THERE CAN'T BE many conga players better connected than Poncho Sanchez. Band leaders who have called on his services range from Cal Tjader, with whom he made his reputation, to Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Carlos Santana and too many others to list.
That's quite a sideman's CV, but in his own right he's one of the most successful bandleaders in Latin jazz, with 21 albums behind him. He first struck out on his own in 1980, while still working for vibraphonist Tjader, with whom he played for seven years. His solo work won his boss' approval, and shortly before Tjader died he recommended his protege to the head of his record label, Concord.
Sanchez was signed to Concord Picante, the label's Latin imprint, and he never looked back. The Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band are still under contract to the same record company. Tjader died in 1982 while on tour in the Philippines and his recommendation has been seen as passing the torch to Sanchez.
If that was what he intended then he chose a worthy successor. Both men unquestionably had Afro-Cuban rhythms in their blood, but in both cases they got there by transfusion. Tjader was a midwestern American of Swedish descent who became fascinated by the mambo beat in the early 1950s. Sanchez was born in Texas of Mexican descent and grew up in Los Angeles, listening not so much to Mexican music as to the sounds of Cuba, Puerto Rico and New York City played by Tito Puente, Machito, Mongo Santamaria and Tito Rodriguez on West Coast radio.
He felt naturally attuned to the music. Although he started out as a singer - having failed an audition as a guitarist for an R&B band - the first time he hit a set of congas he knew he'd found his vocation.
'Latin jazz is American music,' he has said. 'Latin jazz was born in the United States with Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo in the 1940s. If you were born in the USA, that's your music. I was born in the USA, so Latin jazz is my music and I'm proud of that'.
He has much to be proud of. Downbeat magazine has called the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band 'one of the tightest Latin jazz groups in the world' and in 1999 their Latin Soul album picked up a Grammy. Not surprisingly, it was a live recording - Sanchez's third - that hit the jackpot. Capturing sets at the Conga Room in LA and at Yoshi's Nitespot in Oakland, beginning with his theme tune, El Conguero, Sanchez led the band through blistering versions of Santamaria's hit Watermelon Man and Eddie Cano's classic Ican along with an irresistibly danceable set of other covers and originals.