Sanchez Band Builds to a Strong Finish

Downtown’s Mayan Theater is a Meso-American fantasy where pre-Columbian carvings stare out on a cavernous space meant to resemble the inside of a jungle pyramid. Its cross-cultural blend of South and Central American decoration, coupled with ancient Egyptian and modern hip-hop touches, made the perfect backdrop for conguero Poncho Sanchez’s Afro-Latin jazz hybrid.

Appearing Sunday afternoon as part of the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College Chamber Music in Historic Sites series, the eight-piece Sanchez band explored jazz-salsa through mambo, cha-cha and funk rhythms. But one thing was missing.

Only a single couple was out dancing to the music during the entire first set and the Sanchez band, hampered by difficult acoustics, seemed listless. But during the second set, with some two dozen couples swirling and stepping out front to the music, the group caught fire.

That kind of reaction is just what you’d expect from a band that’s spent nearly 20 years polishing its sound in front of dance floors small and large. And the fact that Sanchez and company can draw people from their chairs and set them to gyrating, even in this formal concert setting, is testament to their ability.

In both sets, the band relied heavily on up-tempo salsa beats powered tightly by Sanchez and his core rhythm section of percussionist Jose “Papo” Rodriguez, bassist Tony Banda and timbales player Ramon Banda.

Jerome Kern’s “Yesterdays” was delivered in smart, up-tempo fashion. Frank Foster’s “Shiny Stockings” was given a more moderate, exotic rhythm. Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” came as a stately bolero.

During the second set, the group came alive, suddenly bracketed by dancing couples on either side of the bandstand. The crowd reacted most strongly to Herbie Hancock’s funk anthem “Watermelon Man” and the up-tempo salsa “Prestame Tu Corazon,” which featured Sanchez as vocalist and fine trumpet play from Sal Cracchiolo. After some 15 albums, three Grammy nominations and innumerable concerts here and abroad, Poncho Sanchez, like the Mayan, has become an L.A. landmark.