Interview - Poncho Sanchez

melophobe:  I know you’re battling the flu, so thank you for taking the time to talk with us in between sets.  First off, how long have you been playing at Sculler’s?

Poncho Sanchez:  I been playin’ here at Sculler’s for about 15 years, and we come about every other year.  We used to do four nights here.  Now we’re doin’ just 2 nights this time.  Sunday we go to Baltimore.  It’s funny, man, last year at the same time, I had the goddamn flu, too.  My wife Stella, usually she always goes down with me, she never misses one of my shows.  She’s so tired, she says “you know what, do you mind if I stay up in the room tonight?” I wish I could!  But I’m here, man.  I’m hangin’ tough!  I just play, man.

melophobe:  Your touring schedule is just unbelievable.  You’ve also put out almost an album a year for the last 30 years.  How insanely hectic is your schedule?

PS:  It is rough, man.  Actually, there was a couple years in there where I said “You know, I need a little more time.” And Concord Records, I’ve been with them from day one, which is another rare thing.  [Late vibraphonist and Latin jazz innovator] Cal Tjader got me the contract with [Concord founder] Carl Jefferson way back when.  We still honor that contract.  I’ve been with them the longest of all their artists.  They let me do whatever I want.  Like for instance, the last record we just did, [2007’s] Raise Your Hand, Concord had just [bought] Fantasy Records, and what comes along with Fantasy is Stax Records out of Memphis, Tennessee.  Booker T. & The MG’s!  [Longtime Concord producer] John Burke told me “Poncho, we own Stax now, is there any of the Stax artists you want to record with?” And I said “are you kidding me, man?” I grew up with that!  So I said “Booker T., Eddie Floyd, ‘Knock On Wood,’ all that stuff.” He says “let’s call them and see if they’re up to it.”

I had met Booker T. and the MG’s about 18 years ago [when] we were on a tour of Italy.  In the morning a bus driver picked us up in front of our hotel, and in broken English he told me there’s four musicians in another hotel about a mile away and we gotta pick them up because they’re going to the same concert that we’re going to.  So we pulled up, and I see four guys standing out in front of the hotel, getting ready to get on the bus, and I tell the bus driver “that ain’t four guys, that’s Booker T. & The MG’s, my man!” They really didn’t know me too well, but they knew about me a little bit.  [Then, in 2007] when I called ‘em to do the record with us, they knew all my shit.  They said “Poncho, man, we’d love to do the record with you, man.  Are you kidding me, we’d be honored!” It’s a great record, man.  Eddie Floyd, man, he’s a beautiful guy.  I only met him on the bus, I talked to him for a half an hour and that was it, that was 18 years ago.  Man, he came in, like he was my brother or something.  We started singing together, we had a ball man.  He’s been a guest with us a couple times [on tour].  Now he’s a good friend of mine.

Anyway, I been telling [Concord] maybe I’ll do one every other year now or something.  I got like 24 CDs out now or something like that.  We’ve been nominated for Grammy’s 5 times, and we won the Grammy for [1999 live record] Latin Soul.  Also what I’m very proud of is we won the Billboard awards [in back-to-back years].  You get that by record sales, has nothing to do with your peers voting for you.  I had the number one record in 1999 with Latin Soul, and then the next record I got number 1 also again for the number one selling Latin jazz CD in the country [2000’s Soul of the Conga].

But [Concord] lets me do more or less what I want.  And the band’s been staying very busy still on the road.  Every other week we’re out somewhere.

melophobe:  That really speaks to your position as advancing Latin jazz; you’re at the forefront of it.  If you want to go see live Latin jazz, you go see Poncho Sanchez!

PS:  Well, if you want to see the real thing, you know what I mean?  Cause we play it straight ahead, solid, we play it acoustically, we play it in the original form.  Then, we also put some salsa in there.  Tonight I didn’t sing too much salsa [he started his career as a salsa singer before picking up the congas], but you can tell I can’t sing [I’m so sick].  But, I always sing “Knock on Wood” or “Raise Your Hand” or “Outta Sight”, that’s one of the highlights of the night, and I can’t sing tonight, man.  So I did “Watermelon Man” instead.  Same kind of feel, right?

melophobe:  In your more recent records, you’ve been including some tracks that are more of a callback to the Stax and Motown of your youth than on your earlier work.  Does that reflect what you’re listening to or getting into right now?

