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foxesfred Oct 26 2014 at 6:20 PM	I went to see Birdman last night starring Michael Keaton/Edward Norton and many others. This flick had aan excellent soundtrack which was mostly drum solos. Far from the old rimshots that older comics used. I checked out the credits this mornings and to my surprise it was all credited to Antonio Sanchez. Guess he’s about to become a known quantity!
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toneman Jan 19 2015 at 11:46 AM	oops - my post below was supposed to be in the thread about the Charlie Haden tribute
foper Jan 17 2015 at 9:15 PM	Antonio and has proven he goes far beyond being just an awesome percussionist/drummer. He is the complete musician. It’s sad the politics that exists in Hollywood, but I think Antonio will push ahead and not let it bother him one bit. He’s bigger than all of that nonsense.
toneman Jan 16 2015 at 10:08 PM	Thanks for posting this. After Germany, it’s Roy Haynes’ 90th birthday party @ the Blue Note March 13. Amazing how Pat stays so young.
David Jan 16 2015 at 5:43 PM	Antonio may have been unjustly excluded from the Academy Award nominations, but he won The Critics Choice Award for Best Soundtrack Score for his work on "Birdman". Way to go Antonio!!!
yossarian Jan 16 2015 at 9:58 AM	Very good interview with Antonio Sanchez on BBC TV last night. Go online to BBC i-Player and search for Newsnight Thursday15 January. It was the last segment of the show. Brilliant to see Antonio on the telly talking about the soundtrack and the lack of nomination. Who cares about the Oscars anyway? Just enjoy the film and the music...
mugsy Jan 12 2015 at 9:43 PM	I watched the Golden Globes last night - Antonio got many kudos for his score! Even if he didn’t win an award, he won anyway!
hman01 Jan 12 2015 at 1:52 PM	I watched the Golden Globes last night. Antonio was nominated for Best Original Score. The score from "The Theory of Everything" won that category. But, I think most of us would agree that you can’t get more original than an all drum soundtrack. Also, when "Birdman" won for Best Screenplay, Antonio was one of the people thanked by the winner. So congratulations to Antonio for the nomination!!!
fredsimon Jan 11 2015 at 4:50 PM	One more thing and then I’ll let this go ... it really bugs me that someone would think that they know better than Antonio himself, or any other musician of that caliber, whether he thinks his own work is up to par. If you don’t think it’s up to par, then just say that (and, ideally, elaborate specifically why you think so) ... please don’t claim to know Antonio’s own mind better than he does. And to further suggest that if he does, in fact, think his work deserves a nomination then he is deluded is just plain hubris of the worst sort.
fredsimon Jan 08 2015 at 4:41 PM	Apparently the Golden Globes disagrees with the Oscar Academy (and marra) ... Antonio’s score for Birdman is up for Best Original Score In A Motion Picture. Right on.
fredsimon Jan 02 2015 at 1:58 AM	How about this, marra: I’ll tell you why, specifically, I think Antonio’s score is absolutely deserving of an Oscar nomination (remember, we’re only talking about qualifying for a nomination here), and then you tell us why, specifically, you don’t. And hopefully without the insulting implications ... no need to suggest that those who disagree with you are gullible and that you alone see the emperor as naked. ******** Sanchez worked closely with the director, before during and after shooting, to shape the score, but also the director shaped the film to the score. The director, Inarritu, said the score served as the film’s "spine and the element [that] helped me find the intensity of the characters, the tone and the internal rhythm of each scene." He went on to say that because of the choice to have the movie appear as though it was one continuous shot, the score became "the only way to help define the flow and the beat of the movie." ****** Further, as far as I know, there has never been a major mainstream film with a solo jazz drum score ... that in and of itself should qualify it for a nomination. There is an emotional transparency to the drum score that avoids the sometimes manipulative colorizing effect a traditional melodic/harmonic score can have. It’s a perfect correlate to the camera which flows through the film like water. ****** There are some orchestral classical pieces ... Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Mahler ... which serve as incidental music that the main character uses to accompany the play within the movie, and which also exist only in his head at times ... this is a distinctly different use of music as opposed to Antonio’s score, as it should be. It’s this use of preexisting music that presumably disqualified the score from qualifying, despite the fact that there are more minutes of the original score, and despite the fact that the use of preexisting music has been allowed in previous considerations, including for another film by the same director, Babel. So this appears to be a case of inconsistent application of rules. ******** Finally, you want "true appreciation" instead of "blind love fandom"? Well, I think I’ve supplied that here, but don’t just take my word for it -- the great drummer/composer Peter Erskine wrote that Antonio’s score: "is so intimately coupled to the storytelling of the film, and it’s groundbreaking." But perhaps you think he, too, is fooled by the emperor?
marra Dec 31 2014 at 2:08 PM	Antonio is a good drummer, but if he were to think, and I don’t think he does really think so, that his drumming on the Birdman film is worthy of an Oscar nomination, he or anyone else who thinks so would be deluded. As a PMG etc fan of over 30 years, I’m disappointed at the ’love everything’ and ’Emperor’s new clothes’ aspect to many of the posts on here - true appreciation is what we want; not ’blind love fandom’!
toneman Dec 28 2014 at 7:25 AM	Oddly, the Academy has deemed it ineligible to compete for Best Soundtrack, despite reconsideration on appeal. Their reasoning doesn’t make sense.
fredsimon Dec 27 2014 at 2:55 PM	Tremendous film on all accounts: conception, writing, acting, directing, cinematography, and, of course, the excellent and groundbreaking soundtrack by Antonio Sanchez.
blisterfree Dec 04 2014 at 9:22 PM	Antonio gets credit for the drum score on the official movie poster as well. I gotta say I thought Birdman was something of a failed artistic experiment, but it was boldly done, the cinematography was interesting, and Antonio’s performances perfectly complemented the visuals (frequently used as the camera zooms down narrow stairwells and around hallway corners, amplifying the frenetic pacing of the film and its maniacal NYC cast of characters). The only thing missing was an actual cameo from Antonio himself, though he does get the stunt double treatment a couple of times in the film, which was kind of funny I thought.
mugsy Nov 24 2014 at 7:43 PM	I had the same experience last evening. My wife and I went to see Whiplash, but it was sold out. We were talked into seeing Birdman, which neither of us knew anything about. Throughout the movie, I was digging the drum score. My wife and I almost always stay to read the credits, and I was blown away when Antonio’s name came up as the artist and composer of the sound track! Way to go Antonio! BTW- the movie is well worth seeing - even without Antonio’s contribution.
HAMBONE Nov 03 2014 at 12:41 PM	...and deservedly so!
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