Antonio Sánchez doesn’t just play the beat—he builds the framework the music lives in. On John Finbury’s Quatro, his drumming acts as a living architecture, shaping the space for melodies to move and breathe. Whether driving the intensity of “Llegará El Día” or adding lift to more intimate moments, Sánchez has a way of guiding the music without ever overshadowing it.
Recorded in New York in 2019 and released in 2020, Quatro brought Sánchez together with Magos Herrera, Chano Domínguez, and John Patitucci under the production of Emilio D. Miler. The album blends vocal and instrumental tracks that reflect a tapestry of Latin American, Spanish, and jazz influences, with Sánchez’s rhythmic choices often steering the emotional direction of a piece.
In “Llegará El Día,” his playing doesn’t simply mark time—it mirrors the song’s narrative arc. Each accent and dynamic swell seems to respond to the lyrical message of resilience and hope, creating a sense of forward motion that carries both the band and the listener. When paired with the track’s animated video, the drumming feels almost cinematic, like the undercurrent of a powerful film score.
The variety of Quatro gave Sánchez room to show range. On “Independence Day,” his crisp articulation interacts playfully with Domínguez’s flamenco-jazz piano, weaving percussive textures that alternate between light-footed conversation and emphatic punctuation. Then there’s “Romp,” where he shifts into a celebratory groove infused with a New Orleans Second Line spirit, adding unexpected color to the album’s rhythmic palette.
Outside of Green Flash Music, Sánchez’s own projects—albums like Migration, The Meridian Suite, and Lines in the Sand—reveal his skill for structuring long-form musical stories entirely through rhythm. That sensibility carries into his collaborations with Finbury, where every stroke, brush, and cymbal wash is placed with intent, giving each track not only momentum but its own sense of place and character.
From his roots in Mexico City to studies at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, Sánchez has honed a balance of technical mastery and improvisational instinct. On Quatro, that blend allows him to serve the music in ways both subtle and striking—proving that in the right hands, drums don’t just accompany a song, they define its heartbeat.