With 4 Grammy nominations under his belt and a Latin Grammy win for his 2004 album Coral, David Sánchez debuts his 8th and newest album Cultural Survival with a new piano-less quartet and features his mammoth Chamber Music America commission "La Leyenda del Cañaveral." Based on a poem by his sister Margarita, it refers to the travels of African people who worked on the sugar cane plantations throughout America and the Caribbean, and Sánchez describes the song as 'a journey' set to the rich history and anecdotes of these people.

Born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Sánchez began playing percussion and drums at age 8 before migrating to tenor saxophone four years later. While a student at the prestigious La Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan, he also took up soprano and alto saxophones as well as flute and clarinet. The bomba and plena rhythms of Puerto Rico, along with Cuban and Brazilian traditions, were among the biggest influences on Sánchez's early taste in music. Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane had the greatest impact on his playing.