To understand his music you must first understand the kaleidoscope of sounds and rhythms of the Sánchez home. In the early 1970's young David was exposed to everything from the soulful salsa of Ismael Rivera, to the molases dipped gospel pop of Aretha Franklin. Sánchez' eclectic appreciation was shaped early on. His father loved Cuban boleros… his brother, the pulsating bomba and plena rhythms of Puerto Rico… but it was his sister who introduced him to a musical spectrum that ranged from Earth Wind and Fire to Antonio Carlos Jobim. Indeed it was Margarita who changed his life when one day she walked in the door of their suburban San Juan home with Miles.

"It was a Miles Davis anthology featuring John Coltrane" and Sánchez was transfixed. He had played bongos as a small boy, then congas, and at age 12 the saxophone… but he did not know the possibilities of than horn until he heard 'Trane.

By then he was attending La Escuela Libra de Musica (the Free Music School) and Sánchez was already making music a way of life. Playing with local dance bands as a teenager provided a solid platform from which the saxophonist would dive head first into the search for his own sound.

In 1986 Sánchez enrolled at the Universidad de Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras, but he pull of New York was irresistible. By 1988 he had auditioned and won a music scholarship to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The move not only gave the young artist an opportunity to study with greats like Kenny Barron, Ted Durban, and Larry Riddley, but put him less than 40 miles from New York City - center of the jazz universe.

Sánchez became an immediate member of the city's swirling scene. Before he could blink the boy from Guaynabo was playing alongside world renowned artists such as Eddie Palmieri, Hilton Ruiz, and Claudio Roditi. It was Roditi and fellow bandmates Danilo Perez and Paquito D'Rivera who lead the young saxophonist to a jazz diety name Dizzy.

When Dizzy Gillespie invited the student to play with his sextet Sánchez dropped everything and hit the road. It was a crash course more important than anything he had learned to school. After that tour Dizzy invited Sánchez to join his much acclaimed United Nations Orchestra. Upon Dizzy's retirement in 1992 Sánchez found himself in demand, playing in heavyweights like Kenny Barron, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, and McCoy Tyner.

In 1994 David Sánchez debuted his first CD as a leader for Sony/Columbia Records. The Departure was followed by Sketches of Dreams in 1995, and Street Scenes in 1996. When New York Times Music Critic Jon Pareles wrote that Sánchez is "carrying Latin Jazz toward the millennium" he proved prophetic. The artist's next two efforts Obsesión in 1998 and Melaza in 2000 were both nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Latin Jazz Album.

December 2001

Biography courtesy of Saudades Tourneen.