Surrogate Cuban
By Michael Henningsen
DECEMBER 7, 1998:
Here's a twist: One of the greatest living Latin jazz conga maestros
was born in Laredo, Texas, raised in Los Angeles and hasn't spent
much time in Latin America. But the 47-year-old Poncho Sanchez
was born to mambo and cha-cha--it's in his blood if not in his
direct lineage.
"All of my brothers and sisters were into the mambo and the
cha cha-cha," says Sanchez. "I heard that music every
day in my house. And growing up in a Chicano neighborhood, I also
heard plenty of doo-wop and soul music."
And all of those influences resonate in Sanchez's music. A master
of Afro-Cuban music, Sanchez says the feel of Latin jazz is simply
in his heart. "If you ... love it as much as I do,"
he says, "it doesn't matter where you're from."
His love for the music is reflected in his extensive discography:
17 albums-worth of Latin flavored delight. His latest, Afro-Cuban
Fantasy (Concord), teams him for the first time with a female
vocalist, Dianne Reeves. Sanchez himself does vocal duty on a
number of tracks on the new record, branching out to exclamate
several of the songs with his own passionate voice, but the real
breakthrough here is that examples of conga players working in
cooperation with singers is unusual. But to Sanchez, it's old
hat. In the past, he's worked with salsa legend Celia Cruz, Carmen
McRae and Cal Tjader.
Now one of the most highly regarded figures in Latin jazz, Sanchez
is typically reserved about his place in the musical world. "Some
people consider me the keeper of the Latin jazz flame," he
says. "It was an uphill battle, but I feel like I've finally
made it to the top of the mountain."

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