An acclaimed master of both straight-ahead and outward-leaning excursions, Santi Debriano is a top jazz bassist in New York. Born in Panama, Santi moved to Brooklyn at the age of four. Inspired by his father, an Afro-Cuban pianist-composer, by the age of nine Santi began studying classical bass in a New York City school for gifted children. He studied composition at Union College in New York, then attended the New England Conservatory of Music and Wesleyan University where he was able to give his bass playing priority. He halted his studies when offered to tour with tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp with whom he played for four years.