Esperanza Spalding

Composer, bassist, and vocalist Esperanza Spalding ‘05 continually and brilliantly
marries genres, pushes boundaries, and creates groundbreaking work. In the past
decade of her illustrious career, she has won four Grammy Awards and performed at
the Oscars, the Grammys, a Nobel Prize ceremony, and the White House. A voracious
and magnetic performer, she studies what the process of playing live presents to the
structure of a song. That channeled energy runs through her recorded catalog of
seven collaborative and five solo albums. The most recent, Emily’s D+Evolution, out March 4, 2016

 

(Concord), combines music, vibrant imagery, performance art, and stage design in an electrifying
take on the power trio.

Spalding pursued study of her first instrument, the violin, at a time when most children her age
were just learning to read. At five, she was playing with the Chamber Music Society of Oregon in her
hometown of Portland, and by 15 she was also composing and playing acoustic bass professionally
with local bands. She joined her first band, Noise for Pretend, as a bassist and vocalist the same year
she left the Chamber Music Society of Oregon. Following the group’s run, Spalding became one of
the youngest bassists at Portland State University. When that wasn't ultimately a fit, she came to
Berklee College of Music, and upon graduating at 20, Spalding became the prestigious school’s
youngest instructor ever. Through her albums, she is still teaching those who listen.

Antonio Sanchez

Four-time Grammy Award-winner and Golden Globe-nominee Antonio Sanchez is
considered by critics and musicians alike as one of the most prominent drummers,
bandleaders, and composers of his generation.

Born in Mexico City, Mexico on November 1, 1971, he started playing drums at
the age of five and began performing professionally early in his teens.

After pursuing a degree in classical piano at the National Conservatory in
Mexico City, he moved to Boston in 1993 to enroll at Berklee College of Music and New England
Conservatory to study jazz. He graduated magna cum laude in 1997.

Since Sanchez’s move to New York City in 1999, he has become one of the most sought-after
drummers on the international jazz scene. His playing is featured on over 100 albums, and he has
performed and recorded with some of the biggest names in jazz including Chick Corea, Michael
Brecker, Charlie Haden, Gary Burton, and Toots Thielmans. He has been part of virtually every project
famed guitarist Pat Metheny has put together since 2000, including three Grammy-winning albums.

He regularly collaborates with some of today’s most prominent jazz musicians, such as Joshua
Redman, Chris Potter, John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, and David Sanchez, just to name a few.

 

Sanchez’s continuous search as an artist has pushed him to compose and lead his own bands and
ensembles. He has released five critically acclaimed albums under his name.

In 2015 Sanchez simultaneously released two very different albums: Three Times Three, a double
album featuring Brad Mehldau, Matt Brewer, John Scofield, Christian McBride, Joe Lovano, and
John Patitucci. The second release was The Meridian Suite performed by Migration, his flagship
band since 2011, featuring Seamus Blake on saxophone, John Escreet on piano, Matt Brewer on
bass, and special guests Thana Alexa on vocals and Adam Rogers on guitar. This is Sanchez’s most
ambitious compositional and conceptual project to date, a long-form 60-minute, uninterrupted piece
of music that has received worldwide critical acclaim. At the invitation of acclaimed filmmaker
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful), sanchez created the original
film score for Birdman. The movie won an astonishing array of awards including four Academy
Awards in 2015 for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay.

Sanchez's drumming was featured as the main musical ingredient in the film and won multiple
awards. In addition to his musical and film projects, Sanchez has traveled worldwide performing in
drum festivals and offering clinics and master classes. He has been the featured cover artist in some