David Sánchez - Carib (2019)

A Grammy-winning saxophonist and member of the SFJAZZ Collective, David Sánchez presents his newest project, Carib – a deeply personal journey using modern jazz to explore the kinship between the West African drum rhythms of Yuba, Calinda, and Sika and music in Haiti, Carriacou, and his native Puerto Rico.

Since his early exposure with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, Sánchez has become a one of the most celebrated instrumentalists in jazz, recording ten albums as a leader and winning a Latin GRAMMY Award for his 2004 orchestral session, Coral. Over a career full of highlights, he’s performed with a roster of greats including Charlie Haden, Eddie Palmieri, Roy Haynes, Tom Harrell, Roy Hargrove, and Pat Metheny, among others. He co-led the cross-cultural Ninety Miles project with trumpeter Christian Scott and former SFJAZZ Collective vibraphonist Stefon Harris, recording a pair of albums in Havana that traced the common connections between Cuba and the U.S. through the language of jazz. The project was a natural antecedent to Carib, in which Sánchez takes a yet deeper dive into the Afro-Caribbean musical lineage and its shared history with the American jazz tradition.

‘The African diaspora throughout the Americas feels to me like a big river, flowing and changing its formation across various lands, but remaining one immense watercourse. Carib is my continuation of that river, a personal and musical stream I began when I became bandleader for my first album, The Departure (1994) where you can clearly hear Puerto Rican rhythms running throughout. Another fork, my album Melaza (2000), has the most substantial connection with Carib because of its flow and the strong influence of the bomba music tradition from Puerto Rico. I believe some of the greatest contributions to contemporary music and culture have come from the African diaspora throughout the Americas. Unfortunately, there seems to be too little awareness of their influence, especially the vital stories told by the music. So, I wanted to approach this album as a means to pay tribute to all Afro descendent communities who have helped define my music and the culture’s broad ranging beauty and idiosyncrasies.’ (Dávid Sanchez)

Tracklist:

01. Morning Mist
02. Wave Under Silk
03. Madriga
04. Fernando's Theme
05. Mirage
06. Prelude to Canto
07. Canto
08. The Land of Hills
09. Iwa (Contemplation)
10. Iwa (Spirit Going Back Home)
11. A Thousand Yesterdays