Luis Gasca: For Those Who Chant:

The Mission District’s Bitches Brew.

Recorded Columbia Studios: 17 & 18^th August 1971

Finding Latino Rock records in the early 1970’s

As a young kid about 14 years old, I discovered the original Santana band. When the 3^rd album was released in October 1971, I did not think anything of walking to Beggars Banquet, a hip record store (then) situated in Ealing Broadway. Ealing was a suburb of West London; it was a good 4 or 5 miles walk from my house in Hanwell, which was also located in West London. I bought Santana 3 a few days before the UK release, the US releases seemed much better; they had much thicker card which was used on the album covers with sleeve foldouts and heavier vinyl on the US Columbia label. (Our CBS releases in the UK seemed thinner in the actual vinyl on the records and thinner in album packaging) and I just couldn’t wait the extra week to hear it. It was a very mind blowing recording, a towering selection of underground cuts that was a Number One Billboard seller. Since then I have had the pleasure of writing the sleeve notes to the Santana 3^rd album CD reissue released as a deluxe two x CD set in 2005.

[Show as slideshow]

This was thanks to the auspices of original keyboardist and lead vocalist Gregg Rolie.

Shortly after buying Santana 3, I walked up again to Beggars Banquet and Steve Webbon who worked there (and who had been an art student at Ealing School Of Art, where I also had been studying art and design) showed me another beautifully designed album, with a white cover and a very nice artwork of a Negress/goddess with a rose floating over her Afro’d head. I was immediately interested in the sleeve visually and then Steve dropped the bombshell, “All the original Santana band are on this recording”.

Actually David Brown, Santana’s bassist was missing but all the others were there, plus Lenny White, Stanley Clark and a battery (literally) of percussionists, eleven in all.

I was intrigued by the music as Steve put the vinyl on over the shop’s speakers, it was Miles-like but had strong Latin rhythms and I had become aware of Luis Gasca’s hot trumpet flourishes from Para Los Rumberos on the preceding Santana 3^rd album. I believe that I heard the Luis release on around December 1971 or early 1972 on Blue Thumb Records. The recording has always stayed with me as a really deep and important piece of music, edited from long jams that were recorded at the Columbia Studios in Folsom Street, San Francisco on the 17^th and 18^th August 1971.

During writing the book Voices of Latin Rock, it was not possible to contact Luis but since then, I have had the pleasure to correspond with him and he has shed much light on this epochal recording made in those heady days when Santana was ruling the airwaves and the album charts worldwide.

I am also indebted to Abel Zarate for further detailed interview information, Jeffry Trager for added spice as he worked at Blue Thumb and also frequented Andres Club on Broadway, where “hellacious jams” occurred according to Greg Errico.

I would like to thank also Victor Aleman for some rare photos of Luis and Joe Henderson and Bernie Arriaga (co-owner of Andres Club) from back in the day.

Victor also supplied a subsequent telephone interview from Los Angeles and other extraordinary photos from back in those heady days.

Thanks also to Mark Levine, renowned keyboardist (one of four keyboard players at and on the sessions) who although not entirely sure of certain details, shed further light on these sessions.

I tried to contact Carmelo Garcia, who is not dead as I was led to believe, but living somewhere in L.A. or maybe New York City.

Michael Carabello supplied me with a cassette when I first met him in 1991 in Fairfax, California from his personal reel – to – reel tapes from these Columbia Studio sessions. I thank him retrospectively for that, as it is great to hear the initial un-dubbed sessions with false starts and no tribal vocals plus the extra pieces of unreleased further jamming in the studio.

I would like to thank Michael Shrieve for casting an eye over the interview and adding his reminiscences and comments. Thank you all gentlemen!

STEREO VINYL LP!

Luis Gasca: Luis Gasca! 1971 Blue Thumb Release!

Personnel includes:

Luis Gasca (Trumpet & Flugelhorn);

Joe Henderson (Tenor Saxophone);

Carlos Santana, Neal Schon,

Abel Zarate (Guitars);

George Cables, Gregg Rolie, Mark Levine

(Piano, Electric Piano);

Richard Kermode (Organ);

Lenny White, Michael Shrieve (Drums);

Stanley Clark (Bass);

Victor Pantoja, Mike Carabello (Congas);

Carmelo Garcia, Coke Escovedo (Timbales);

Rico Reyes, Snooky Flowers (Percussion).

