Born in Mexico City, 4 time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sanchez began playing the drums at age five and performed professionally in his early teens in Mexico’s rock, jazz and latin scenes.

He pursued a degree in classical piano at the National Conservatory in Mexico and in 1993 enrolled in Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in Jazz Studies.

Since moving to New York City in 1999, Antonio has become one of the most sought-after drummers in the international jazz scene. Following 20 years and 9 albums as one of the most revered collaborators with guitarist/composer Pat Metheny, he also has recorded and performed with many other most prominent artists like Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden and Toots Thielmans.

In 2014 Sanchez’s popularity soared when he scored Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) which ended up fetching 4 Academy awards (including best picture) and for which Antonio won a Grammy award. Additional film/tv projects include 3 seasons of EPIX network’s Get Shorty, Harami, Hippopotamus and the 6 part HBO Docuseries The Anarchists. Advertisement

Sanchez currently has close to a dozen recordings as a leader and solo artist. His recent projects to date include the critically acclaimed, through-composed epic The Meridian Suite, the star studded album Three Times Three, Grammy nominated Bad Hombre —a sociopolitical electronica & drums exploration, Channels of Energy, an ambitious project with the WDR Big Band with arrangements of his works by Vince Mendoza and Lines in the Sand with his band Migration. Here Sanchez turns his political anger into a moving musical statement of epic compositional proportions as much a protest against injustice in our current political climate and as a tribute to every immigrant’s journey.

To date Antonio has been awarded 4 Grammys, nominations for Golden Globe & Bafta Awards, wins for the World Soundtrack New Artist Discovery and Best Original Film Score Award, 3 Echo Awards (Germany), Hollywood Music in Media Award, the Critics’ Choice Movie Award and 4 Modern Drummer’s Drummer of the Year Awards in the Jazz and Fusion categories among many other wins and nominations. He has been the featured cover artist for DownBeat, JazzTimes, JAZZIZ, Modern Drummer (twice), Drum!, Musico Pro and Drumhead among others. Advertisement

 

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