PS:  [Yeah, it’s] more like what we’re just starting to get into now.  This next record, I might do some more stuff like that.  But, for instance, next record what I’m thinking about is possibly doing a big band record, with 5 trumpets, 5 trombones, 5 saxophones.  And we’ll get invited guests to come in.  Mainly jazz guys, and singers, a salsa singer, hot salsa singer.  Cause on the last one we had [Puerto Rican salsa singer] Eddie Montanez singing with us.  So we’re thinking of [Venezuelan singer/musician] Oscar D’León or somebody to come and sing with us.  But it’ll be more like a big band record, not so much like a Latin soul record.

Another thing we’ve been doing (about 3 a year for the last 4 years), I have symphony charts [I wrote] made out, so we’ve done 6 different symphonies with my band in the middle of the symphony.  It’s pretty far out man.  I’m trying to find the right symphony, I want to record it: our music, with a symphony orchestra.  I’m thinking of maybe recording Poncho Sanchez with a symphony orchestra!

melophobe:  That says a lot to where you are at this point, you’ve been with Concord for so long you have that freedom, you can spread your wings.  That’s a beautiful thing.

PS:  Yes, sir.

melophobe:  Chick Corea is a Boston guy, how did you guys end up getting together to do [2001’s] Latin Spirits?

PS:  Once again, I met Chick many years ago.  We were recording at his studio, Mad Hatter Studios in Los Angeles.  His sound tech did two records with us, and he said “Poncho, I told Chick about you guys, I told him your records are great, and he has to come out on one of your records.” One day Chick came into the studio and he says “Poncho, that sounds great, man,” and I said “Chick, why don’t you do the next record with us?” He played with us before we recorded, and he got so inspired, he wrote a tune [title track “Latin Spirits”].  So we did that tune and Juju, the Wayne Shorter composition.  We were going to do that this set, we’ll probably ending up doing it next set now.  Chick’s a great guy, a harmonic genius, just incredible, just so talented.  Chick, I can’t say enough about him, great guy, man.  We’ve done some live dates together, too [including Jam Miami, available on DVD & CD).

{mospagebreak}

melophobe:  You were talking about expanding and playing with a symphony, I’m wondering if you ever thought about going the other way, playing as the sole percussionist in a smaller combo (kind of going back to your days with Cal Tjader)?

PS:  I’m still experimenting with all these big things, so I haven’t switched back down.  Cause I’ve always built [up].  When I first started this band, we didn’t have a trombone player or bongo player because we couldn’t afford them.  Then I added a bongo player and trombone player, and it took about 5 years!  We didn’t make any money in the beginning.  So I’ve always been building up, but that’s a very good idea.  I may consider that in a couple years!

melophobe:  I was just listening to Cal Tjader’s La Onda Va Bien on the way over here, and it was really interesting to hear you in that smaller combo setting.  Your solo on “Mambo Mindoro” is just phenomenal.  What was recording that like?

PS:  Cal wrote that for me.  That recording was great.  I was very happy because we ended up becoming very, very close.  He was like my musical father.  It was the greatest thing, it was a dream come true for me to play with his band.  I was with them for seven and a half years.  And I was with him the day he died in Manila, in the Philippine Islands.  I seen him die of a heart attack, it was terrible, man.  But that record, we won a Grammy with it, and I was so glad because, see, Cal had never won a Grammy before, and he had already 85 albums out, and he started with Fantasy records [he actually did 3 records on Savoy before putting out 40 with Fantasy].  The minute we started with Concord records, we got nominated for a Grammy with this new record company called Concord Jazz and we won the damn Grammy!  And it was a good record, too.  I was so glad to see Cal finally get a Grammy.  I play congas on that record, I play bongos on that record, I play the timbale solo there on “Sabor,” that’s me on timbales.  To play with Cal was the greatest thing, man.  And to be with his band was a dream come true for me.

melophobe:  Here’s kind of a random question.  Were you shocked when you found out Cal Tjader wasn’t Latino?  Because I was!  I had no idea, I’d been listening to his music for years, and I was like “he’s Swedish?  What?!”