Jose “Chepito” Areas; Vibes

Joan Macgregor, Garnett Mimms; Percussions.

TRACKS:

A1. Street Dude (11:40);

A2. La Raza (8:03);

B1. Spanish Gypsy (15:07);

B2. Little Mama (5:28).

Artwork By [Painting Of Front And Back Cover] – Phillip Lindsay Mason

Engineer [Recording] – Glen Kolotkin, Mike Larner

Mixed By – Ken Hopkins, Luis Gasca, Stan Marcum

Photography – Victor Aleman

Producer [For David Rubinson & Friends, Inc., San Francisco] – Luis Gasca.

Supervised By [Production] – Stan Marcum

Recorded at Columbia Recording Studios, San Francisco August 17 & 18, 1971

Mixed at Wally Heider Recording, San Francisco

Dedicated to Gonzales Mares Garza “with little birds and flowers”, 1902 – December 25, 1971

For Those Who Chant Interviews —

 Luis Gasca was a scenester and musician-about-town in 1971 in San Francisco. He jumped the Santana train through the auspices of percussionista Coke Escovedo, played horn and was very influential as the horn section with Roy Murray (see earlier interview with Roy on this site) on the debut Malo disc. He also recorded For Those Who Chant, which is the main thrust of this piece.

Luis remembered his introduction to this exhilarating, fomenting situation, “I had met the Santana band while I was part of the Kosmic Blues Band with Janis Joplin at Woodstock, they were unknown at that time and on they’re way to becoming very, very famous. Janis was very popular at that time and being a Latino along with Carlos, Chepito, Mike Carabello and Fito Parra (the drummer for Canned Heat) we sort of bonded you might say several years before the For Those Who Chant recording.

I had played on the 3rd (Santana 3) and 4th (Carlos Santana and Buddy Miles Live) Santana albums and became good friends with Stan Marcum, whom I considered very smart and he had some very good and different ideas for a person that had little experience in the band and recording business, also another quality I saw in him, which is also very rare in the record business, was that he was not greedy. He was very fair and not an egomaniac like people I had worked with, like Albert Grossman (manager of Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin) also Joe Dorn (who ran the affairs of Roberta Flack and Freddie Hubbard) and a wannabe musician, “you will never work in this town again type of dick head”, namely David Rubinson.

Because of Stan’s fairness, I, Victor Pantoja, Hadley Caliman, all received royalties from the Santana and Buddy Miles album. Stan never received the credit he deserved and unfortunately lost his position during the original Santana band disagreements and Bill Graham’s power trips.

I will forever be indebted to and miss Stan and like many of us at that time he had “his demons”.

Does anyone know what happened to Stan?

 (Stan Marcum never overcame his alcohol and drug demons and died in 2010 I believe, according to what Herbie Herbert told me. There was an obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle, this information was also relayed to me by Herbie – Jim note).

I asked Luis about the “Chant” recording and how it came about?

Stan lent me $7.000 to get started and he got the studio time the engineers, etc, and helped get the Santana guys to be part of the musical trip.  Mike Carabello and Michael Shrieve and also Carlos at one time or another, helped me when I managed Andres Club in North Beach along with Bernie Arriaga.

(See Victor Aleman’s photo of Gasca and Arriaga with Eddie Palmeiri – Jim note).

While working with Mongo Santamaria in 1967 we recorded an album with David Rubinson before he became the San Francisco based “infant terrible” ha, ha!!
After the success of the first Malo record, I took my recorded tape to David and with the bargaining power of the Santana name he got me a contract with Blue Thumb Records. I did not have any specific ideas in mind, except to get the musicians in the studio with no preconceived musical ideas.

I was always been influenced by Miles Davis and had been listening to the Bitches Brew and Miles In The Sky albums, where he broke away from chord changes, to playing musical statements and motifs, more so than melodies going in and out and different time feels. So I gave it my best shot and all things considered I think it stands the test of time like my other albums, especially with all the things going on around me at that time, which also included my own demons.

Victor Aleman was originally a member and director/founder of The Outlaw Blues Band, which lasted for seven years in Los Angeles and he then became involved in photographing the nascent Latin and Jazz scene in San Francisco in 1970’s.

“At the end of The Outlaw Blues Band contract with ABC Bluesway Records where we recorded two albums with Bob Thiele as a producer (producer of John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong and many other great musicians), I became involved in photography and visual arts.

