Styles: Bebop

Jazz Studies Online: You're from New York. What kept you here when you decided to pursue a career as a jazz musician? What features did the city offer then that others did not? Given that you stayed in New York (or nearby) have your motivations for being here changed?

Bobby Sanabria: My parents are from Puerto Rico. I was born in St. Francis Hospital in the South Bronx, so I'm what is known as a Nuyorican.  That means I grew up listening not only to music rooted in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic and the rest of the Caribbean but also from the African American experience and American mainstream popular culture. I grew up in the Melrose housing projects of the South Bronx in NYC in the 60's and 70's and the Bronx at that time was the symbol of urban blight across the country. Although one may look at it as an environment that you would not want to bring up a kid in, it was the hippest place and time to have grown up in.

Jazz Studies Online: You're not from New York originally. What lured you here? What features did the city offer then that others did not? Given that you still make a point of visiting here regularly, have your motivations for coming here changed at all?

Jazz Studies Online: You're not from New York originally. What lured you here? What features did the city offer then that others did not? If you've stayed here, have your motivations for being here changed?

Jazz Studies Online: You're from New York. What kept you here when you decided to pursue a career as a jazz musician? What features did the city offer then that others did not? Given that you stayed in New York (or nearby) have your motivations for being here changed?

Excerpt from a letter written by Ralph Bass to Herman Lubinsky of Savoy Records dated July 10, 1947.

Hear an excerpt of "Backbreaker," disc 1, track 5 from Bopland: The Legendary Elks Club Concert, L.A. 1947. Performed by Wardell Gray, Barney Kessel, Sonny Criss, Al Killian, and Russ Freeman.

An excerpt of Disc 2, track 3, from Bopland: The Legendary Elks Club Conert L.A. 1947. Performed by the Bopland Boys: Howard McGhee, trumpet; Trummy Young, trombone; Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray, tenor saxophones; Hampton Hawes, piano; Barney Kessel, guitar; Red Callender, bass; Roy Porter, drums; and Al Killian, trumpet.

An image of the original 45 RPM recording of Bop! Features: Bop 10: Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray blowing The Hunt, Part 8.

An image of the original 45 RPM recording of Bop! Features: Bop 7, Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray blowing The Hunt, Part 5