Bobby Sanabria (born June 2, 1957) is an American drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, documentary film producer, educator, activist, radio show host, and writer of Puerto Rican descent who specializes in jazz and Latin jazz.
Biography Sanabria was born in the South Bronx in New York City on June 2, 1957, of Puerto Rican descent. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1979 with his Bachelor of Music degree in both jazz drum set and classical percussion, minoring in arranging and composition receiving the Faculty Association Award for his excellence as a player and student. He has appeared over the years all over the world teaching about and performing Latin jazz. He has written articles for Modern Drummer, DRUM, DownBeat, Traps, and is a regular contributor to the WBGO website and written liner notes for over 50 CD releases. He has been featured in DownBeat, The New York Times, New York Daily News, Modern Drummer, Drum, Percussion, NPR,. and NPR Latino USA.
His albums Afro-Cuban Dream: Live and in Clave, Big Band Urban Folktales, Multiverse, West Side Story Reimagined, and Vox Humana have all been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. West Side Story Reimagined also won the Jazz Journalists Award for Best Jazz Album of 2019. They have been critically praised for their forward thinking vision in expanding the boundaries of the Latin jazz big band tradition. His release with his Multiverse Big Band, Vox Humana featuring vocalists Janis Siegel, Antoinette Montague, Jennifer Jade Ledesna and Oreste Abrantes recorded live at Dizzy's, NYC, was nominated for a 2024 Grammy for Best Latin Jazz recording.
(Mr. Sanabria) expands the possibilities, moving the sounds of bands like that of (Puente, Machito), with all the heft and intricacy and clave-based dance rhythm, into the harmonically oriented sophistication of current New York jazz players. It's New York up and down, and back and forth across the last century, from the streets to the mambo palaces to the conservatories. – Ben Ratliff, The New York Times (June 25, 2007)
The Wall Street Journal reviewer Will Friedwald wrote, "There's every reason to hope that Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story will improve upon the 1961 film, but I doubt if we'll ever hear a more thrilling interpretation of that immortal score than that of the Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band."
Known as a drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, documentary film producer, educator, activist, and bandleader, Bobby Sanabria's versatility as both a drummer and percussionist, from small group to big band, has become legendary. A native son of the South Bronx born to Puerto Rican parents, Bobby has performed and recorded with every major figure in the world of Latin jazz and salsa, from the founder of the Afro-Cuban/Latin jazz movement Mario Bauzá, to Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaría, Dizzy Gillespie, Chico O'Farrill, Ray Barretto, Candido, to Larry Harlow, Ruben Blades, Celia Cruz, and jazz luminaries as diverse as Henry Threadgill, Charles McPherson, Randy Brecker, Joe Chambers, Jean Lucien, The Mills Brothers, and others. DRUM! Magazine named him Percussionist of the Year (2005); he was named Percussionist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2011 and 2013. In 2006 he was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame. A street plaque bearing his name is now on permanent display on the Grand Concourse, the most famous thoroughfare in the Bronx.
He was a recipient of the 2018 Jazz Education Network (JEN) LeJENS of Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a musician and educator. In 2008 Congressman Dennis Kucinich honored his work as a musician and educator by reading his name into the Congressional Record and in 2018 the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus honored him as a musician, educator. Every single one of his big band recordings, seven in total, have been nominated for Grammys. His 2018 recording, West Side Story Reimagined, reached #1 on the national Jazz Week radio charts, was nominated for a 2018 Grammy, and won the prestigious 2019 Record of The Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association. Partial proceeds from sales of this double CD set went to the Jazz Foundation of America's Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Fund for musicians . Mr. Sanabria has composed the music for several award-winning, critically acclaimed documentaries - From Mambo to Hip Hip: A South Bronx Tale (2006) where he was also a producer, consultant and on air personality, Some Girls (2017), and La Madrina: The Savage Life of Loraine Padilla (2020). Other documentaries he has been featured in on screen and acted as a consultant, producer are, The Palladium: Where Mambo Was King (2003), Latin Music U.S.A. (2006), We Like It Like That: The Story of Latin Boogaloo (2015), and Let's Get The Rhythm 2016). In 2019 he was named Godfather/Padrino of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. He is the Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center and the Bronx Music Hall. His lifetime dedication to spreading the history, culture, of jazz and Latin jazz to the general public as a performer, as well as educating a new generation of players, composers, arrangers, has no parallel. A member of Max Roach's legendary M'BOOM percussion ensemble, he is on the faculty of the New School (his 29th year) and NYU and was on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music for 20 years. He is also the on air host of the Latin Jazz Cruise on WBGO FM and wbgo.org, the number one jazz station in the nation where he also is a frequently featured writer on the website.
