Bobby Sanabria is a New York Puerto Rican jazz drummer, producer, and educator who is a multiple Grammy-nominee. In addition to his Multiverse Big Band and Quarteto Aché projects, Bobby hosts Latin Jazz Cruise Fridays on WBGO jazz radio, and is co-producer at the Bronx Heritage Music Center and the Bronx Music Hall. He’s a real Nuyorican S.O.B. (Son of the Bronx). 🇵🇷
Bobby Sanabria in New York City
Bobby lives in The Bronx, so he plays a lot around town.
Puerto Rican Jazz Tribute to Cuban Son
Learn about the life and music of Arsenio Rodríguez, “El Ciego Maravilloso,” the blind Cuban tres player who changed the course of Cuban son (which became Latin jazz and salsa in New York, and timba in Cuba), with a screening of the Rodríguez biography “La vida es un sueno” by Arlety Veunes Toro, followed by a performance of Rodríguez’ music by the Bronx’s own Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band featuring vocalists Jennifer Jade Ledesna, Gerardo Contino “El Abogado de la Salsa,” Oreste Abrantes, plus Benjamin Lapidus on tres. It’s at the Bronx Music Hall in beautiful Melrose, The Bronx; on Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 7pm. $25. 🇨🇺 🇵🇷
Editor Iroko KíkoKí ~ I’d pay good money to see any of these artists by themselves. Together at home in The Bronx, WEPA, WEPA, WEPA, vamos a gozar! Bring your dance shoes because your butt is going to move all by itself.
Bronx Music Hall
Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band featuring Janis Siegel (Manhattan Transfer), Antoinette Montague (Duke Ellington Orchestra), Jennifer Jade Ledesna (Sugar Hill Nutcracker) and Ricky Gordon & The Individuals of Peace play modern and second line (old school parade) jazz; at the Bronx Music Hall in Melrose, The Bronx; on Saturday, October 19, 2024; with a reception at 6pm and performances at 8pm. $350 🇺🇸 🇩🇴 🇵🇷
Hostos Center
Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band; featuring Janis Siegel (Manhattan Transfer), Antoinette Montague (Duke Ellington Orchestra), Sugar Hill Nutcracker star Jennifer Jade Ledesna, and the Danza Fiesta dancers; celebrate Puerto Rico’s greatest composers in the Main Theater at Hostos Center at Hostos Community College in Mott Haven, The Bronx; on Saturday, June 22, 2024 at 7:30pm. mpv.tickets.com or hostos.cuny.edu 🇵🇷 🇺🇸
“Throughout history, my ancestral homeland has produced some of the greatest musical talents that have ever lived. They’ve given us a body of compositions that have resonated with me throughout my life. Our concert will feature modern big band Latin jazz treatments of pieces from such legendary Puerto Rican masters like Rafael Hernández, Tito Puente, Bobby Capó, Juan Tizol, Eddie Palmieri, Willie Torres and more along with a special tribute celebrating Maestro Duke Ellington’s 125th birthday. If that weren’t enough the critically acclaimed Bronx based dance company DANZA FIESTA will be our special guests doing some spectacular choreography created by their director Gilda Rivera.” ~ Bobby Sanabria
Check out Bobby’s Hipness Alert on Facebook
Bronx Music Hall ~ Melrose, The Bronx
Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band; featuring Antoinette Montague, Jennifer Jade Ledesna, and Janis Siegel (Manhattan Transfer); celebrate Duke Ellington’s April birthday and the legacy of the Harlem Hellfighters; with jazz in the new Bronx Music Hall in Melrose, The Bronx; on Saturday, April 13, 2024, from 4-7pm. $20. facebook.com/bxmusic 🇵🇷 🇺🇸
New York Venues
Bobby is a New Yorker who has probably played everywhere. These are some venues he played lately:
- Bronx Heritage Music Center in Foxhurst, The Bronx
- Bronx Music Hall in Melrose, The Bronx
- Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center at Columbus Circle, Manhattan
- Jazzmobile
- Hostos Center at Hostos Community College in Mott Haven, The Bronx
- On Stage at Kingsborough at Kingsborough Community College in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn
Bobby Sanabria
He is a great storyteller and has that Puerto Rican wit which can be so potent. He is one of the padrinos of New York’s Latin music scene and a champion of Puerto Rico and The Bronx where he was born and raised. He is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music, the school that is now famous for producing successful jazz and Latin jazz musicians. Bobby was actually Berklee’s first Latin musician.
We still can’t get over watching Bobby play polyrhythms. He’ll lay down a groove, play something different over it, and as if that was too easy, he’ll lay down a third rhythm. Try it. It’s seems impossible. Sanabria is Mr. Multibrain.
Bobby is one of these guys who bootstrapped himself with nothing but will and talent. Artists like Sanabria work harder than investment bankers.
To become a music master, you have to study with one, or in Bobby’s case, many. He grew up with the legends of Latin music. Tito Puente is his role model. Bobby started his music career with Mongo Santamaria.
Sanabria was Mario Bauzá’s drummer for three albums .Bauzá was Machito’s music director. Bauzá and Machito created the cubop template for Latin jazz in the 1940s while Dizzy Gillespie and others were creating bebop. Bauzá was also the guy who Dizzy Gillespie asked for a Latin percussionist. That led to the legendary Dizzy Gillespie/Chano Pozo collaboration which produced jazz classics “Manteca” and “Tin Tin Deo.”
Bobby can name drop endlessly, but in Latin jazz, Bauzá was the master of masters. Everyone learned from him. Machito is more famous, but Bauzá was the guy who called Machito and Graciela to New York and through Dizzy brought Latin percussion back into mainstream jazz.
Albums
“Vox Humana;” featuring Janis Siegal (Manhattan Transfer), Antoinette Montague, and Jennifer Jade Ledesna ; was nominated for the 2024 “Best Latin Jazz Album” Grammy.
“West Side Story Reimagined” was Grammy nominated and won 2019 “Record of the Year” from the Jazz Journalists Association.
More Information
bobbysanabria.com
X (Twitter) @BobbySanabria
Facebook @BobbySanabria
Instagram @thebobbysanabria @multiversebigband @bxmusic
As Bobby would say, “Ashé!”