Poncho Sanchez: Hard Working Latin Jazz Artist with Love for Salsa

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Poncho Sanchez is one of the hardest working Latin Jazz artists. He’s produced 24 CDs in 28 years and is constantly touring with his 9-piece band.

I had a chance to talk to Poncho about his background, his recent and upcoming projects, and his impressions on the current climate of the music business.

A Natural Latin Jazz Artist Not Tainted by Education

Poncho Sanchez is a hard working Latin jazz artist both in the studio as well as playing on tour. Poncho credits his prolific output of 24 albums to the great arrangers that have worked with him. His taste for different music styles gives him a musical well from where he can select and adapt certain songs to a Latin rhythm.

As Poncho explained, “not all tunes lend themselves to the rhythm of the clave, so we take our time to find the ones that feel good and fit the rhythm of the clave”.

Despite not having learnt to read or write music, Poncho Sanchez learned how to play the guitar and taught himself the flute, drums, and timbales before settling with the congas. He also has written more than 30 tunes by collaborating with members of his band. “I’ve been very lucky to have good arrangers around me, starting with the excellent arranger and piano player Claire Fisher (from Cal Tjader’s band), Mark Levine, David Torres (musical director of the band), and Francisco Torres (the band trombonist).  I don’t know how to read or write music but I have the music in my head.”

A Love for Salsa Latin Music

In our conversation, Poncho mentioned he would consider recording a full Salsa Latin music album. He has recorded several salsa songs before. There is a compilation “Baila Mi Gente” of Poncho’s salsa music. He had Salsa singer Andy Montañez as a guest singer in one of his albums, and has had other singers with his band, including Oscar D’Leon. Poncho said that he pursued Puerto Rican salsa singer Cheo Feliciano to appear as guest in one of his CDs but the recording dates didn’t match to Cheo’s schedule.

Psychedelic Blues, Willie Bobo, Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo

"<yoastmarkPoncho described how “Psychedelic Blues” started with the idea of a tribute to Willie Bobo. “‘Psychedelic Blues’ is a tune that Willie Bobo recorded many years ago, so I gave it to Francisco Torres, my trombone player, and he did a really good arrangement on that”.

He decided to add a guitar to his music for the CD, as Willie Bobo used a guitar in his albums. From there, Poncho selected several Willie Bobo tunes for a medley, and added other songs form Latin Jazz artists like Art Blakey. From the medley, “Baby I Don’t Know” is my personal favorite.

A future musical project Poncho is considering is around the music of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo. His idea revolves around creating a video of Dizzy and Chano playing their music, followed by the band playing some of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo music, and perhaps inviting an artist like trumpeter Terrance Blanchard to play the part of Dizzy. They may perform it live at a Performance Arts Center in order to possibly recorded it in CD/DVD.

I think this would be an outstanding project that will provide Latin Jazz lovers a treat of the music of these two giants of our music. It would not only be a tribute to them, but serves as a way to educate us on the legacy Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo have on our Latin Jazz music.

Here’s a short promo video on the making of “Psychedelic Blues”

Music Business: Technology May Compromise Quality

Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo
Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie

The democratization of the music through the use of technology to get music published is good and bad according to Poncho. “It’s good that independent labels are putting the music out there. But now anything goes out there and the quality may not be there”. There is some sloppy music published out there, but Poncho has also heard some good quality music published as well; “I would say its at a 50-50 balance right now”.

Once he slows down from touring within a few years, Poncho Sanchez will consider producing for other Latin jazz artists. “Maybe 4 or 5 years from now I may be looking at producing…as I’ve been approached by certain artists”.

Visit to Jazz Alley in Seattle

With a vast repertoire of more than 400 tunes, Poncho Sanchez has a lot of music to choose from for his performances. “We were taking our music books with over 400 tunes in our tours, and they were starting to break apart and we were starting to pay for overweight in our flights” he says half jokingly. “What I like to do is to mix some of the old stuff, with some of the new stuff; and like to mix Latin jazz with Salsa, and the Latin soul bag. “If you like Jazz, you’re going to get some Jazz in my show, if you like Salsa, sit tight as you’re going to be dancing in a minute, and then if you like Soul music like I do, you’re going to get some of that to”.

Poncho Sanchez and his band will be performing at Seattle’s Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley from July 22 to July 25th, with 2 shows on Friday and Saturday. Expect another blog on their performance once I go to check them out! I can’t wait to see them.

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