- "It was a great time to be young, Latino, and growing up in New York City. There was drumming heard in every neighborhood, and the music we had inherited from "the great jazz mambo era" of the 1940s and 1950s, inspired us to seek out our cultural roots and the common bonds that we share in the African-Caribbean Diaspora. This, combined with all the other music I was listening to, is the foundation of my playing, composing, arranging and teaching today." (Sanabria commenting on growing up as a young boy in the 1960s)
- Despite the fact that the Bronx was like Dante's inferno, it was the music that kept us alive and fed us. Conga was the first instrument we played in the streets. Car bumpers were made out of metal in those days, so you didn't need a conga drum. You get three guys on a car and all of a sudden there's a rumba happening.
- [on asking Tito Puente if he might sit in on a gig] Puente says,'Sure. What do you play?' and I say, 'Timbales'. Puente turned to the band and says, 'Guess what? The kid plays timbales'. It was like a scene from a movie. I got up there and raised my hand with four fingers, which for a jazz musician means you are going to trade fours. We started trading and the audience loved it, and he dug it. Ever since then we were friends.
- Art Blakey used to say that the best ensembles are combinations of youth and experience. You get the fire from the youth and the knowledge from the experienced older players. Today's jazz musicians are basically mentoring themselves. The youngest person in my big band is in his early twenties, and the oldest person is eight-two years old. We pass the tradition to the next generation as it was passed to us, in hope that they will represent the music with integrity.
- I'm proud of the fact than I'm an SOB - son of the Bronx. When your hometown recognizes your contributions to the world, that's a good feeling. People still have the image of Howard Cosell saying 'the Bronx is burning'. But it was also the only borough with people from [such]disparate communities. It's the most ethnically tolerant borough; everybody comes together in the Bronx. That's why hip-hop, doo-wop, R&B, funk, salsa, disco and jazz co-exist there.
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