- One-night-only double bill brings both artists back to Orchestra Hall stage
Detroit, (January 10, 2019) – The Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s (DSO) Paradise Jazz Seriescontinues with a one-night only concert featuring the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band and a solo set by saxophonist and Detroit native James Carter. Both artists will offer their own takes on the music of legendary jazzman John Coltrane.
The concert takes place Friday, January 18 at 8 p.m. at Orchestra Hall, within Midtown Detroit’s Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center.
The same evening, the Wesley Reynoso Afro-Latin Ensemble will perform at a Salsa Dance Party in The Cube, directly across the William Davidson Atrium from Orchestra Hall. A salsa dance lesson with instructor Mambo Marci will begin at 9:30 p.m., with live music starting at 10 p.m.
The Paradise Jazz Series is made possible by General Motors with support from MGM Grand Detroit. The Salsa Dance Party is sponsored by Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, with additional support by Quicken Loans and The Boston Consulting Group.
Please note: the DSO does not appear on these performances.
About Poncho Sanchez
Poncho Sanchez has long qualified as one of the hardest-working men in Latin jazz. Born in Laredo, TX as the youngest of 11 children, he grew up in Norwalk, CA (where he still lives) and remembers hearing Afro-Cuban music as a child. “In third or fourth grade, I would hear my sisters dancing while listening to Machito, Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, and various bands from Cuba, while my brothers listened to doo-wop music and early rhythm and blues.” He joined a high school R&B band as a vocalist and recalls the first time he stepped behind a set of conga drums: “I hit them and it felt quite natural.”
Sanchez’s big break came in 1975, when he had the opportunity to sit in with his hero Cal Tjader, playing congas with Tjader’s band during a week-long trial period as they backed up Carmen McRae. It was a perfect fit, and Sanchez continued playing with the band until Tjader’s death in 1982.
Since then, Sanchez has led his long-running Latin Jazz Band and has released nearly two dozen recordings—notably 1999’s Latin Soul, which won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album and is considered a modern classic. In addition to Tjader, Sanchez has performed with Mongo Santamaría, Hugh Masekela, Clare Fischer, and Tower of Power.
Sanchez’s most recent album in 2011’s Chano y Dizzy!, a collaboration with Terence Blanchard that celebrates trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and percussionist Chano Pozo. He is currently working on a similar recording that pays tribute to John Coltrane. “As a young boy when I started to listen to jazz, I would listen to John Coltrane records on the radio, and I really loved his sound, his style, his approach,” says Sanchez. “He was so far ahead of everybody. In the new album we’ll have some John Coltrane songs we are doing in the Latin jazz style, and we’ll also have some original tunes.”
About James Carter
Detroit-born saxophonist James Carter is a flexible, captivating musician with a big tone and a big outlook on life. “You have to be totally comfortable wherever,” he says. “I feel that music equals life, that’s the way my teacher always taught me. You just can’t go through life and experience it fully with a set of blinders on. I think there’s tremendous beauty in cross-pollinations of music and influences.”
Carter first made big waves in the music world in 1988, when was a last-minute addition to Lester Bowie’s ensemble for a performance at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Bowie invited Carter to join his quintet full-time, and Carter’s career began in earnest when he moved to New York to take Bowie up on the offer. Since then, he has performed with Julius Hemphill, Kathleen Battle, the World Saxophone Quartet, Cyrus Chestnut, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, the Mingus Big Band, and others, including his cousin Regina Carter.
Carter’s discography as a bandleader includes more than 15 recordings, beginning with 1993’s JC on the Set. Highlights include a live album recorded at Detroit’s Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, a jazz tribute to the indie rock band Pavement, a live standards set at Blue Note featuring John Medeski, Christian McBride, Adam Rogers, and Joey Baron, and more. In 2011, Carter simultaneously released two albums that demonstrate his wide-reaching musical capacity: Caribbean Rhapsodyincludes the jazz-classical title work as well as the Concerto for Saxophone, and At the Crossroadsfeatures Carter’s organ trio in a straight-ahead retrospective of the Hammond B-3 organ.
Carter is well-known for inflecting his own sound on music written by his jazz ancestors, and his tributes to John Coltrane have become a signature in his oeuvre.
Ticket Information
Tickets for The Music of John Coltrane begin at $19 and can be purchased at dso.org, by calling (313) 576-5111, or in-person at the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center Box Office (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit).
Advance tickets for the Salsa Dance Party in The Cube are $15 and $25 at the door.
Groups of 10 or more can save up to 30% on the price of a single ticket for most DSO concerts. For more information, contact Group Sales Manager Jim Sabatella at (313) 576-5130 or jsabatella@dso.org.
About the DSO
The most accessible orchestra on the planet, the acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and a deep connection to its city. As a community-supported orchestra, generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels drives the continued success and growth of the institution. Conductor Leonard Slatkin, who recently concluded an acclaimed decade-long tenure at the helm, now serves as the DSO’s Music Director Laureate, endowed by the Kresge Foundation. Celebrated conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik is the orchestra’s Principal Pops Conductor, while the outstanding trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair. Making its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, the DSO offers a performance schedule that features Classical, PNC Pops, Paradise Jazz, and Young People’s Family Concert series. One of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, Orchestra Hall will celebrate its centennial in 2019-2020. In addition, the DSO presents the William Davidson Neighborhood Concert Series in seven metro area venues, as well as a robust schedule of eclectic multi-genre performances in its mid-size venue The Cube, constructed and curated with support from Peter D. & Julie F. Cummings. A dedication to broadcast innovation began in 1922, when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a radio broadcast and continues today with the free Live from Orchestra Hall webcast series, which also reaches tens of thousands of children with the Classroom Edition expansion. With growing attendance and unwavering philanthropic support from the people of Detroit, the DSO actively pursues a mission to embrace and inspire individuals, families, and communities through unsurpassed musical experiences.