Renowned drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator, BOBBY SANABRIA, and his MULTIVERSEBIG BAND return with their most ambitious work to date, VOX HUMANA.
BOBBY SANABRIA is an eight-time Grammy nominee as a leader.
Known as a drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, documentary film producer, educator, activist, and bandleader, his versatility as a drummer and percussionist, from a small group to a big band, has become legendary.
A native son of the South Bronx born to Puerto Rican parents, he has performed and recorded with every prominent 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.
He received the 2018 Jazz Education Network (JEN) LeJENS of Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a musician and educator.
Bobby states, “Over the course of our many Grammy-nominated albums, we have occasionally featured tracks with vocals. But I’ve always envisioned doing an entire vocal album framed by the Multiverse Big Band.
Now with three of today’s greatest contemporary singing talents – multi-Grammy award winner Janis Siegel from the Manhattan Transfer, blues and jazz Queen Antoinette Montague, and the multilingual powerhouse, Jennifer Jade Ledesna, today, that vision has finally become a reality.
The individually distinct voices that Janis, Antoinette, and Jennifer possess make them each unique. But the X factor they all have is they are all masterful improvisers in the best sense of the jazz tradition.
Added to the mix is our great conguero, Oreste Abrantes, who also sings lead on two tracks. Having that multi-dimensional vocal talent framed by the power, nuance, and tonal variety that only a big band can provide, combined with the repertoire I’ve chosen to showcase them and the band and the incredible variety of Afro- Latin, straight-ahead swing, funk, R&B, and rock rhythmic vocabulary that we are masters of and readily have at our disposal in the Multiverse I believe VOX HUMANA will be our greatest achievement.
”The repertoire is personally meaningful as I see VOX HUMANA as a biographical work. I’m a product of my environment. I’m a Nuyorican of Puerto Rican descent growing up in New York City.
In my case, the South Bronx during a time when pop, jazz, R&B, rock, funk, and Latin music of all kinds all co-existed as equals. It was the last era when the big bands of masters like Ellington, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Don Ellis, and more were in the public eye, and they became my heroes. Vocalists who could deliver a message with subtlety, nuance, and, when needed, power were called upon to deliver poetry crafted by genius songwriters.
You’ll hear all that and more through the soaring vocals and improv talents of Janis, Antoinette, and Jennifer, along with Oreste, as well as the incredible jazz-oriented arrangements and exciting Pan Afro-Latin rhythms played by a big band that takes no prisoners when it hits the stage.”
Music – Disc One – 1: Caravan; 2: Capullito de Alelí; 3: Puerto Rico; 4: Partido Alto; 5: Let the Good Times Roll; 6: Who Thought You That; 7: I Loves You Porgy. Disc Two – 1: Genie in a Bottle; 2: Amazonas; 3: Spooky; 4: To Be With You; 5: Do it Again; 6: Mi Congo.
Musicians – Rhythm Section – Bobby Sanabria: music director, drums, mounted bells, wind chimes, background vocals and vocal exclamations; Oreste Abrantes: congas, lead and background vocals; Matthew Gonzalez: bongo/cenceto [hand bongo bell], barril de bomba, requinto panderata, ganza, Puerto Rican guacharo, agogo and background vocals; Takao Heisho: Cuban guiro, agogo bells, claves, cuica, pandeiro, maracas, shekere, tambourine and background vocals; Darwin Noguera: piano; Leo Traversa: electric bass; Trumpets –Marc Darche [lead], Matt Hilgenburg, Jonathan Challone, Andrew Neesley; Trombones –Dave Miller [lead], Noah Bless, Armando Vergara, Chris Washburne [bass trombone]; Saxophones –David Dejesus [lead alto and soprano – 1 disc one], Andrew Gould [alto and flute], Peter Brainin [tenor and maracas on Spooky and Do It Again], Jeff Lederer [tenor], Danny Rivera [baritone]; Gabriel Garo: flute; Ben Sutin: violin; Lead and Background Vocals –Janis Siegel [3 on disc one, 1 – 6 on Disc Two], Antoinette Montague [lead on 5, 6, 7 Disc One and 6 on Disc Two] and Jennifer Jade Ledesna [lead on 2, 4 Disc One and 6 on Disc Two]; Desmond Prass: announcer.