CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
The David Sánchez Group

Zankel Hall
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 8:30 PM

The David Sánchez Group

Tenor saxophonist and composer David Sánchez presents the New York premiere of La Leyenda del Canaveral, a bold new sextet tracing the migration of African people to the Caribbean.

Presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with Festival Productions

Program Notes:

Howard Mandel
On David Sánchez

Suave is the word for tenor saxophonist David Sánchez, who has established his intelligent, sensual lyricism through a not quite dozen-and-a half-years passage from young sideman to accomplished recording session leader and mature concert artist leading his sextet. Puerto Rican–born, steeped in Latin American musical culture, thoroughly cosmopolitan, Sánchez is one of the most accomplished instrumentalists under 40 contemporizing the melodic sweep and rhythmic sway of enduring Afro-Caribbean idioms, with La Leyenda del Cañaveral engaging the history of westward African migration.

Surrounded by music as a child, touched early on by the deep beauty of Miles Davis’s recordings with John Coltrane and the existential blues of Billie Holiday, he’s been mentored by the great Dizzy Gillespie; drummers Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes; and pianists Kenny Barron, McCoy Tyner, and Eddie Palmieri, among others. A rich personal heritage and direct reception of jazz’s lessons from its masters inform Sánchez’s expression—filtered through his broad-shouldered, fully-blown sensibility, the resulting music sings of persuasive sophistication and swings with easily self-assured romance.

Howard Mandel is a writer, National Public Radio producer, blogger, and the president of the Jazz Journalists Association. His book Miles, Ornette, Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz is forthcoming from Routledge Press.


Notes on the Program

La Leyenda del Cañaveral—this piece is set to a poem inspired by the travels of African people from Africa to the Caribbean. The poem’s central theme is the history of the people who worked on sugar cane plantations throughout the Caribbean. Inspired by music from East Cameroon (specifically the Baca forest people), Tanzania, and the Caribbean, this work uses musical folklore as a source of inspiration, but also to help the music take a different approach and direction. The last part of the suite is the spine of the entire piece and depicts the people’s main methods of communication. More than anything else, this inclusion of “oral tales” gives a uniqueness to the piece that highlights the rich and colorful heritage of the oral tradition that it represents.

Melaza
By Margarita Sánchez de León

Melaza, sangre amarga
de nuestros ancestros que en el trapiche
se hicieron uno con la cana.

Melaza, sabor del recuerdo
a cadenas, barcos y secuestros.

Melaza, abono de un pueblo
que de la tierra dolorosa
dio un brote de esperanza.

Melaza, piel de los nuevos libertos,
los de jornal escaso
los de rostros de malaria.

Melaza, río que recorre el Caribe;
un pueblo, una historia,
una lucha se levanta.

Melaza, espejo azucarado
de tu rostro y mi rostro;
latido de tu corazón y el mío.

Melaza, melaza, melaza ...

Molasses
Translation by Monica De León and Alan Kennedy

Molasses, embittered blood
of our ancestors who, in the mills
became one with the sugar cane.

Molases, a taste of the memory
of chains, ships, and abduction.

Molasses, enriched by the blood of a people
harvested from a soil in agony,
Sprouts a tender shoot of hope.

Molasses, skin of freed men,
those scantily paid day laborers,
the faces of Malaria

Molasses, a river that courses through the Caribbean;
one people, one history,
one struggle to rise against.

Molasses, a sugared semblance
of your face and my face;
the beat of your heart and mine.

Molasses, molasses, molasses …

The David Sánchez Group
DAVID SÁNCHEZ
Latin Grammy Award winner David Sánchez is being hailed as “the most profound young tenor saxophonist working today. In a review, world-renown jazz critic Howard Reich saluted the young bandleader saying, “Technically, tonally, and creatively, he seems to have it all. His sound is never less than plush, his pitch is unerring, his rapid-fire playing is ravishing in its combination of speed, accuracy, and utter evenness of tone.” Such is the acclaim and respect that Sánchez has engendered from critics, music lovers, and fellow artists throughout the world as he continues to push the frontiers of mainstream jazz to incorporate a compelling and rich array of Latin and Afro-Caribbean influences, while remaining true to the tenets of the jazz genre.

