Santi de la Rubia

Santi de la Rubia is an award-winning tenor saxophonist based in Barcelona. He drew initial international notice for his resonant, silky, yet authoritative tone and imaginative soloing as a featured sideman with the Jordi Berni Trio on Afinke in 2006. After a decade spent woodshedding in studios and on-stage with dozens of artists, he issued his leader debut, Broken Line, for Fresh Sound in 2017. In 2020, he and Brazilian guitarist Vinicius Gomes released the full-length collaboration Changes for Fresh Sound. Santi de la Rubia was born in Valencia, Spain in 1984. He was exposed to his father's record collection at a young age. At five, he fell under Johnny Hodges' spell. He began taking lessons on the alto saxophone at age eight and switched to tenor as a young teen, showing a natural aptitude for the instrument. After earning a bachelor's degree in classical saxophone in 2002, he attended the Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) in Barcelona, studying with award-winning Spanish jazz saxophone masters Xavier Figuerola, Eladio Reinón, and Nacho Gascón, among others. He graduated with distinction and continued his studies with veteran saxmen including Perico Sambeat, David Liebman, and Javier Vercher. De la Rubia made his recording debut with pianist Jordi Berni's trio in 2006 on the album Afinke. He was credited on the front cover as a featured soloist. While touring with them, he won the soloist's prize in the International Jazz Contest of Granada and was selected for the 2008 Catalan Jazz Tour of Europe. He accompanied mentor Sambeat's trio, and De la Rubia's popularity soared as writers reflected on his imaginative, lyrical solos and unshakeable sense of time. He became a first-call touring sideman for artists including Tom Harrell, Jorge Rossy, Juan Galiardo, and Joan Díaz, among others. In 2010, critics across the globe celebrated his playing on Albert Vila's Tactile. In 2014, de la Rubia played on Josep Tutusaus & the Tutu Quartet's Missing Link, and the Roger Mas Group's internationally celebrated Ameba. He also began teaching at Barcelona's Taller de Musics the following year. 2017 proved a turning point for de la Rubia. He played on two seminal albums that year: Inevitable by the Martín Leiton Big Band, and Volume 1 by Toni Vaquer & the Voodoo Children Collective. He also issued his Fresh Sound leader debut, Broken Line, with a trio that included bassist Marc Cuevas and drummer Roger Gutiérrez. De la Rubia received the "La Ruta del Jazz" Award from the digital culture magazine Núvol. In 2018 he was chosen to be a member of the Focusyear Band 19, a year-long study and performance program promoted by the Musik Akademie Basel and inspired by the World Music Institute at Berklee and the Monk Institute in Los Angeles. During that tenure, he met and befriended Brazilian guitarist and singer/songwriter Vinicius Gomes. They wrote separately for one another, as well as together. They entered a studio in July of 2019 with drummer Jorge Rossy and bassist Doug Weiss -- both were musician coaches for Focusyear Band that year -- and recorded the album Changes, which was released by Fresh Sound in 2020.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo