Jazz Reviews : Puente and Sanchez Spice Up the Biltmore

At first glance, the big, rousing get-together at the Biltmore Bowl on Friday night seemed to be an energetic Latin music dance party. The talented bands of Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez provided nonstop rhythms, and an overflow crowd of snappily dressed enthusiasts worked hard at carving out some space on the crowded dance floor.

But something else was happening, as well. Behind the peacock struts of the dancers and the effervescent good-times atmosphere was the sound of some solid jazz. The Puente and Sanchez ensembles--like so many other Latin bands of the last five decades--are hotbeds of improvisation, allowing a startling amount of freedom to their soloists.

The Sanchez group, playing the first set, was kick-started into action by its leader’s high-voltage conga drumming. But once the rhythms were set and the dancers were on the floor, the musical electricity was frequently switched up a notch by the soloing of trombonist Art Velasco, trumpeter Sal Cracchiolo and reedman Kenny Goldberg (especially on “Green Dolphin Street”). On keyboards, Charlie Otwell, the group’s musical director, laid down constantly fascinating polyrhythmic patterns.

If there were any disappointment with the group’s performance, it was the absence--understandable as it may have been in a dance setting--of one of Sanchez’s remarkable solo conga excursions.

Puente, one of the godfathers of Latin jazz, lived up to his billing with a well-blended collection of music that tilted somewhat more in the direction of dance rather than jazz. A canny leader and a superb percussionist, Puente managed, however, to open up plenty of spots for his soloists without intruding on the rhythmic needs of the dancers.

The result was a number of sterling improvisational moments. Among the best: Tiro Rodriguez’s stratospheric trumpet flights, the multi-reed work of Mario Rivera, and the virtuosic bass playing (especially on “Oye Como Va”) of Bobby Rodriguez.