One day I went to see Larry Young, the great jazz organist playing at Griffith Park at a series of free concerts they held in the Los Angeles area. After Larry Young’s set Luis Gasca came to play next; Luis had Carmelo Garcia on timbales, Hadley Caliman on tenor sax, Lenny White on drums, George Cables on piano, Victor Pantoja on congas and other musicians that I do not recall. At that time I didn’t know who Luis Gasca was.

Luis was also playing a gig at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach where I went and show him the images that I have taken at the Griffin Park concert. He told me he really liked my photography and if I would be interested in going to San Francisco to meet a new band called Malo. They need photographs for a new album cover they were just finishing.

I travelled to the bay area and I started photographing Malo at rehearsals at The Heliport in Sausalito and the many other places they played at that time.

For me, Abel Zarate at that time was one of the best guitarists in that scene. The band had all kinds of problems, with young egos etc, I thought when that initial lineup dissolved they really lost something very special. Of course they went on to get master conguero Francisco Aguabella and Hadley Caliman on the second recording.”

(Jim note; Victor Aleman was responsible for the infrared back cover and dramatic photos of Malo inside the fold out on their debut album release. He also did the photography for three albums released by Luis Gasca and was one of the official photographers at the Keystone Korner club in North Beach where he documented the greatest jazz musicians including Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, Stan Getz, Yusef Lateef, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and many others.)

Luis Gasca was then living with Richard Kermode in the North Beach area of San Francisco. Gasca introduced Aleman to Andres Club on Broadway, in North Beach, San Francisco. Andres was being run for its fairly short but dramatic lifespan, by a local hipster called Bernie Arriaga.

Victor remembers it as, a “small little club in North Beach, the very hip and historical area in San Francisco. It was very close to the bay, so there was a lot of tourists, artists and the club became a magnet for Latin jazz at that time, because Luis made it onto “the” hip scene of the city.

Luis had the gift of attracting a lot of other musicians to any club he was playing at. Luis made it happen. Carlos Santana used to come there when he was in his learning transition about jazz. I think Luis and the many musicians that were playing there at that time were pretty instrumental in expanding Carlos’ musical horizons. You never knew who was going to show up on any given night. Luis was running the house band there. The Santana musicians showed up a lot, the Escovedo brothers, Armando Peraza, Victor Pantoja, Francisco Aguabella, George Cables, Lenny White, Sly and the Family Stone, Rick Stevens, Mongo Santamaria and many other musicians that I really do not remember. But it was the place to be any day of the week in San Francisco, because it was full of surprises, musically.”

For Luis Gasca’s seminal “Chant” recording, a mixture of these jazz musicos and the original Santana band entered the Columbia Studios that August in 1971…

I asked Luis about the interplay between the Santana group and the jazz players?

“I’ve already mentioned that Stan Marcum helped me with the Santana band and I personally asked the guys.
At that particular time all the Santana band including Carlos had received instant fame and fortune and with the power struggle going on within the band, they had plenty of time to hang out.

Having Victor Pantoja, Francisco Aguabella, Carmelo Garcia, Richard Kermode, Hadley Caliman in my band at any given time, allowed them to hang out and sit in and also to become personal friends.

Joe Henderson was appearing at a great jazz club managed by Delano Dean Delano (Dean was the owner of the jazz club both/and. I played there one night and Dizzy Gillespie and Roland Kirk sat in with me, it was a famous great club!)

He (Joe Henderson) asked me if I needed any more musicians when I asked him to do the record date; he took the whole band along which also included, George Cables, and an unknown bass player at that time Stanley Clark and Lenny White, the drummer who had recorded on Bitches Brew with Miles Davis – by the way the flute player on “Chant” is Hadley Caliman”.

Mark Levine one of the four keyboardists on the session, was not in agreement with all of Luis’ musical decisions

I worked with Joe Henderson a lot over a 15-20 year period, but we were not close friends. I remember getting paid for the Chant session. There was so much coke around then that I forget a lot. I was in Luis’ band but it was not a working band, but it usually consisted of Joe Henderson, various bass players, Carmelo, various congueros, and myself.

Yes, I was also part of Pete and Sheila’s band at The Reunion, but I don’t remember the club Andres.

I felt there were too many percussionists on the record and also two many keys players.

George Cables and me were on piano, we got in each other’s way but I respect and admire George a lot though.