Born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Sánchez began playing percussion and drums at age 8 before switching to tenor saxophone four years later. While a student at the prestigious La Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan, he also took up soprano and alto saxophones as well as flute and clarinet. The bomba and plena rhythms of Puerto Rico, along with Cuban and Brazilian traditions, were among the biggest influences on Sánchez’s early taste in music. Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, and John Coltrane had the greatest impact on his playing.

In 1986 Sánchez enrolled at the Universidad de Puerto Rico in Rio Píedras, but the pull of New York was irresistible. By 1988 he had auditioned for and won a music scholarship at Rutgers University in New Jersey. With such close proximity to New York City, Sánchez quickly became a member of its swirling jazz scene. He gigged with piano giant Eddie Palmieri and trumpeter Claudio Roditi, who brought Sánchez to the attention of jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie. In 1991, Gillespie invited the young saxophonist to join his “Live the Future” tour with Miriam Makeba.

The Departure, his 1995 debut for Columbia Records, gained critical kudos as did the disc’s successors Sketches of Dreams and Street Scenes. Meanwhile, David had begun touring with various jazz greats such as Kenny Barron, Roy Haynes, and legendary drummer Elvin Jones, recording with Barron and Haynes respectively. When he returned to the studio for his next project, the results were sterling. Produced by Branford Marsalis, Obsesión would garner the saxophonist his first Grammy nomination. He would follow that album with the Grammy-nominated (and Latin Grammy–nominated) Melaza. In 2001, Sánchez appeared on high-profile recordings with bassist Charlie Haden and trombonist Steve Turre before issuing another Grammy-nominated release on Columbia, Travesía, which also garnered rave reviews from jazz cognoscenti.

Sánchez’s most recent recording for Columbia, Coral, earned the saxophonist his fourth Grammy nomination and won a Latin Grammy after being voted “Best Instrumental Album” of 2005 by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Coral is the most ambitious manifestation to date of his continuing expansion of the frontiers of mainstream jazz to incorporate Afro-Latin influences. In the project, recorded in Prague, Czech Republic, and placing his jazz sextet against the backdrop of the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, he explores obscure works composed by giants of the Latin American classical genre: Antonio Carlos Jobim, Alberto Ginastera, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. In addition, he juxtaposes classical structure with jazz improvisation in two of his original tunes as well as in a composition by Carlos Franzetti (arranger and conductor for all tracks on the album).

The expression of the jazz sensibility against the backdrop of a classical structure, the hallmark of the Coral project, has recently led David to explore other pairings of the jazz and classical traditions. Most recently, David has collaborated with the Alexander String Quartet in performances of the “Focus” Suite, composed by Eddie Sauter and recorded by Stan Getz over 40 years ago, and considered by some to be Getz’s masterpiece recording. In the two ensembles’ 2004 debut performance of the work in San Francisco, the wildly enthusiastic audience response spawned a collaboration between the two groups that continues to thrill concertgoers whenever it is experienced.

Whether with Gillespie, Palmieri, Haden, and his other jazz mentors, or under his own name, Sánchez has continued to tour extensively, bringing his mix of mainstream jazz with Afro-Latin influences to delighted audiences throughout the globe. In 2003 he partnered with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba for a world tour, which took the two artists to France, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Russia, Germany, Portugal, Holland, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Australia before Sánchez took his own band to perform at the Newport Festival at Madarao, Japan. Later that year, he led his sextet in a triumphal tour through Spain, followed by a week of performances by his quartet in Athens, Greece, and Fort-de-France, Martinique. In 2004 David collaborated with Dee Dee Bridgewater on the “Latin Landscapes” world tour. Performance highlights in 2005 included an extensive US tour with the great Pat Metheny, as well as touring with his own jazz quartet and trio throughout the US, Brazil, Canada, and Europe, which he continues to do today.

