Bobby Sanabria is a New York Puerto Rican jazz drummer, producer, and educator who is an 8-time Grammy-nominee. In addition to his Multiverse Big Band and Quarteto Aché projects, Bobby hosts the Latin Jazz Cruise Fridays on WBGO jazz radio, and is one of the producers behind the Bronx Heritage Music Center which opens the Bronx Music Hall in 2024.
Bobby Sanabria in New York City
Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band; featuring Antoinette Montague, Jennifer Jade Ledesna, and Janis Siegal (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
- Bronx Music Hall
- Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center
- Jazzmobile
- Kingsborough Community College
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 Antoinette Montague, Jennifer Jade Ledesna, and Janis Siegal (Manhattan Transfer); 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!”