PS:  Exactly, man!  I kind of knew already.  I’m the baby of 11, and my brothers and sisters had the Cal Tjader records before me, so I used to see the Cal Tjader records in the corner of my mom’s house, and it was a white guy!  My sisters would play some of Cal’s mambo songs, and I thought maybe “Tjader” was some kind of Latin name.  His mother and father were of Swedish descent.  His real name is Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Junior.

melophobe:  You’ve recorded with almost all of James Brown’s horn section, how did that come about?

PS:  First I wanted James, you know what I mean?  We wanted James way back when, 12 years ago or something, and I remember he didn’t really know who I was at that time.  I recorded Cold Sweat, maybe 15 years ago.  John Burke and myself called him and James said he wanted $50,000 for one song.  Fifty thousand dollars, 15 years ago, that’s a lot of money!  And this is a jazz label!  John says “Poncho, he wants fifty fuckin’ thousand dollars, man!” And I told John “Can he guarantee it’s gonna be a hit?  If he can guarantee it, let’s give him the money!” And John said “yeah, but he can’t guarantee shit!” [laughs] And I said oh, man, James is my main man.  I got every James Brown record there is.  I mean, RECORD.  And CDs.  I got the records to back the CDs up!  I got video footage of James Brown that James Brown ain’t got!  Black and white video of James Brown killin’, man!  I’m a big fan, as you can see.

Anyway, 12 years ago I used to play with [Long Beach, California City Municipal Band], we used to play in the summer at all the parks.  It was a big band, all white guys, with one Latino playing congas, and one black guy, [longtime James Brown sideman] Fred Wesley on trombone!  It was a great band, we got along with everyone, I’m just trying to make fun of it; all these white guys and me and Fred Wesley!  So me and Fred were like this [gestures].  For 3 months we played like 4 days out of the week at all these different parks.  We always had a funk band together me and Fred.  One day I told Fred “man, James wants to charge us too much money, man!” Fred goes “that’s the way that motherfucker is.  Hell with that, I’ll do it for a quarter of that!” So we got Fred and [longtime James Brown sideman saxophonist] Pee Wee [Ellis] [on 2004’s Out of Sight].  We wanted to use [longtime James Brown sideman saxophonist] Maceo [Parker] that year, too, but Maceo was on tour in Europe, so he couldn’t make the recording dates or he would have been on that record.

melophobe:  But you got him later [on 2007’s Raise Your Hand]!

PS:  We said “what the hell, we’ll get him next year,” and then we got him the next year!

melophobe:  Last question, and we’ll let you get back to the show.  What have you been listening to recently?

PS:  I have my iPod, of course, everybody’s got iPods, 40 million tunes [laughs].  My son Julian helps me put tunes in there.  The first time I got the iPod, Concord gave me the white one, the first one that came out for my birthday.  The first time I saw it, I said “put that thing away, man.” I had my cassettes, you know?  Then Julian one day was going through my stuff and says “hey dad, you got an iPod right here!” I said “I don’t know, that’s some fuckin’ thing they gave me.” He goes “Dad, that’s an iPod, do you know what this is?  Forget those stupid cassettes!  I’ll help you put ‘em in with the computer.” So I start getting a stack of CDs, cause I got all kinds of shit.  And I start marking the tunes I want.  He says “Dad, the Internet’s got everything!  It’s more than what you’ve got here.  Tell me a song that you want.” So I tell him a song, and [he types it in, can’t find it] and says “they don’t have it, it’s impossible to get that.” And I said “I got it right here!  And the record to back it up!”

So I got my iPod, and on my iPod I like to put shuffle, because that way I don’t know what’s next.  I got like over 2,000 tunes on there.  It’s from soul music to jazz to bebop to salsa to Afro-Cuban, Bata, doo-wop, oldies, I got all that shit in there, and I even got some Tex-Mex music, cause I’m from Texas.  So Tex-Mex polka, [Tejano rock pioneer] Little Joe [of Little Joe Y La Familia], [Tejano rock star] Sonny Osuna.  So coming over here today [on the flight], I’m half sick, I put on the shuffle, I heard James Brown, I heard Eddie Harris, I heard it all.  That’s what I like.  I don’t like the new music too much, rap music.  I like stuff from the 50s, 60s and early 70s, that’s about where I draw the line.  Every once in a while I will hear something new and I’ll say “oh, that’s nice, who is that?” But there’s not too much I like nowadays.  I’m from the old school!

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