Drummer Antonio Sanchez's group Migration makes Seattle debut at Jazz Alley

Antonio Sanchez knows how to make a powerful first impression.

On a jazz scene brimming over with dazzling young drummers, Sanchez stands out as one of the most extravagantly gifted. He's best known for his ongoing, decadelong gig with guitarist Pat Metheny, but in recent years the drummer has stepped forward with his own project, Migration, based on his 2007 recording of the same name.

"Migration" marked his debut as a leader, and the album's cast couldn't be more imposing. Featuring veteran bassist Scott Colley and the superlative saxophone tandem of Chris Potter and David Sanchez, the group expanded to a quintet on several tracks with special guests Metheny and Chick Corea, who also contributed the opening tune "One For Antonio."

For Migration's Seattle debut on Tuesday and Wednesday at Jazz Alley, Sanchez presents an equally prodigious quartet with the well-traveled Colley, tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin and altoist David Binney, horn players who have worked together extensively in the Maria Schneider Orchestra and the free-form collective Lan Xang. As a player and composer, he fully exploits the harmonic freedom afforded by Migration's absence of a chordal instrument.

"I've always been drawn to the space you get when you don't have a harmonic instrument playing in the band, particularly sax trios like Sonny Rollins used on 'Freedom Suite' and 'Way Out West,' " says Sanchez, 38. "I love that space as a drummer. It allows me to play a little busier, without getting in the way."

Born and raised in Mexico City, Sanchez followed a well-trodden path onto the New York jazz scene, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Boston's Berklee College of Music and then earning a Masters in Jazz Improvisation at New England Conservatory.

Only a few months into his studies at NEC, Sanchez so impressed his teacher, Danilo Perez, that the pianist recommended him to reed master Paquito D'Rivera for a tour with the Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra.

Perez hired Sanchez for his own trio, which is where Metheny first heard him, though from backstage he assumed he was hearing a percussionist and trap drummer playing beautifully in sync.

"He's truly the drummer I thought would never be born," Metheny says. "When I first heard him, I wasn't really prepared for someone that good to come along. It actually took me some time to just wrap my mind around the fact that we have all these new possibilities."

Andrew Gilbert: jazzscribe@aol.com