Price $18.98
ASIN: B008BGNMZU
Release Date: September 18, 2012

Review:

Recorded over the summer at the Hollywood & Highland KKJZ Summer Concert Series, Live in Hollywood features Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band at their best. The album opens as the live show did with the swinging tune Promenade. Sanchez follows the tune up with the first-ever Poncho Sanchez Medley. He says it s a concept that he and his music director Francisco Torres have discussed for years.

In addition, Sanchez pays tribute to two of his biggest influences keyboardist, composer and arranger Clare Fischer and Latin Jazz percussionist Mongo Santamaria. Fischer helped Sanchez get his first record deal with Discovery, the label for which he recorded before joining Concord in 1982.

Sanchez also delivers a high-energy rendition of Afro Blue that serves as a tribute to the late Santamaria, whom he considers a good friend and important influence. When Sanchez performed at the Hollywood & Highland concert, he introduced the song by talking about what an inspiration Santamaria was to him. While Sanchez s brief commentary didn t make it onto the album, the song still stands a worthy tribute.

For Sanchez, who turned 60 this year and will receive A Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Recording Academy at a November 14, 2012 ceremony in Las Vegas. Being able to make a living playing music is a dream come true. As a teen, Sanchez first learned to play guitar from the guy across the street because he couldn t afford to buy an instrument and his friend would let him borrow his guitar. He then gravitated to percussion after his siblings introduced him to the music that was then called cha-cha music.

I ve been involved with this from the beginning but just as a listener when I was a young boy, he says. I never dreamed it would happen that I would become a professional musician. You go with the flow and you go with your heart and what feels right, and now I know it feels right because this is how I made a living for my whole life. I m not braggin but I did pretty well for a guy from the neighborhood.

Number of Discs: 1
View on Amazon