Bobby Sanabria — drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, 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 Santamaria, Chico O’Farrill, Heanry Threadgill, and Mario Bauzá.
The son of Puerto Rican parents, Mr. Sanabria 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 Berklee’s 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 soundtracks, and numerous television and radio jingles.
His most critically praised work has been with the famed Mario Bauzá and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. With them, he has 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 Bauzá Orchestra in two PBS documentaries about Bauzá he has also appeared on the Bill Cosby show.
Bobby Sanabria appeared prominently in a PBS documentary on the life of Mongo Santamaria and on camera in the CBS television movie Rivkin: Bounty Hunter. He 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 1993, Mr. Sanabria and Ascensión released their CD NYC Ach&eeacute;! on Flying Fish Records. the album contains many tunes he has composed and/or arranged, tracing the rhythms from their African roots to the sounds of New York City. It received worldwide acclaim and garnered four-and-a-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. In June, 2000, Bobby released Afro-Cuban Dream ... Live and in Clav&eeacute;!!on the Arabesque label. Recorded live at Birdland in New York City, it features Bobby powering a big-band of twenty all-stars.
the critically acclaimed album has been hailed by both the jazz and Latin music cognoscenti as a masterpiece, and nominated for a Grammy as the Best Latin Jazz Album of 2001. It was also nominated for the Jazz Journalists Association 2001 Award for the Best Afro-Cuban Jazz Album of the Year. His newest recording Quarteto Aché, released in October 2002 on the Khaeon World Music label, documents Bobby’s virtuosity and was hailed a “classic” by Modern Drummer magazine.
In addition to being Chair of IAJE’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Resource Team, Mr. Sanabria is rounding out his tenth year as an Associate Professor at the New School University and, since 1999, Professor at Manhattan School of Music.