Photos courtesy of Concord Records Texas-born jazz musician Poncho Sanchez and his band bring Latin jazz rhythms to Centennial Hall tonight at 7:30. Tickets range from $12-$34 and are half-price for students. Sanchez and his band won a Grammy award for their 1999 album Latin Soul.

A conga drum beats the pure rhythm of soul. What is soul? The timbale, bass, trombone, and trumpet chime in an attempt to answer. This is the essence of Latin jazz, a musical style growing in popularity around the world. Conguero Poncho Sanchez and his band are the leaders of this revolution.

The band was formed 20 years ago after Sanchez played the conga drums for seven years for Cal Tjader's band, one of his favorite groups to listen to before he went professional. Since then, Sanchez's own group has made 22 recordings, toured around the world, and won many prestigious awards, the most prestigious of which was a Grammy in 1999 for the album Latin Soul. The band plays tonight at Centennial Hall at 7:30.

Sanchez took time for an interview in between practice sessions in Seattle, Washington, where the group was performing last week at a local jazz club.

Wildcat: What first attracted you to music in general?

Sanchez: Well, I come from a large family of eleven; I'm the youngest of eleven. I was born in Laredo, Texas, and I moved to Los Angeles when I was about three years old. There my family got exposed to many different types of music. My brothers and sisters got into the first wave of Latin music that came from New York City to Los Angeles · the first wave of the mambo and the cha-cha-cha. We're talking about people like Tito Puente, Machito, Cal Tjader, and old black rhythm and blues music from the '50s. So I was exposed to all that when I was a little kid. My sisters used to dance in the house every day so I got into music just by listening to it everyday and watching it on TV. I'm the only musician out of eleven, but everybody still loves music in my family.

Wildcat: What role, if any, do you feel Latin jazz has played in influencing modern music in America?

Sanchez: Well, I don't know much about today's pop music, and I don't even really care about the pop scene. But, what I can tell you is when I first found out about Latin jazz in general it was very weak. As a matter of fact, it is very surprising that my family got into that, because we're from Texas so our traditional music is Mexican music, or Tex-Mex Tejano music. So for me I'm really proud and glad that Latin jazz is finally getting the recognition it deserves, and it's grown very, very fast in the last 15 years. I'm glad to see it happening because Latin jazz is actually American music. It started in the United States in New York in about 1940. The great Cuban conga drummer Chano Pozo met the great jazz trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie and more or less created Latin jazz. I guess that when I do hear pop music, I notice more congas and timbales and other percussion instruments involved. I remember when pop music used to be electric guitars, drummers, and organ players and that was it.

Wildcat: Are the other members of your band as passionate about Latin jazz as you are?

Sanchez: I think so, yeah. That's part of the reason that they're in this band. And even the new members (I have three new members in the band) are very excited about Latin jazz and being in this band, because it's, if not the number one Latin jazz band in the world, at least in the top five.

Wildcat: How did you find them since Latin jazz musicians were so scarce at the time you started?

Sanchez: Well, way back then, when I originally started this band 20 years ago, I was teaching my friends in the neighborhood about this kind of music, because everyone was into rock music or heavy metal at the time · not too many people were interested [in Latin jazz] at that time. Then I actually got the gig with Cal Tjader; that's when I turned professional. I was with Cal Tjader for seven years. I toured the world with him, and when he died of a heart attack in Manila 20 years ago, I already had this band in the wings. Whenever Cal wasn't working with them, I was working with them. Now there's only one original member left. But now (Latin jazz has) grown so much and I've met many fine young musicians that had learned from our records about Latin jazz. One of the new members of the band, the bongo player, is only 22 years old, and actually, I taught him how to play too.

Wildcat: When you were nominated for a Grammy, what was your first reaction?

Sanchez: Well, I had been nominated four times by the time I won it, so to be honest with you, when I was at the Grammys and I was walking up there, I was thinking, ÎIt's about time.' I mean, I've been doing this for awhile. I've got 22 CDs out, I mean, come on. I think it was my turn to win. Since then, the last two years we've won the Billboard awards for the number-one-selling Latin jazz CD in the country. Those are very important awards too.

Wildcat: What are you and your band doing right now?

Sanchez: I'm getting ready to do the next tour: Tucson, Albuquerque, Wisconsin. They often call me the Îhardest working man in Latin jazz show business' because we do, we work a lot. We travel all over the world. We just went to Japan about a month ago. I'm currently working on material for our next CD, which will include some new stuff. I like to stick to my Latin jazz traditions and roots, but I'm going to go out on a limb a little bit and do a little funk and soul mixed with Latin jazz, and the great Ray Charles is going to be my guest on my next CD, and he of course is a living legend. In Tucson, we'll be doing some of that new material that hasn't even been recorded yet, along with some oldies-but-goodies.

Wildcat: When you go to other countries like Japan, how do they react to Latin jazz since it is such an American music?

Sanchez: A lot of Japanese people are hip to Latin jazz and salsa music. Of course, what happened after the war many years ago, the Japanese people were introduced to jazz and liked jazz, so jazz has been pretty popular for many years. As a matter of fact, I remember the first time I ever went to Japan, which was about 28 years ago, Latin jazz and salsa was barely hitting into Japan and not popular at all. I went with Cal Tjader's band and we hit a few little spots, and we were pretty excited about it, but it wasn't really big. Now 28 years later, when I go to Japan, a lot of people know about Latin jazz · you can go to the record stores and there are Latin jazz sections, so it's definitely grown a lot. We go to Japan almost every year. Latin jazz also does very well in Europe, places like France and Italy.

Wildcat: Is there a big reason for this growth?

Sanchez: I think one of the main things has been just exposure to the music, because Latin jazz was not being exposed for many years. Companies were not involving themselves in Latin jazz, therefore they were not putting out records overseas. Also, once you do hear soul music, it is so likable, because it has a rhythm you can dance to, and it also adds a sophistication to American jazz, you know the melodies, the harmonies, the chord structures and stuff. You put those two mediums together and you have Latin jazz, the rhythm, flavor, and all that. That's why it's such a great music and so appealing to people. Also, the fact is that Latino people now are everywhere. I remember 30 years ago, Latino people were just in New York, Arizona, Texas, California, you know? It was not so spread out. And now you see Latino people all over the world. And of course, they're going to bring their culture with them.

Wildcat: I know that you have been very successful, but is there anything you would change about your journey to popularity?

Sanchez: Not really. It was a long, hard road, especially coming up with pop music being number one; that's what you hear on TV, radios, see on billboards. It was a long, hard road, but I feel that's OK because I could say that I did it the hard way. But now I do feel like I've more or less reached the top of the mountain and I'm trying to enjoy this time, and of course, establish a retirement for when I can't play as hard and as much as I do now.

Wildcat: What advice would you give beginning musicians?

Sanchez: First of all, you have to be sincere about the whole journey and trip and the music. You have to love the music. You have to set a goal in your life, and you have to stay focused on that so that you can complete what you want in life. You must study, of course get all the schooling you can. This is very important: I didn't go to school, but you need to take advantage of what the world has to offer nowadays. We have the Internet, we have videos to teach you to play drums. When I was growing up, there was absolutely nothing like that; there was no one there to help me learn to play a conga drum · it was like a joke: "What do you mean, you want to play a conga drum?" Now you can go into music stores and get conga drum lessons. So you need to take advantage of all these things that will help you succeed in your dream.