I asked Luis about the extraordinary and almost telepathic guitar playing by Neal Schon and Abel Zarate on “Little Mama” and the point at record track timing; 4 minutes and 34 seconds When they both “hit” a kind of classical guitar fugue for a hot minute???

I don’t musically remember that part Neal and Abel played, though, I believe it was spontaneous in a spontaneous musical setting. Where one is recording, there are some excellent parts that you keep and chaos that you discard, because you only have a certain amount of time on the record. Miles did the same thing and those are the consequences of recording “free” with no preconceived ideas!

I also asked Abel Zarate the same question?

Abel you plugged in for Little Mama with Neal Schon,

there is a fabulous part at (timed from Facebook

post at 4 minutes 34 seconds) when you and Neal hit a together guitar part, an almost ‘classical part’ was that an accident??

Nothing was planned Jim, everything was flowing and very spontaneous. I’m sure that I was ‘overplaying’ a bit, but Neal and I just intertwined at that point in the jam.

You could call it a magnificent accident if you like LOL… I just listened to it … that’s me coming in right at 4:34 after Neal; I guess we had BIG ears that day huh!

Luis had me stop after a while, my feeling is that he wanted the more experienced jazz players to take it somewhere else; I wouldn’t call it chaotic, it was just unstructured improvisation and I guess that’s what Luis wanted.

BTW Jim, I listened to both Little Mama and Street Dude in their entirety, and Carlos does NOT appear on either tune; he must have played on the other two tracks.

Jim, that’s also me and Neal on Street Dude; I just listened to it, I didn’t realize until now, that I am on TWO cuts from this LP … Street Dude and Little Mama - that is too much!!!

I’m listening to Spanish Gypsy right now and that IS Carlos on that one!

We went to The Automatt (surely Columbia recording studio?) during the ‘Luis’ sessions and that’s how I got to play. He invited Pablo and I to sit in, so I plugged in my guitar and started playing … I distinctly remember Lenny White, Coke, and Stanley Clarke; it was surreal.

Also, I’m going to assume that Luis’ record was done BEFORE we did the Malo LP. To my best memory, I believe the Malo LP was recorded in late August and September … you might want to check with Rich Spremich and others on this?

Abel Zarate also remembered other players at the sessions?

I believe Luis had invited us to the studio while we were rehearsing at the Heliport in Sausalito … hence, that is why we had our instruments with us.

I remember we were invited to the Columbia Studio on Folsom Street, across from where SIR studios used to be. Jorge, Pablo, and I were in awe of the musicians present, they were doing ‘unstructured free-form jams’ it seemed.

Luis turned to me and Pablo Tellez and asked if we wanted to play, so I nodded yes, and plugged in across from Neal Schon.

I doodled around for a bit, and then found an opening and started them off on a cha-cha vamp … not sure how long I played and when they started getting really ‘out’, Luis had me stop playing! I used to have a copy of that record on CD, but can’t find it now.

We met Carmelo Garcia via Luis, we hung out at Basin St West a few times on Broadway Street, and if I remember correctly, Carmelo also played timbales at Andre’s and at Cesar’s Latin Palace.

I seem to recall that he either sat in, or played on a couple of gigs that I did with Kermode. Carmelo didn’t speak English very well, but he was always smiling and joking around; I believe Richard Spremich would have more to say about Carmelo than I do.

Thanks Jim, as many years have passed from this project, I do not want to ‘ruffle’ any feathers. But I was always curious as to why I ended up on the final mix unaccredited.

(Abel see Luis’s comment further on- Jim note)

Luis Gasca also remembered the framework around the recording sessions.

Besides finding a financial sponsor (Stan Marcum), getting the band which included rooms, advances, “goodies”, women and countless other things, I had “a lot on my plate” and then I had to play the trumpet which is very demanding.

Please also tell Abel Zarate that I did not mean to leave him out on the album credits; it was an oversight on my part. I also left out other people who had helped me. I was pretty burned out mentally and physically, so tell every one hi for me… (Hi from Luis everyone!!)

For Abel Zarate; the sessions were a new learning curve and a chance to play with hotshot youngster Neal Schon…??

Well, it was ‘listen’ and compliment … everything was flowing free-form, but I was right across from Neal (perhaps I was overplaying a bit. You know it was a totally new experience for me at that time … but Luis was having us experiment with the ‘cosmos’ at MALO rehearsals, so I was sort of ready for it … we were all learning the use of space etc. etc. … and how to ‘listen’ … although I hadn’t yet mastered that LOL!

