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Grammy Nominated in 2001
Arabesque Records
Bobby Sanabria has tirelessly gone about his educational and performance duties for a couple of decades now. On his Grammy nominated 2001 release, Live and in Clave, he continues the work started with his group Ascension, namely rendering big band and folkloric Latin styles with the full vigor they deserve.
Recorded live in the New York club Birdland, Live and in Clave is a rollicking journey. One can only assume that the great Latin bands of the past were Sanabria's benchmark, a notion that gains weight when we remember that Bobby was Mario Bauza's drummer until the great bandleader's death.
While Sanabria has obvious facility in various styles, he never steps out boldly to prove it. Working from the inside, he'll make little allusions to the traditional percussion section - for example, playing the Cascara rhythm on the closed hihat in "Mosscode" or sneaking in bits of Afro-6/8 into his funk in "Angel Eyes". Even Sanabria's tuning is geared to blending. His bass drum has a round attack and his toms are rich, neither competing with the frequency range of the congas. Now, that spoken, Sanabria lets loose with clanging, timbale-like snare drum rimshots when necessary.
LP instruments figure heavily into the sound generated by percussionists "Chembo" Corniel,
and special guest Candido Camero, all LP endorsers. Candido's appearance confers a special blessing and significance to the recording: After emigrating from Cuba in 1946, he became the first conguero to integrate into the New York jazz scene. His touch on "Manteca" is unmistakable. Here he plays a sparse solo on conga, alluding to the Guaguanco rhythm (a branch of rumba), before the song segues into Mambo and swing sections.
Sanabria has ensured that congas, bongos, shekeres, and especially guiros are recorded properly. Too often studio albums feature an unnatural mix with otherwise quiet instruments, triangles, for example, taking precedence. On Live and in Clave, however, when the horns begin to swell, the instruments take their natural places, leaving the listener with a true picture of the dynamics of a great Latin band, something that has become important to Bobby.
Sanabria's drumming is particularly effective on the odd time (5/4 time signature, as opposed to the usual 4/4) mambo "Olukun/Yemaya". The horn solo on the latter tune is a great example of how to build a musical line and then just plain go berserk!
A Sanabria album wouldn't be complete without an ode to Mario Bauza. In this instance, it is "Adios Mario", which Sanabria wrote for his previous album. An essential bop/swing cymbal rides over an alto sax then trumpet theme, nodding to Bauza's chosen instruments.
The Charlie Parker classic "Donna Lee" gains from a Timba influenced (Afro-Cuban party atmosphere) intro chant. Then Sanabria picks up a Songo rhythm, letting the congas carry it. His bass drum on the "and" of the second beat of each measure is sufficient, along with his sparkling bell work and some magnificent fills to set up the horn lines.
Bobby once told a journalist that to learn to play in clave, meaning properly within the two-bar rhythm that organizes Afro-Cuban music, you need to start by learning tiny phrases in the first bar and build from there. Here he offers up the whole lexicon.
For more information, please visit: www.bobbysanbria.com.
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