to sing soul, R&B and oldies. I was the front man for a band--that's where I learned all the James Brown moves and how to lead a band. I learned it on the spot doing weddings and high school dances." At the same time, young East Coast Latino musicians were experimenting by combining Afro-Cuban rhythms with R&B tunes and singing in English. The boogaloo, also known as bugalu, was an audacious blend of Latino and African-American music culture. Such artists as Willie Bobo, Johnny Colon, Joe Cuba, and Joey Pastrano became standard bearers for the popular new style. Even such hallowed salsa and Latin jazz practitioners as Cuban conguero Santamaria and Puerto Rico's El Gran Combo worked in the style, which was one of the major crossover styles of its era.

Today, boogaloo has become an increasingly important part of Sanchez's evolving repertoire--and for good reason. Classic R&B and soul songs adapt particularly well to the kind of jazzy cha-cha tempos that have become the Sanchez group's stock-in-trade. What's more, Poncho remains a singer at heart--an entertainer eager to give these slick James Brown moves another chance to emerge. "The old boogaloo songs from the '60s are coming back, and they are getting a warm reception among the young crowd in dance clubs," Sanchez comments. "That's my music! From the '60s! My trombonist, Francisco Torres, said, 'If we do a shing-a-ling or a boogaloo, it'd be a hit!' And, I agreed. The rhythm we use is a son montuno, a cross between a cha-cha and a son. We give it a funky twist. All that mixed together, with the R&B and soul, makes you just want to dance!"

The album's opener, "One Mint Julep," an old standard that fits the funk con cha-cha mold perfectly, has all the earmarks of a hit. "I think this one's going to do the trick--we hit it right on the head," Poncho says joyfully. "I've loved the tune ever since I was a teenager. Through the years, I would hear it once in a while and be reminded what a great tune it was. There are many great versions, but none of them have that funky Latin cha-cha groove, so I said man, I'm goin' to put a spin on it. It worked out great!

Joining Poncho for the track are trombonist Fred Wesley and saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis from the old James Brown band, who lend their R&B-steeped sound to this as well as four other tunes. "And," the leader adds gleefully, "we hooked up with Billy Preston to play organ. He's such a nice cat. He was actually at Ray Charles' place when we called to ask Ray to record with us. Billy said, 'If you need me for anything, just let me know.' So, he joined us on the song, and he sounds just like Ray on it, playing the Hammond B-3 organ. We ran through it one time in the studio, and I said, 'Stop!' Man he nailed it the first time!"

"Julep" is just the beginning of an extended R&B romp that includes the legendary Ray Charles, a new member of the Concord Records family, crooning his famous "Mary Ann" (incidentally, Mr. Charles changed some of the lyrics on the track especially for this recording). Poncho attacks another tune with boogaloo in its bloodline. "I wanted to take this style a step further," by doing 'Hitch It To The Horse,' an obscure tune done by 'The Fantastic Johnny C.' He's the guy who made 'Boogaloo Down Broadway' a hit. It went number three on the soul charts in the late 1960s, and when I brought that record in high school, the tune I really liked was 'Hitch It To The Horse.' It's so funky, I always wondered why wasn't a bigger hit."

To insure that special flavor of the sixties would be there, he tried to find Johnny C to have him sing the track with the band, only to discover that he'd passed away. "That's when I decided to get Sam Moore, of Sam and Dave, to sing it with me," explains Sanchez. "It wasn't something he'd done, but I knew he would dig the tune and it would fall right in this lap, you know what I mean?" He brought Moore to the studio, talked about it, and had the words handy. "We started sharing the vocal back and forth, and man, it just fell right in there."

Another stellar performance is a Sanchez original, co-authored by trombonist Torres, that's in keeping with the sixties R&B theme. "The Shing-A-Ling is an old dance I used to do when I was in high school," Poncho recalls. "I was in the ninth grade, in the late 1960s, and the style was hot in Los Angles. We used to do the Shin-A-Ling to all the old soul tunes. It was the time of the Motown sound. I've always liked that style of music and rhythm. We were in the car on one of our road trips, and I'm always singing, and one day I was getting out of the rig and I started singing, 'Shing-a-ling, pa bailar y gozar mi son, shing-a-ling.' And Francisco, who's a great young composer, said, 'Wow, who did that song?' And I said, 'Nobody! I guess it's mine!' So he said, 'Sing it again, sing it again. Man, we've got to do something like that!"

Rounding out the boogaloo part of the program, Sanchez takes the vocal spotlight on James Brown's "Out Of Sight," while band saxophonist Scott Martin adds an appropriately sassy Brown tribute, "JB's Strut." The band balances the funk with its finely honed, salsa-accented Latin jazz on label-mate's Eddie Palmieri's "Conmigo," out of the Latin bandleader's sixties pachanga songbook, and "El Tambor Del Mongo," a reverential tribute to the late Cuban percussionist and Sanchez role model.

With over two decades as one of the busiest and most successful Latin jazz bandleaders in the world, Poncho Sanchez has gracefully accepted the role as one of the cherished idiom's most important practitioners. GRAMMY® Awards have been complemented by lavish media coverage. In the past two years, his now famous visage has graced the covers of such publications as Jazz Times and Jazz Education Journal, the prestigious journal of the International Association for Jazz Education. His 21 albums as a leader, including 19 for Concord Picante, have established him as the most artistically consistent and popular Latin jazz artists in the world, bar none. His touring schedule takes him from coast-to-coast in the United States and from Japan to Europe to satisfy the hunger of his rapidly growing international fan base.

Not bad for a Chicano kid who was one of 11 children born into a Mexican-American family in Laredo, Texas. Growing up in Southern California, he was nurtured by the twin music influences of tropical Latin music, including Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Machito, Santamaria and Tjader, and the R&B sounds that dominated the radio airwaves of the day. He became fascinated with conga drumming and was determined to make the Afro-Cuban rhythmic style his own. The chance of a lifetime came along in 1975 when he as asked to join vibraphonist Tjader's popular Latin jazz group. "I was very pound and very strong, and I was so much into being with Cal, it was and honor--a dream come true for me," he recalls of his years with Tjader. "Mongo had always been my favorite conga drummer, so I approached it in the way Mongo would have. He played strong and hard and very seriously. I went into every gig with Cal with that in mind."

Of course, Poncho is always thinking of the next recording session and where he wants to take his music. With Out of Sight in the bank, he's dreaming of the next session, and fans can be sure it will be as tight, funky and danceable--exploding with his signature jazzy riffs and sultry tropical rhythms. And, Poncho is already fantasizing about who he'd like to have on board as a guest. Of course, James Brown is at the top of the list!