Maestro Sanabria was honored by Lehman College by being bestowed an Honorary Doctorate in Music.
He endorses TAMA drums, Sabian cymbals, Latin Percussion Inc. instruments, Remo drum heads, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets
Discography
As leader Denotes Grammy nomination *** 1993 - ¡New York City Ache! w/ special guests Tito Puente and Paquito D'Rivera NAIRD Album of The Year 1993 2000 - Afro-Cuban Dream: Live and in Clave!!! (Arabesque) Grammy nominated *** 2002 - Bobby Sanabria & ¡Quarteto Aché! (Zoho Music) 2003 - 50 Years of Mambo: A Tribute to Damaso Perez Prado recorded live at Town Hall, NYC (Mambo Maniacs) Latin Grammy nominated *** 2007 - 2007 - El Espiritu Jibaro - Roswell Rudd, Yomo Toro with Bobby Sanabria & Ascensión 2007 - Big Band Urban Folktales (Jazzheads) Grammy nominated *** 2009 - Kenya Revisited Live!!! Bobby Sanabria conducts the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra w/ special guest Candido recorded live at Borden Auditorium MSM (Jazzheads) Latin Grammy nominated *** 2011 - Tito Puente Masterworks Live!!! Bobby Sanabria conducts the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra recorded live at Borden Auditorium MSM (Jazzheads) Latin Grammy nominated *** 2012 - Multiverse Bobby Sanabria Big Band (Jazzheads) DOUBLE Grammy nominated *** 2014 - !Que Viva Harlem! Bobby Sanabria conducts the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra (Jazzheads) recorded live at Borden Auditorium MSM 2018 - West Side Story Reimagined Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band (Jazzheads) recorded live at Dizzy's, NYC Grammy nominated, Jazz Journalists Association Album of The Year *** 2023 - Vox Humana (Jazzheads) Grammy nominated, Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band featuring Janis Siegel, Antoinette Montague, Jennifer Jade Ledesna recorded live at Dizzy's, NYC *** 2026 - Arsenio and Beyond: Live at the Bronx Music Hall (Jazzheads), Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band
As sideman Mongo Santamaria, Mongo Magic, 1983 Mongo Santamaria, Espiritu Libre, 1984 Luis Perico Ortiz - Breaking The Rules, 1987 Yomo Toro - Gracias, 1990 Mario Bauzá Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Tanga Suite, 1991 The Mambo Kings Soundtrack, 1991 Mario Bauzá Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra – My Time is Now, 1992 Paquito D'Rivera and the United Nations Orchestra, A Night in Englewood, 1993 Mario Bauzá Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, 944 Columbus, 1993 Carola Grey, The Age Of Illusions, 1994 Spider Saloff, Sextet, 1995 Michael Philip Mossman, Spring Dance, 1995 Jorge Sylvester, Musicollage, 1996 Daniel Schnyder, Tarantula, 1996 Sekou Sundiata, The Blue Oneness of Dreams, 1997 Frank London, Debt, 1997 Cuba: I Am Time, 1997 Michael Philip Mossman, Mama Soho, 1998 Ford Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival. 1998 Charles McPherson, Manhattan Nocturne, 1998 Men with Guns (Hombres Armados) Soundtrack, 1998 Larry Harlow, Larry Harlow's Latin Legends Band, 1998 Klaus Suonsaari - Something In Common (1998) John Fedchock, On the Edge, 1998 William Cepeda, Afrorican Jazz... My Roots and Beyond, 