Jazz icon to share stage with high school senior
Sanchez offers aspiring musicians his advice on what it takes to make it in the music industry
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

SOUL MAN- Legendary jazz musician Poncho Sanchez, front center, and his band will perform tomorrow night at Ventura High School as part of the Ventura Music Festival. During the concert, Sanchez will invite Jessica Molina, a 17-year-old Oxnard High School student, to accompany him during a song. The teenage saxophonist won the festival's student jazz contest to earn the opportunity to play alongside Sanchez.

Poncho Sanchez understands what it means to be a young, struggling musician and how the chance to play with a big-time musical legend can impact an aspiring musician's career.

Sanchez said it was 33 years ago when jazz master Cal Tjader first invited the Texas-born conguero to sit in with him during a show at a Redondo Beach jazz club. The experience changed his life and gave Latin jazz one of its most well-known artists.

Just 24 years old at the time, Sanchez had been laid off from his job at a Los Angeles aluminum foundry four months earlier, and money was tight for the aspiring jazz musician and his young family.

The invitation to play with Tjader that night in 1975, which Sanchez said was only intended for one song, eventually led Tjader to offer the young man a full-time job as the band's conga player.

"I was shocked," Sanchez said. "It couldn't have come at a better time."

The relationship lasted more than seven years, included appearances around the world, a Grammy-winning album and launched the career of Sanchez, one of the most respected musicians playing today.

Sanchez said he still vividly remembers standing in a Philippine hospital at Tjader's bedside when he died of a massive heart attack on May 5, 1982.

"He was my musical father," Sanchez said. "I still get the chills just talking about it."

Inspired by what Tjader had done for him three decades earlier, Sanchez said he will return the favor tomorrow evening during a one-night only appearance at the Ventura High School theater in Ventura.

The 56-year-old Latin jazz icon will invite saxophonist Jessica Molina, a 17yearold Oxnard High School senior, to join him onstage and perform with his world-renowned jazz group.

Molina, a member of her school's marching band, won the festival's student jazz contest to earn her spot alongside Sanchez.

"When I announced the news to the class, she just about fell out of her chair, and the entire class gave her a standing ovation," said Fundi Legohn, director of the school's performing arts department.

Sanchez said he's inviting the teen onstage because working with and mentoring young artists has been a longtime source of inspiration for him during his three decades as a professional musician.

"I see the excitement in them, and then I get excited, and I want to play," Sanchez said. "So it's kind of cool that the young blood keeps me going."

The youngest of 11, Sanchez grew up in Norwalk and spent much of his early years listening to the first wave of mambo and cha-cha music coming from New York via Puerto Rico and Cuba.

"My brothers and sisters, they were the ones who got into listening and dancing to the music of Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, all of what they call salsa nowadays," said Sanchez, who fondly recalled falling asleep to the rhythmic sounds of his sisters' feet as they danced to the upbeat music late into the night.

What Sanchez lacked in training- he was self-taught- he more than made up for with an abandoned enthusiasm for jazz and the congas.

Known for his hard-hitting style, Sanchez said 30 years playing for audiences throughout the world has taught him the finer points of being a professional musician and the pitfalls of the music industry."Now I've learned to call my shots," he said. "And I've learned how to present the music to people."

That doesn't mean, however, that Sanchez won't take chances when it comes to his music.

"I'm always still experimenting because you should always be learning and trying new things," Sanchez said.

The jazz legend said a growing number of professional music teachers, the Internet and scores of instructional videos have given young musicians a head start when it comes to learning to play instruments.

"Kids nowadays do have it a little easier," Sanchez said. "But, hey, you know what? I'm not going to knock that. That's cool. I say to the young musicians, take advantage of that."

Sanchez recently released his own instructional video for the congas.

He cautioned aspiring musicians, though, not to mistake flashy style for substance and that playing live is one of the best ways to improve.

Sanchez said that those who want to make career playing professionally should focus on their instrument and be serious about their craft.

"You've got to be sincere, and you've got to be honest with what you're trying to do here in life," Sanchez said. "If you do that, you'll get there. That's what I did."