Latin Soul

In the past two decades, conguero Poncho Sanchez has emerged as the West Coast's foremost Latin-jazz bandleader. Latin Soul--his 19th release for the Concord Picante label--is a cooking set recorded live at the Conga Room in Los Angeles and Yoshi's in Oakland. This is no loose blowing session, but a showcase for Sanchez's road-tight nonet featuring the Banda brothers Ramon and Tony on bass and timbales, plus a powerful four-piece horn section. Sanchez's conga solos are seldom flashy, just rock solid. He pays homage to the inspiration of Mongo Santamaria on "Watermelon Man" and "Besame Mama" and recalls the golden age of mambo with Tito Rodriguez's "Mama Guela." He sings an invitation to dance on "Ven Pa Bailar" and turns the horns loose on Eddie Cano's boppish "Ican." The soul side of the equation is represented by a funky medley of Eddie Harris's "Listen Here" and "Cold Duck Time." --Rick Mitchell