PONCHO SANCHEZ
Latin Spirits (Concord Picante)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson


When you listen to dozens of CDs per week with a critical ear - which means listening to each one multiple times - things tend to begin to blur a bit and you get into a pace not unlike that of a speed walker, looking from side to side as you cruise along, disgusted by that one on the right, pleasantly surprised by that one on the left for a few moments until it's far behind and forgotten. Then you open a package and find a new release from Poncho Sanchez and stop walking, because you know that even if this turns out to be his worst effort it's going to be one of the best things you've heard all month. It's going to do magic. Sanchez's congas, once the driving force behind Cal Tjader's fine music, always casts that Latin spell that makes you feel good no matter what your current circumstances may be. "They've repossessed my car, foreclosed on my house, my wife just left with my best friend and somehow or another my horse has come down with mad cow disease, but this song, 'Sambia,' makes me wanna dance, dance, dance!"

Unless you've got no soul to be moved, you'll feel the urge to dance, too, at several times during the course of Latin Spirits. "Sambia" opens the CD with a deep breath of Havana air, but there's more than straight-ahead Latin jazz in the tracks to come. While the Latin accents and spices are ever-present, they sometimes accompany other styles to make interesting hybrids. Perhaps the most potent example is "Going Back To New Orleans," which, as the title implies, conjures images of the Big Easy, doing so with an up tempo bluesy sound. David Spaulding provides the perfect lead vocals for the occasion, and Ledisi vamps over and between his lines with so much energy and passion that she really makes the song unforgettable. The tempo comes way down for the Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne classic, "The Things We Did Last Summer," which features a breathtakingly beautiful song-long flugelhorn solo by Sal Cracchiolo.

The liner notes, written by author Bill Milkowski (Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius, and Swing It!: An Annotated History Of Jive), offer information on each track, and sometimes there are fun stories that go along with the songs. My favorite concerns "Tito In The City," which Milkowski tells us was inspired by an event in which Concord's VP, John Burk, was riding around Manhattan with Tito Puente, who was behind the wheel, looking for a parking lot. All were full. When Puente tried to pull into one, the attendant began to yell "CAN'T YOU READ THE SIGN!? WE'RE FULL!!" Then Puente stuck his head out the window to say something to the man, who instantly recognized him and said "Hey, Tito! Come on in! We got a special place for you!" Ah, the power of fame. How do you pay tribute to something like this in an instrumental piece? With laid back rhythms that feel like an easy cruise, and by weaving in pieces of "Ran Kan Kan," "Mambo Diablo," and "Picadillo," three of Tito Puentes' most beloved tunes. Nice touch.

There are so many reasons to own, listen to and cherish this CD that I barely need to mention the fact that Chick Corea appears on two tracks. He wrote the title track, a complex tune with, as you'd expect, some fascinating piano work. His other appearance is on Wayne Shorter's "Ju Ju," where the piano part is even more complex, at times making Corea sound almost superhuman. The rhythmic patterns he follows are often counter to the rest of the band in such a way that a whole new ghost rhythm is created, if only for a moment.

And here we are talking about Chick Corea, David Spaulding, Sal Cracchiolo, and Ledisi. Why are we talking about them when the name on this CD is Poncho Sanchez? Because Poncho Sanchez is a BAND LEADER in the true sense of the term. If he chose to, he could give us an entire album of conga fireworks that would amaze and amuse, but instead he's given us yet another set of outstanding songs with just the right front person for the needs of each. As I said, even if this were his worst album it would be the best thing I'd heard all month. The truth is it's a terrific album. I don't even know how you would make such a distinction anyway, considering the man hasn't made a bad one yet.

© 2001 - DJ Johnson