisation on In the Ear explores individual traditional styles in step-by-step fashion. “Tambor--The Mix," for example, works its ...