October 20, 2010

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB's Alys Stephens Center will present Poncho Sanchez and His Latin Jazz Orchestra at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12, 2010, in the center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $61, $54, $39; $20 for student tickets. Call 205-975-2787 or go to www.AlysStephens.org.

Come early for a prelude at 7 p.m. with Tim Thomas, director of music at Indian Springs School and First Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. Preludes are entertaining and enlightening discussions of the music, artists and art form that are free and open to the public.

The show is part of the Alys Stephens Center's World on Stage Festival, six days of performances, demonstrations and discussions, some free, featuring living art, community mandala sand painting and performances by Mystical Arts of Tibet, a show for children and families, "The Bollywood Experience," and the African Children's Choir.

Percussionist and Grammy Award-winner/nominee Poncho Sanchez performs Latin jazz, swing, bebop, salsa and more. If music were pictures, Sanchez's music would best be described as a kaleidoscopic swirl of the hottest colors and brightest lights to emerge from either side of the border, according to his website, www.ponchosanchez.com. All of these sounds and more come together in his latest recording, "Psychedelic Blues." It opens with "Cantaloupe Island," a composition by Herbie Hancock recast in a Latin jazz groove, and the album includes fast-moving mambo, a nod to Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz percussion, salsa and more.

Born in Laredo, Texas, in 1951 to a large Mexican-American family, Sanchez grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles with the sounds of jazz, Latin jazz and American soul at home. By his teen years, his musical consciousness had been solidified by the music of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, Wilson Pickett and James Brown. Along the way, he taught himself to play guitar, flute, drums and timbales, but eventually settled on the congas, according to his bio.

This show is sponsored by The Birmingham News, The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Viva Health.

About UAB's Alys Stephens Center

The Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, part of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is one of the Southeast's premier performing arts centers, hosting the best in international, national and local performance. Home to the UAB departments of Theatre and Music and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the ASC also presents its own season, bringing the world's best music, dance, theater, comedy and family entertainment to Alabama.