By Tad Dickens
Decades have passed since trumpeter and bandleader Dizzy Gillespie met up in New York City with transplanted Cuban conguero Chano Pozo. The music those two pioneered, Latin jazz, in the right hands remains a wonder of American music.
Photo: Courtesy Ashley Stagg
On Saturday night at Jefferson Center, Poncho Sanchez was the man with the right hands. Sanchez and his tape-wrapped digits smacked out groove after tasty groove as his Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band brought new verve to the music that Gillespie and Pozo made. A sold-out crowd in Jefferson Center's 900-plus-capacity Shaftman Performance Hall responded in kind, even if folks were reluctant to get up and move until nearly the end.
The group came to town touring behind Sanchez's collaboration with New Orleans jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, "Chano Y Dizzy!" The 2011 disc celebrates the Latin jazz legacy with Gillespie and Pozo's original music and some new tunes from Blanchard and Francisco Torres.
Blanchard, who joined the band for most of the set, might have been ill. He had trouble with his breath on Gillespie's "Groovin' High," stopping to cough during his solo and practically fizzling out at the end before coughing more.
He recovered by the next song, a requested cover of Mongo Santamaria's "Besame Mama," in which he and Sanchez' trumpeter Ron Blake traded eight-bar breaks, each capitalizing on key phrases from the previous solo, then going for more. Elsewhere, Blanchard showed power and creativity, using his horn for a variety of idiosyncratic tones.
The band - three horns, three percussionists (including Sanchez), pianist and upright bassist - were so tight at times that it sounded like one giant instrument.
Sanchez, seated at center stage, brought down explosions with syncopated and stuttery-quick phrases, much as he had when he brought his act to the Jeff in 2008.
The show started with "Chano Y Dizzy!" number "Promenade," written by Sanchez's trombonist and musical director Francisco Torres. The trombonist, who co-produced the disc with Sanchez, was a marvel of articulation and intonation.
Most of the night was devoted to "Chano Y Dizzy!" numbers, including the disc's opening medley of groundbreaking 1940s numbers "Tin Tin Deo," "Manteca" and "Guachi Guaro," the final number stretching lengthwise as Sanchez and Blanchard slapped and blasted.
"He channels the ghost of Dizzy Gillespie, doesn't he?" Sanchez said.
About midway through, Sanchez paid tribute to his onetime Cal Tjader Band mate, Clare Fischer, playing Fischer's gorgeous song, "Morning." Fischer had died Thursday.
"He was a good friend," Sanchez said, "and a harmonic genius."
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