A prolific composer, David composes and arranges for a number of ensemble configurations—instrumental and with vocals—including sextet, quartet, trio, and duo (saxophone and piano). In recognition of his prodigious talents, he has recently been named a 2005 grant recipient of Chamber Music America’s New Works: Creation and Presentation Program, in which he has been commissioned to compose and present a multi-movement work for jazz sextet.

David has also proven to be a compelling presence with student musicians and continues to be in demand for workshops and master classes throughout the world. In recent years, his academic pursuits have included visiting professorships at the Peabody Conservatory, the Conservatory of Puerto Rico, and at Indiana University’s School of Music. He has also been a featured artist for Marsalis Jams, a program of the non-profit Music Education Initiative, which takes working jazz ensembles to colleges and universities in the US for mini-residencies to lend insights to student musicians as well as build jazz audiences in general. During the 2005–06 academic year, David was an Artist-in-Residence at the School of Music at Georgia State University.

Sánchez strives for an “organic” approach to playing, writing, arranging, teaching, and recording, and the positive results are amply demonstrated in his recordings. “When you’re young, you feel you have to prove yourself. But as you develop and the years go by, you begin to let the music come to you. You don’t chase something like that. I’ve been learning, year after year, how not to chase that muse, and to let it come to me. Sometimes it’s there; sometimes it’s not. Of course, you work every year to make that process more and more of a constant.”

HENRY COLE
In 1999, 27-year-old drummer Henry Cole emerged onto the music scene in old San Juan, where he studied classical percussion at the Conservatory of Puerto Rico. However, it was not until a few years later—while attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston—that Cole’s musical evolution pointed him naturally towards the jazz tradition. He went back home with a new energy and focus and performed as the house drummer for the first annual “Jazzboriken” Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He played with such Latin jazz luminaries as Giovanni Hidalgo, Bobby Valentín, Anthony Carrillo, Dave Valentin, and Paoli Mejias. While back in Puerto Rico, Cole had the opportunity to hone his craft with a variety of artists both within and beyond the world of jazz. They include performances with Jerry González, Eric Figueroa (Latin-jazz trio), Claudia Acuna, Luis Marin, La PVC (salsa), Danilo Pérez, Branford Marsalis, William Cepeda and the Afrorrican Jazz Ensemble, Vivanativa (rock), Cheo Feliciano, and the Ramon Vasquez Quartet, among others. In addition to his extensive performance experience, Cole conducted drum-set clinics for the percussion festival at the Conservatory of Puerto Rico and at the Inter American University. As a result, he soon became one of the most in-demand and influential jazz drummers on the Island. In the fall of 2003, Cole took a big step forward and moved to New York City to attend the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, where he received a scholarship to study with drummer/composer John Riley. In less than two years, Cole had performed with such internationally recognized ensembles as the David Sánchez Quartet, Miguel Zenón Quartet, Eduard Simon Trio, Dave Allen Trio, Ray Barreto Group, the Chico O’Farril Afrocuban Big Band, Ray Vega Latin Jazz, and Papo Vazquez Pirates Troubadours, as well as with renowned musicians Scavone (hip-hop singer), Andy Gonzales, and Paquito D’ Rivera, among many others. He has toured all over the US, Mexico, Central America, Europe, and Greece. As he did in Puerto Rico, Henry Cole is quickly becoming an important member of the New York and international jazz community.
In the fall of 2004, Henry Cole’s Quartet was selected to represent the US as part of the 2006 Jazz at Lincoln Center American Music Abroad (The Rhythm Road) Program, also known as “The Jazz Ambassadors.” In addition to public concerts, The Rhythm Road conducts master classes and lecture-recitals for musicians. He is currently touring with the Miguel Zenón Quartet, Edward Simon Quartet, and David Sánchez Quintet.

