Big band urban folktales

Such is the case on the opener "57th Street Mambo", in which Bobby and band positively rock the introductory cha cha cha rhythm, slamming into Afro-influenced 6/8 (approximately the 1:00 mark). Just as you're wondering, "Great, but this is no mambo chorus!", the loping groove is quickly replaced (1:14) by something more appropriate to spur on Michael Phillip Mossman's trumpet solo. Meanwhile, those who know Bobby as the gatekeeper of New York Latin-jazz traditions meet the other Bobby, a particularly relentless drummer, trading fours on a drum kit spiked with a full complement of LP instruments, including bells, Jam Blocks, and, particularly noticeable on this track, the Timbalitos. The drum tuning is organic and fat, the phrasing simultaneously edgy and traditional-it makes one wonder why Bobby is not cited more often as a hot Latin drummer. He's certainly got the goods. In that regard, check out Bobby on the 2006 Modern Drummer Festival DVD (Hudson). Back to our tune, dial up 4:19 on your counter for evidence of Bobby's soloing prowess. The band re-enters with some stunner lines and then winds down, the sustain pedal of the piano (Yeissonn Villamar) left in down position, allowing a trailing, low-frequency rumble to hang in the air.

Past the dancing "Pink", a combination of cha cha cha, funk and son montuno Bobby likes to call "son funk-tuno", to the blues standard "Since I Fell For You", at first a little curious, what with its bolero-rock treatment and initially square-ish vocal phrasing by Charanee Wade. She soon begins to relax and stretch, as do the rhythmic underpinnings: swing then back to bolero. Catch her scatting at 4:33 against a vocal chorus "since I fell for you"-really effective.

Effective is the word for a Jeremy Fletcher composition/arrangement "D Train", wherein Tim Sessions accomplishes that rolling subway feeling on trombone. Before you catch his solo, check out (1:40) Bobby's terse drum lead-in-zap, as if something dropped down onto the third rail!

"El Ache' de Sanabria" is an Afro-Cuban pumper in which fellow LP artists Christian Rivera on congas and Giancarlo Anderson on bongos provide tactical support as the orchestra weaves through cha cha cha, son montuno, funk, rumba and comparsa to a finale that includes an explosive 6/8 bembe section. Here Bobby solos on conga with a stick; also on marimba and bata in the closing.

Bobby nails it again on "The Crab", a Joe Fiedler (begging for pun on fiddler!) hard-nosed funk groover that has Bobby playing cascara type patterns on the hats, bells-and even on the edge of a Chinese cymbal, a first!

"Blues For Booty Shakers" (play track above) provides a nice change of timbre with the introductory theme stated on vibraphone. A Sanabria composition/arrangement it slinks along, each twelve-bar phrase increasing in intensity. At one point, stalwart Peter Brainin solos on tenor, and a double-time horn chorus probes in the background, the latter echoed near the exit of the tune (3:15).  The wide stylistic void between "Blues" and "The Crab" proves that if a body of work is played with intensity, excellence and is extremely well-recorded, there can exist a true and good "fusion" of styles within an album-not an arbitrary potpourri of styles done for cleverness' sake.

Speaking of which, believe it, the next track is Bobby's interpretation of Frank Zappa's "The Grand Wazoo", translated into an arrangement by trombonist Joe Fiedler, who takes a great solo with mute. A shout vocal chorus, swung heavily, begins at roughly 3:00 and, curiously, harkens to Cab Calloway. Zappa to Calloway? It works fine-certainly as well as the original-particularly Dave De Jesus' whacked out soprano sax solo.

For more information, please visit: www.bobbysanbria.com.