Poncho Sanchez

Latin conga player (conquero), bandleader, and salsa singer Filoberto Sanchez – born October 30, 1951 in Laredo, Texas – is better known by his stage name Poncho Sanchez. He is now acknowledged as one of the most influential percussionists in jazz. His family relocated to Norwalk, California, where he attended Cerritos College. Raised on Afro-Cuban music and bebop jazz, he learned to play guitar but switched to lead vocalist after auditioning for a band that lived across the street from him. He taught himself to play several instruments including the flute, drums, and timbales. In high school, he chose to focus on conga drumming. Sanchez auditioned for jazz icon Cal Tjader in 1975 and became a member of his band until Tjader’s death in 1982. Sanchez has also played or recorded with Clare Fischer, Mongo Santamaría, Art Pepper, Benny Golson, Tower of Power, Hugh Masekela, and others. Sanchez released his debut album, Poncho, in 1979. Over the next four decades, he released a series of albums including Sonando (1983), Papa Gato (1987), ¡Fuerte! (1988), Chile Con Soul (1990/with Tito Puente), Cambios (1991/with Freddie Hubbard), Freedom Sound (1997/with Wilton Felder and Wayne Henderson), the Grammy Award-winning Latin Soul (1999), Out of Sight (2003/with Ray Charles), and Trane’s Delight (2019).

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