During this Memorial Day weekend, conga master Poncho Sanchez gave his own patriotic tribute to America during his 1 ½ hour set, saluting eternal qualities like faith and fidelity, to mention celebration of culture.
Just about the entire history of modern music was delivered by Sanchez and his teram of Gian-Carlo Anderson/bongo-perc, Jose Perez/timbales, Andy Langham/p, Ross Schodek/b and a humming horn section of Ron Blake/tp-dir, Art Valasco/tb and Rob Hardt/wwinds.
As with all things from Sanchez, salsa was always in the air, with the band sizzling with percussion along with Balasco’s blistering trombone on “Coco” , with “Con Migo” including a vocal chant and Langham’s splashy piano that got the feet tapping, the heads bobbing and the bodies in the chairs jumping around.
Sanchez himself percolated like grilled onions and peppers under Hardt’s beefy tenor and Blake’s bright brass as the band cruised like a Chevy V8 on “Nightwalk” with the band popping into third gear as Poncho sang bel canto during his medley, with Blake spitting out notes like watermelon seeds.
Keeping hold of his roots, Sanchez and company took a trip to bebop’s 52nd Street with a side turn to Spanish Harlem on a timbale-led “Symphony Sid”, while Afro Cuban pioneer Machito’s “Sambia” was a rich and earthy mix of festive chords and bold voices.
Before closing the avalanche of pulsations, Sanchez gave salute to his wife of 50 years, as well as sharing his devout Christian faith, showing that of faith, hope and love, the best of these is love. Of course, a rousing take of James Brown’s “Outa Sight” with a Famous Flamed collection of horn grooves, doesn’t hurt either!
Upcoming shows at Catalina’s include Dave Weckl/Tom Kennedy Project 06/02-04 Mon David/Josh Nelson 06/08, Tierney Sutton 06/17-18 and George Kahn 06/19