More than anything else,
Poncho Sanchez is a storyteller. And, as leader of the most
popular Latin jazz group in the world today, it’s his congas and
seasoned ensemble that do the talking. Live in concert or on
recordings, they spin vivacious tales that pay homage to the glories
of a half-century tradition that was born when Afro-Cuban rhythms
merged with bebop. One-on-one, the Chicano conguero is equally
expressive, recounting in vivid detail the encounters, friendships,
and passions that have contributed to his remarkable career as a
bandleader and recording artist. Behind the choice of every song,
album title and guest artist, there’s a story Poncho Sanchez
delights in telling.
Do It!, the
latest in a long series of releases that began in 1982 for Concord
Picante, is no exception. “Its name is taken from the tune by our
trombone player Francisco Torres that was originally called ‘Duet,’”
Sanchez explains. “It features a duet between the trombone and tenor
sax. For a while, we even called it ‘Brothers Duet,’ and then
Francisco suggested we just call it ‘Do It.’
When we announce it at gigs, the audience starts yelling, ‘Do it, do
it!’ So, I said, ‘Well, there it is. That has to be the title for
the new CD!’”
Do It! is distinct, even by Sanchez’s high
standards. The album features on two tracks the entire nine member
Tower of Power, an iconic group that has become a
high-octane symbol of the funk era of the 1970s. Another two tracks
boast the presence of an equally legendary musician, South African
Hugh Masekela. Over the years, Sanchez has
hand-picked guest artists who have had a special role in shaping his
growth as a musician, from trumpeter Freddie Hubbard
and saxophonist Eddie Harris, to Latin jazz
patriarch Tito Puente, conga titan Mongo
Santamaria and the late Ray Charles. The
guests invited to participate on Do It!
have been among Sanchez’s favorites for decades. “I’m just doing the
things I grew up with and that I respect and really love,” he adds.
“It’s part of my life.”
He was in high school, Sanchez
recalls, when Hugh Masekela’s “Grazing in the Grass” became a hit.
“But I was hip to him before that, through his album The
Emancipation of Hugh Masekela. On ‘Grazing,’ there was a sound
that my friends liked. They hadn’t really understood why I dug him
so much until then, but when they heard this recording, they said,
‘Wow, he is pretty cool.’ It was a way for me to get my friends to
listen to his Emancipation album, which was a little
deeper.” Sanchez first encountered Masekela at a festival on the
East Coast half a dozen years ago. Four years later the trumpeter
was featured as a guest with Sanchez’s group at the Duke Ellington
Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C. That laid the groundwork for his
participation on Do It!
A fan of Tower of Power
since day one, Sanchez first met members of the group when they
shared the stage as part of an all-star band assembled for the
eighth anniversary of “The David Letterman Show.” “That’s when I
actually got to meet those guys, and I told Emilio Castillo, the
tenor sax player and leader, that we should do something together.
About six years ago, they invited me to play on one of their
albums,” he details, launching into another story. “Then one day
recently I got a call from Hal Gaba, the owner of Concord Records,
who said, ‘Hey Poncho, you have to hear this track I’m listening to
on satellite radio.’ He said he thought we should record it. So, he
sent me a recording of the song by a Japanese big band playing
‘Squib Cakes.’ I called him and said, ‘Yeah, that’s good, but you
know, that’s a Tower of Power song, so why don’t we
get their horn section to do it with us?’” When he told Castillo
that just the group’s highly touted horn section would be needed,
the sax man responded, ‘Hey man, what are the other members of the
band going to say when they find out the horns get to record with
Poncho Sanchez and we don‘t?”
The story had a happy ending when the
whole band was booked, making it the largest assemblage of guest
artists ever to participate on a Sanchez recording date. Hanging out
with Castillo also led to another bonus for the album. “Emilio is
hip to all of the old funk stuff,” Sanchez states, “and he started
talking about Dyke and the Blazers, a funk band. Dyke was killed
really young. It was Emilio’s idea to do one of those old tunes, so
I had Francisco Torres arrange ‘Shotgun Slim’ for
the session.”
The album includes a variety of styles
that illustrate the leader’s fondness for traditional tropical Latin
fare, jazz standards, R&B, and funk. On “Yo Quisiera,” co-composed
by Sanchez and trombonist Torres, Poncho croons in the best
tradition of Tito Rodriguez and other storied vocalists. On Chano
Pozo’s “Tin Tin Deo,” a standard made famous by the late Dizzy
Gillespie, Sanchez revisits through a new arrangement a classic
sound that had once been prominent in the band’s performances but
had not been used in years. “We always like to do a 6/8 tune,” he
explains, “so Duke Ellington’s ‘African Flower’ was a nice fit for
this album. ‘Together,’ written by flautist Hubert Laws, was
introduced on an old Mongo Santamaria album from the 1960s, El Pussy
Cat.”
Today, Sanchez’s life’s story has
become a well-known part of Latin jazz lore. He was born in Texas on
October 30, 1951 into a large Mexican-American family (rumor has it
that his 13-year old mother fled to the U.S. after hiding under the
bed as revolutionary Pancho Villa stormed her village), but grew up
in the Los Angeles area, where he was weaned on a broad range of
Latin and non-Latin popular music. Inspired by the conga playing of
Cuban great Mongo Santamaria, he honed his skills as a percussionist
and broke into the limelight at the age of 23 when he joined
vibraphonist Cal Tjader’s famed Latin jazz ensemble in 1975. Poncho
performed with him until Tjader’s untimely death in 1982. A year
later, he began his unprecedented 23-year relationship with Concord
Records, which has produced two dozen recordings, a GRAMMY® Award
and several GRAMMY nominations.
“It’s always worked for me and
Concord,” Sanchez says, describing his unique, long-lasting
relationship with the label that stands in contrast to the
experience of virtually all of his peers. Picante, in fact,
celebrates its 25-year anniversary in 2005, and the conguero has
been part of the family for much of that time. “In the beginning,
owner Carl Jefferson would keep an eye on us in the studio like a
hawk, because he didn’t want us wasting any time and money,” he
laughs. Jeff, as the Concord founder was known, actually introduced
Poncho to Jim Cassell at the Berkeley Agency, who would become his
long-time manager, as well as John Burk. “I hung out with John, and
he was a nice guy,” Sanchez recounts. “He played guitar and knew a
lot about music. Today, he’s vice president of Concord Records, and
I consider him one of my best friends. The label never pushes
me¯never tells me, ‘Hey Poncho, you need to do this or do that.’
That’s way I can just keep doing the stuff I grew up listening to,
like we’ve done on Do It! As far as I’m
concerned, it’s still the best stuff there is!” Fans of Latin jazz
and Poncho Sanchez are likely to agree.