1998 Mario Bauzá, Messidor's Finest, 1998 Jerome Van Rossum Diplomatic Immunity, 1998 Viento De Agua, De Puerto Rico Al Mundo, 1998 Chris Washburne & The SYOTOS Band, Nuyorican Nights, 1998 Cuba, I Am Time, Vol. 4: Cubano Jazz, 1999 Jorge Sylvester, In the Ear of the Beholder, 2000 Ray Barretto, Portraits In Jazz & Clave, 2000 Sekou Sundiata, Long Story Short, 2000 Eugenia León, Acercate Mas, 2000 Ray Barretto & New World Spirit, Trancedance, 2001 Chris Washburne & The SYOTOS Band, The Other Side 2001 Donato Póveda, Bohemio Enamorado 2002 Hilary Noble, Noble Savage, 2002 Joe Chambers, Urban Grooves, 2002 David Gonzalez, City of Dreams, 2002 NewYorkestra Big Band Urban Soundscapes, 2002 John Fedchock New York Big Band, No Nonsense, 2002 Larry Harlow & His Latin Jazz Encounter, Live at Birdland, 2002 Chris Washburne & The SYTOS Band, Paradise In Trouble 2003 John Fedchock New York Big Band, No Nonsense 2003 Joe Chambers, Urban Grooves, 2003 Lou Caputo, Urban Still Life, 2003 Ray Barretto & New World Spirit, Time Was, Time Is, 2005 Joe Chambers, The Outlaw, 2006 Chris Washburne & The SYOTOS Band, The Land of Nod, 2006 Charles McPherson, Manhattan Nocturne, 2006 Roswell Rudd & Yomo Toro featuring Bobby Sanabria & Ascensión, El Espíritu Jíbaro, 2007 Cándido, Hands of Fire, 2007 John Fedchock New York Big Band, Up And Running, 2007 Arturo O'Farrill & Friends Play The Music of Eugene Marlow, A Wonderful Discovery, 2007 Inza Bama, House Of Bamba, 2008 Sooz, I Wanna Iguana, 2010 Gabriele Tranchina, A Song of Love's Color, 2010 Eugene Marlow, Celebrations: The Heritage Ensemble Interprets Festive Melodies from the Hebraic Songbook, 2010 Eugene Marlow, A Fresh Take, 2011 Eugene Marlow, Hitz & Pizz: A Rhythm Extravaganza, 2011 Susan Goodman Jackson, Live Out Loud, 2012 Chris Washburne & The SYOTOS Band, Land of Nod, 2013 Ben Lapidus, Ochosi Blues, 2014 Eugene Marlow, Mosaica, 2014 Art Lillard's Heavenly Big Band, Certain Relationships, 2015 Eugene Marlow, Changes, 2015 Max Pollack, Rumba Tap, 2015 John Fedchock New York Big Band, Like It Is, 2015 Eli Fountain, Percussion Discussion, Masterpiece, 2015 Pucci Amanda Jhones, Love Jones, 2015 In Their Own Voice, Vol. V: Eugene Marlow & The Heritage Ensemble feat. Jennifer Jade Ledesna, Amelie Cherubin, Shira Shira Lissek Eugene Marlow, A Night So Silent Night, 2016 Eugene Marlow, Obrigado Brasil, 2016 Eugene Marlow, Blue In Green, Original Compositions by Eugene Marlow inspired by The Jazz Poems of Grace Schulman, 2019 The Afro-Caribbean Artistry of Bobby Sanabria & Matthew Gonzalez, 2019 David Child's, Child's Play, 2020 Rie Akagi, La Flauta Magica, 2020 Gabriela Anders, Los Dukes, A Latina Tribute To Duke Ellington, 2021 Mary LaRose, Out There, 2021 Eugenie Jones, Players, 2022 The Manhattan Transfer, 50, 2022 Ray Blue, #PEOPLE, 2023 David Lopatao, Short Stories, 2024 Joe Gonzalez & The San Juan Experience, Life is Grand!, 2025 Tim Session, Retrospect, 2026 Sam Baum, My Shiny Imagination, 2026 Janis Siegel, The Art of Vocalese, 2026
Film, Video, Radio, TV Los Olvidados “The Forgotten Ones" - An Audio Documentary On Pan-Latin Jazz featuring Bobby Sanabria, Jane Bunnett, Michele Rosewoman, John Santos, and more - 2022