HANS GLAWISCHNIG
Hans Glawischnig was born into a musical family in Graz, Austria. After playing the violin
from ages 6 to 10, he switched to the bass in his early teens. He holds a bachelor’s degree
from Berklee College of Music and a master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music.
Since 1994, he has been one of the most active bassists on the New York music scene,
performing and recording with such artists as Chick Corea, James Moody, Ray Barretto,
Phil Woods, Maynard Ferguson, Bobby Watson, David Sánchez, Paquito D’Riviera,
and Brian Lynch, just to name a few. His second CD, Panorama, which features
Chick Corea, is scheduled for release in the fall of 2007.

LAGE LUND
Guitarist Lage Lund was born in Norway. After failing to make it in the highly competitive snowplowing field in his hometown, Lage set more realistic career goals and pursued a career in jazz. This led him to places like Berklee College of Music in Boston and The Juilliard School in New York, where he was the first electric guitarist in the history of the school.

Since then Lage has played too many notes in every major city in the US as well as all over Europe. He has done so in the company of people like Carmen Lundy, Wynton Marsalis, Seamus Blake, David Sánchez, Ingrid Jensen, Marcus Strickland, the Mingus Band, and others. Lage won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2005. He was very happy about that, but wonders if it ruined his chance of ever winning the lottery.


ROBERT RODRÍGUEZ
Pianist/Composer, Robert Rodriguez was born on January 11, 1978, in New York City. Inspired by his father, who is a drummer, Robert began to pursue music from a very early age. Robert studied piano and percussion at the New World School of the Arts and earned his Bachelor’s of Music degree from the University of Miami. During his time at New World School of the Arts and the University of Miami, he was given the opportunity to perform with Jerry Bergonzi, Jon Faddis, Kenny Wheeler, and Maria Schneider. Robert has worked professionally with Ira Sullivan, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ed Calle, Charlie Haden, Arturo Sandoval, Ray Barretto, Roy Haynes, Ignacio Berroa, David Sánchez, and Richard Bona, and has recorded alongside Arturo Sandoval, Chick Corea, Dave Samuels, and Claudio Roditi on a live concert titled Jam Miami. Robert also recorded on some of the music to the HBO film For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story and Trumpet Evolution, which was produced by Quincy Jones. In April 2006 Robert was featured with the late Ray Barretto in a PBS recorded special broadcast of the new TV show titled Legends of Jazz. Other recording credits include Ray Barretto’s 2005 Grammy-nominated recording Time is Time Was, which includes one of Robert’s original compositions “One For Ray.” Robert’s compositions have earned an ASCAP young composers award and have led to a commissioned new work from Chamber Music America. Robert’s debut CD, which was co-led by brother Michael, is titled Introducing The Rodriguez Brothers. Their group, the Rodriguez Brothers, have performed in many major festivals and clubs including the JVC, Syracuse, and Iceland jazz festivals, and at the Blue Note jazz club. Their latest recording, on Savant Records, is titled Conversations.

PERNELL SATURNINO
2007 Grammy nominee percussionist Pernell Saturnino is continuing a prominent musical legacy established by his distinguished family in the exotic Caribbean island of Curacao. His grandmother, granduncle, and grandaunt were among those who originated and developed the island’s indigenous folkloric rhythm known as Tambú. Exposed to music while still a toddler, his uncle, who led a prominent folkloric group, took him to play in the group when he was 8 years old. He started playing guiro and within a month had learned to play most of the drum patterns from the group’s percussionist. The first instrument he learned to play was the tambora, a drum from Venezuela. From there, he advanced to learn congas, the tambú (a traditional Curacaoan drum), the chapi (a hoe) and timbales.

Saturnino’s impressive talents led to his joining Curacao’s best-known folkloric group, Nos Antias, with which he performed at festivals around the world. His exposure to other folkloric groups inspired him to learn about traditional rhythms from other countries, mostly by exchanging knowledge with other musicians.

