NFAND Episode 73 Part I - Bobby Sanabria, Salsa Meets Jazz for Puerto Rico with Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band

For those of you who don’t know, Bobby Sanabria is a master percussionist and musician. Straight from his bio, “drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer, filmmaker, conductor, educator, activist, multi-cultural warrior and multiple Grammy nominee.” Boom. Or as Ricans would say on the street, “una jodienda.”

Bobby has a benefit concert on October 23rd at the old Village Gate, now (le) poisson rouge where Salsa met Jazz every Monday night for years. The talk with Bobby ended up being a four-part mini-series but I’m sharing the first two. He goes off and gives the full line up of the band and mixes it all with a history lesson on music, the New York music scene when he was growing up, and just a general sense of the times and music and his love for it.

Also on the talk is Elena Martínez, veteran and senior folklorist, researcher, writer and overall cultural guardian. Love her.

I don’t have much else to say other than take a listen. History. Diaspora. Latin Music. Puerto Ricans in Latin Music. Music heals. Salsa meets Jazz again on the 23rd. Big Band and all…

Bobby and Elena teamed up with the Jazz Foundation of America. Proceeds go to them for Puerto Rican musicians affected by the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and María.