Conga Blue

The conga drum chair was always the position of honor in Cal Tjader's Latin-jazz band. In 1975, California's Poncho Sanchez took over the chair and held it until Tjader died in 1982. Since then, Sanchez has emerged as one of the top congueros and bandleaders in the genre, because he has synthesized the styles of all his predecessors into a sound that is more fluid than frenetic, more melodic than manic. No one influenced him more than Santamaria, and Sanchez's fifteenth album as a leader reunites the mentor and protégé on half of the 10 tracks. The horn and piano parts are respectable if not special, but the real action is in the percussion section, where student and teacher remind each other of the many ways to chop up a measure of music. --Geoffrey Himes