When he was 19, Mr. Saturnino began formal studies at the Foundation Institute of Music in Curacao. Hired as percussionist in a house band that performed international shows at a prominent hotel, he learned to play rhythms from such countries as Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others.

In 1988 he moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, where he studied with percussion masters Giovanni Hidalgo and Jesus Alfonso (Los Muñequitos de Matanzas), and performed with such renowned artists as Joe Zawinul, Hermeto Pascoal, and Gilberto Gil. Saturnino also began performing with local artists, most notably Rebecca Paris and Danilo Pérez. During his studies, he was honored as “most outstanding percussionist” (1992), and he received the Latin Percussion Award (1994).

Following his graduation from Berklee, he began working and recording with saxophone/clarinet virtuoso Paquito D’Rivera, both with The United Nation Orchestra and in other group settings. Mr. Saturnino has been performing and recording with Mr. D’Rivera for 11 years.

In 1996, Saturnino joined the David Sánchez Quintet and later Sextet, with whom he performed for nine years and recorded Obsesion, Travesia, Melaza, and Coral. Recently Mr. Saturnino has worked frequently with the US Quintet of Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Mr. Saturnino—who has performed in festivals, concerts, and clubs throughout the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, China, and Africa—is kept busy as an in-demand side-man, guest artist, and clinician. Highlights include the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival and the Lincoln Center Summer Jazz Festival with Wynton Marsalis, with whom he also recorded Sweet Release.

He has also recorded with Danilo Pérez as well as with Carlos Franzetti, Bebo Valdez, Antonio Hart, Juan Pablo Torres, Richie Zellon, Oscar Stagnaro, Curacaoan pianist Randal Corsen, Curacaoan vocalist Izaline Calister, and Donny McCaslin.

FREDDY79
Freddy79 started his professional career in Puerto Rico in 1997 as part of the hip-hop group Conciencia Poética (Poetic Consciousness), known for nostalgic, aggressive, and deep lyrics containing social criticism.

After six years with the group and performances all over the island, Freddy79 released his first solo album, El Pro-greso, produced by Y’all Zee. The first promotional single of the album, “Contra Viento y Marea,” created much controversy, because it criticized other styles of “rap” (reggaeton) in Puerto Rico. El Pro-greso was declared an instant classic in the Latin hip-hop world.

With his knowledge and great appreciation of Afro-Caribbean music, Freddy79 honored his ancestral Dominican–Puerto Rican roots and joined William Cepeda and his group, Afro-Rican Jazz. His addition to the group created a new innovative fusion of bomba (Puerto Rican folklore music), jazz, and hip-hop. This new fusion was presented in the musical production “Puerto Rican Heineken Jazz Fest 2003,” and for the first time in the history of this world-renowned Latin jazz festival, a hip-hop artist was presented.

During the summer of 2005, Freddy79 formed part of the “International Hip-Hop Exchange,” which supports international hip-hop movements and has served as a bridge for intercultural exchange. Freddy79 has shared the stage with artists from France, Brazil, California, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Africa.

Trabuco, Freddy79’s latest album, will be released on May 1. Trabuco is the collaborative effort of the best producers of hip-hop in Puerto Rico and hip-hop artists from other countries. It is one of the most anticipated albums of the year and promises to be one of the most important.

NELSON SAMBOLÍN
Engraver, painter, and printmaker Nelson Sambolin was born in Salinas, Puerto Rico, in 1944. He studied at the University of Puerto Rico, where he worked with Rafael Rosa and other artists in the Bija Workshop in San Juan. He completed post-graduate studies at the Pratt Institute in New York City.

From 1970 until 1980, Mr. Sambolín worked as a graphic artist in the Department of Cultural Activities at the University of Puerto Rico. Today, he creates art in his studio and is a professor in the School of Communications at the University of Puerto Rico’s Metropolitan Campus in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.