War & Poncho Sanchez in Oxnard

War is an American band formed in Long Beach, California, in 1969, playing funk, soul, rock, Latin music and jazz. The group first recorded with Eric Burdon, producing “Spill the Wine,” and later became known for songs including “Low Rider,” “The Cisco Kid” and “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” Its major albums include The World Is a Ghetto and Why Can’t We Be Friends?. Eric Burdon and War played Ronnie Scott’s in London in September 1970, when Jimi Hendrix joined the group for a late-night jam that became his final public performance. After Burdon’s departure, the band toured under the War name and documented its concert repertoire on War Live, recorded during a 1972 engagement at the High Chaparral in Chicago.

Poncho Sanchez is an American conga player, bandleader and singer, born in Laredo, Texas, in 1951 and raised in Southern California. His music draws on Afro-Cuban jazz, mambo, salsa and soul; key recordings include Latin Soul, Conga Blue and Chano y Dizzy!, a tribute to Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie made with trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Latin Soul earned him a Grammy Award. In 1975, Poncho Sanchez joined vibraphonist Cal Tjader’s band and toured and recorded with him until Tjader’s death in 1982. He then established his own long-running ensemble, performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.