Singer

GRAMMY® Award-winning bandleader, conguero, and percussionist Poncho Sanchez is among the most influential percussionists in jazz. For more than four decades, he’s stirred up a fiery stew of straightahead jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources.

Throughout his career, Sanchez has held aloft the torch lit by such innovators as Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente and Cal Tjader, embraced by each of those icons and entrusted to carry forward the traditions of Latin Jazz. Poncho recently completed his 31st recording, “Live at The Belly Up Tavern” in Solana Beach, California in March 2025.

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Poncho Sanchez

Lobero Theatre

GRAMMY® Award-winner Poncho Sanchez is among the most influential percussionists in jazz. For more than four decades, he’s stirred up a fiery stew of straightahead jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources. Throughout his career, the conguero has held aloft the torch lit by such innovators as Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente and Cal Tjader, embraced by each of those icons and entrusted to carry forward the traditions of Latin Jazz.

Inspired by the musical collaboration of Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo in the 1940s, DSO Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair and trumpeter Terence Blanchard and conguero Poncho Sanchez express “Latin jazz in perfect form” (Offbeat). Two modern masters in their own right, multi-Grammy Award-winners Blanchard and Sanchez make the ideal pair to recall, reimagine, and advance the powerful rhythms of the past.

Terence Blanchard & Poncho Sanchez: Chano y Dizzy

Orchestra Hall

The top acts in jazz and more descend on the Hollywood Bowl for two days of incredible music and a whole lot of fun.

Programs, artists, dates, prices, and availability subject to change.

Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival

Hollywood Bowl

Few artists embody the pulse of Latin jazz like Poncho Sánchez, a conguero whose hands seem to translate history into rhythm. He makes his first appearance at the SFJAZZ Center with this performance, joined by the latest iteration of his Latin Band.

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Poncho Sanchez

Events

Upcoming events

May 23, 2027

Poncho Sánchez & His Latin Band · San Francisco Jazz

Past events

Jan 31, 2026

Poncho Sanchez · Lobero Theatre

Jun 28, 2024

Poncho Sanchez · Lobero Theatre

About

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