Poncho Sanchez

Grammy-winning bandleader, conguero, and percussionist Poncho Sanchez ranks among jazz’s most pivotal drummers. From his mid-’70s entry into vibraphonist Cal Tjader’s Latin jazz ensemble, he has threaded a singular voice across straight-ahead jazz, raw soul and funk, and the melodic and rhythmic wellsprings of Afro-Latin and South American traditions. Although he first stepped out as a leader in 1979 on the Discovery album Poncho—conducted and arranged by Clare Fischer—he soon established a partnership with Concord that would span more than four decades. Landmark sessions from that alliance include the 1990 release Chile con Soul, which spotlighted Tito Puente, and the 1991 follow-up Cambios, which welcomed Freddie Hubbard as special guest. Between Conga Blue, recorded with Mongo Santamaria in 1997, and Live in Hollywood in 2012, more than a dozen of his titles reached the Jazz Albums chart’s Top 50, among them the 1999 Grammy-winning Latin Soul and the 2011 collaboration Chano y Dizzy! with trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Beyond his extensive catalog as a leader, Sanchez has appeared as sideman with Benny Golson, Art Pepper, Dr. John, and Joe Strummer. In 2018 he served as featured soloist on jazz trumpeter and L.A.-based Russian émigré Ilya Serov’s hit single “Tangerine,” then issued his John Coltrane tribute Trane’s Delight the next year.

Born in Laredo, Texas, in 1951 as the youngest of eleven siblings, Sanchez moved with his family at age four to the Los Angeles suburb of Norwalk, where he still resides. At home he absorbed the Afro-Cuban repertoire of Machito and Tito Puente that his sisters danced to, alongside the bebop of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell favored by his older brothers on the radio. Guitar was his first instrument. While in junior high he performed with local R&B groups, and during sixth grade he revealed a natural gift for singing when he auditioned—originally as a guitarist—for the Halos, the R&B band that rehearsed across from his house. Although he failed to join on guitar, the group hired him as lead vocalist, marking his first professional engagement. Fully captivated by music, he later mastered flute, drums, and timbales before committing to congas. As a teenager in the ’60s, he fell under the spell of the hard-bop and soul-jazz grooves of fellow Texas natives and Los Angeles transplants the Jazz Crusaders, whose recordings received AM-radio play. Sanchez hustled through countless low-paying jobs—weddings, bars, churches, street parties—struggling to sustain himself as a musician.

His breakthrough arrived in 1975. Word reached him via the musicians’ grapevine that Cal Tjader’s conga chair had opened and that the vibraphonist was holding sit-in auditions. Sanchez performed one piece with Tjader and was invited to complete the set; days later he received a week-long trial that began on New Year’s Eve at the Coconut Grove, sharing the bill with Carmen McRae. He stayed with Tjader’s core group for the next seven years, remaining until the vibraphonist’s death in 1982.

While still working with Tjader, Sanchez launched his own ensemble in 1979 and recorded two Discovery albums as leader: Poncho (1979) and Straight Ahead (1980). He began booking his group during Tjader’s breaks. Before his former employer passed, Tjader urged Concord president Carl Jefferson to offer Sanchez a contract. In 1983, the year after Tjader’s death, the conguero debuted on the label’s Latin imprint Concord Picante with Sonando. He became one of the imprint’s most reliable artists, issuing nearly an album annually for two decades and solidifying his stature as a leading conguero and a central force in the worldwide resurgence of Latin jazz. Many of his ’80s recordings were co-written with pianist and arranger Charlie Otwell, who later departed to work with Puente; those projects included Bien Sabroso, El Conguero, and Papa Gato. Sanchez also appeared on Joe Strummer & the Latino Rockabilly War’s 1988 Trash City EP. The widely praised Chile con Soul from 1990 again featured Puente and brought Sanchez international radio exposure plus numerous European and Asian engagements. The same watershed year saw the release of Cambios, a fiery set of Latinized jazz standards spotlighting Freddie Hubbard.

After two live albums, Sanchez recorded El Mejor for Germany’s Bellaphon Records in 1992; Concord licensed it for the U.S. market. Following another live date, he delivered the Cal Tjader tribute Soul Sauce: Memories of Cal Tjader in 1995. The decade proved richly integrative: before its close he issued Freedom Sound, which reunited him with saxophonist Wilton Felder and trombonist Wayne Henderson of his teenage idols the Jazz Crusaders. In 1999 he released the best-selling Latin Soul, which earned a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album at the first ceremony of the new century. Over the ensuing seven years he toured, recorded, and guested with numerous artists while continually broadening his scope. Soul of the Conga (2000) included seven tracks with organist Joey DeFrancesco. Latin Spirits (2001) brought in James Gadson and Chick Corea for a program featuring Dr. John’s “Goin’ Back to New Orleans,” Wayne Shorter’s “Ju-Ju,” and Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne’s “Things We Did Last Summer.” The 2003 soul-jazz and funk session Out of Sight! enlisted the JB’s Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley, and Ray Charles. After the 2004 concert recording Poncho at Montreux, the 2005 album Do It! showcased Latin jazz standards such as “Tin Tin Deo” with Hugh Masekela and Tower of Power as guests. Raise Your Hand (2006) delivered a high-energy Latin soul-jazz and funk set boasting Maceo Parker, Eddie Floyd, Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, José “Perico” Hernández, and Andy Montañez. Psychedelic Blues (2009) fused hard bop with retro boogaloo and Afro-Latin soul; Arturo Sandoval and Ron Blake contributed, and the album found favor with European DJs including Gilles Peterson. In 2011 Sanchez and Terence Blanchard issued the widely acclaimed Chano y Dizzy!, saluting the Afro-Cuban collaborations of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo; a year later the live set Live in Hollywood appeared with Sanchez’s Latin Jazz Band.

Seven years passed before his next leader date, yet Sanchez remained active through touring, teaching, and sideman work on Louie Cruz Beltran’s Paint the Rhythm, Clare Fischer’s Latin Jazz Big Band’s Ritmo (directed by Brent Fischer) alongside Alex Acuña, Steve Khan, Peter Erskine, and Alan Pasqua, Dr. John’s Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch, and Ron Blake’s Assimilation. He returned as leader in 2019 with Trane’s Delight, a personal homage to John Coltrane—the first album Sanchez purchased with his own money was the 1962 Impulse! release Coltrane, acquired while in ninth grade. Co-produced with musical director and arranger Francisco Torres and manager Ivory Daniels, the Latin jazz and hard-bop collection reimagined Coltrane’s “Liberia,” “Giant Steps,” and “Blue Train,” together with works by Duke Ellington and Hubert Laws plus original material. The package included liner notes by Grammy-winning critic and historian Ashley Kahn and reached stores in September 2019.