Esplanade Presents: Poncho Sanchez And His Latin Jazz Band

In 1947 bebop jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and the great Cuban drummer Chano Pozo came together to create the revolutionary recording Cubano Be, Cubano Bop. This landmark album propelled Afro-Cuban sounds into the arena of serious music and ensured the immortality of its creators.


More than 60 years later, conguero Poncho Sanchez—arguably one of the top Latin jazz artists and percussionists of our time—channels the rhythms and beats of the era into a tribute project with all the energy and vibrancy of the original.

Sanchez, whose prolific career as bandleader and sideman spans over three decades, is renowned for his fiery stew of straightahead jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources.

Growing up on an unusual cross section of sounds in L.A. he was exposed to and influenced by two very different music styles: Afro-Cuban music and bebop jazz. By his teen years, his musical consciousness had been solidified by the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, Wilson Pickett and James Brown. Along the way, he taught himself to play a number of instruments before settling on the congas.

His big break occurred in 1975 when he had the opportunity to join his musical hero, vibraphonist Cal Tjader’s band. Following Tjader’s death in ’82, he signed on to his Concord Picante label. Nearly 25 recordings, a Grammy Award and an innumerable number of international appearances later, his latest album Chano Y Dizzy!—recorded in collaboration with multi-Grammy award winning trumpeter Terence Blanchard—is the ultimate homage to Latin jazz.

More than just a musician, Sanchez is also a storyteller. As leader to the most popular Latin jazz groups in the world today, it is his congas and seasoned ensemble that do the talking.

Join Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz band as they re-ignite the classics and present their own infectious compositions.

(1hr 30 mins, no intermission)

$40*, $60**, $80
Limited concessions for students, NSF and senior citizens: $25*, $40**