The recording session that I was at was done ‘live’ … everyone in the room separated only by baffles … I wasn’t privy, as to who was overseeing the project.

All I know is that we were invited, and we showed up … so there are THREE scenarios that could explain how I ended up on that record.

Neal was quite aloof, as he WAS the hot guitarist then for sure (I didn’t know at the time that he had already played with Derek and the Dominoes) so I gave him his space, and didn’t say too much to him. It was a blast playing in the same room with him, as I had heard so much about him.

I was only at ONE session, and I had no idea I’d be playing that day … hence, I was VERY surprised when I heard my parts on the record … but I was very busy doing other projects.

After I left Malo and wasn’t sure what I could do about it, or whether or not it was worth pursuing. I was young and really didn’t care, or thought it would matter much.

Abel Zarate also had to leave the Malo band later after this Gasca recording, due to encroaching health reasons

Health problems were the reason they fired me from Malo!

I missed an entire weeks’ engagement at the Whiskey A Go-Go in Los Angeles because of it, the management used that as grounds to let me go; it is what it is, and it was what it was:-)

Jeffry Trager was working at Blue Thumb Records with Tommy LiPuma and Bob Krasnow and remembered Luis’ personality?

Luis was one great trumpet player, who came along right in the middle of the Latin Rock Explosion. One of the craziest and wackiest guys you would ever want to meet. Always hustling for something.

Personally, I loved the guy. He was ALWAYS great to me. He was a mixture of Puck and Peter Pan. Great smile, always getting into trouble.

He was here, there, everywhere, and had friends, and he had enemies. He was full steam ahead for just about anything, especially if it had 2 legs. “Hey Mama” was his signature line.

He disappeared for a while and I think he faked his own death.

I was in Cancun Mexico one night and I am shitfaced and I hear this guy playing the horn on the stage with some band, and it was Luis!

I immediately screamed “Mama” and he stopped dead in the middle of his solo, and looked out, because he knew someone from The City was in the audience. He just loved that.

He was at the time, taking people out on fishing trips on a boat he had. What a place to find Luis. It was fucking great to hear that familiar sound, just great! A REAL CHARACTER of the inth degree!!

Abel Zarate also recalled the Santana band’s disarray at that time.…….

I remember that Richard Spremich, Jorge, Pablo and I ran into Carlos at Luis’ gig at Basin Street West, and he had left the band out on the road … but I can’t say for sure if this is why he was not present at the session, nor can I speak to what his relationship was with Mike Carabello at the time…

Although it could very well be, that things were very difficult.

Carlos made it clear that things were less than kosher between he and the band at Basin Street … and he sat in with Luis that night on the number ‘Linda Chicana’.

I am paraphrasing from well known facts that Michael and Carlos did not get along for quite awhile … but I witnessed the two of them hug and make up when Carabello and I went to visit Carlos, right before I joined Willie Bobo, so I was under the assumption that that is the reason Carlos was NOT there on the day, I sat in at the Columbia Studios session.

As regarding sets with Luis, I don’t really remember all that much, but we were doing songs like ‘Morning’ by Claire Fischer, if I remember correctly, and some Latin descarga style stuff … very loose … I think I only did a couple of live gigs with Luis, and the others were with Kermode much later. I am not sure if I also played at Cesar’s Latin Palace with Luis.

Luis had made some great connections in the San Franciscan music scene…one in particular…

With “all things considered” I had enough recorded material to put an album together, so that in itself felt really good.

I first heard Joe Henderson on two “jazz hits” of that time (the 1960`s) Song For My Father with Horace Silver and The Side Winder with Lee Morgan who was shot by his wife getting off the bandstand at a jazz club in New York – Slugs my friend from Houston Texas and Billy Roy Harper was the tenor player in the band.

I knew Lee from the Apollo Theater in New York, when I worked there with Mongo Santamaria. Like all true artists, Joe had an immediate recognizable sound, which was something hard to do under the shadows and influence during the same time of the great and established tenor giants – John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and Sonny Rollins were still alive (Sonny Rollins is still alive and playing).

He recorded and worked with everyone but never achieved the popularity of other sax players (say players like Gato Barbieri, Stanley Turrentine, Charles Lloyd, etc.), which unfortunately happens too often in the record business, when they don’t really support and get behind the artist.

Joe and I were good friends, and Joe went to the Corpus Christi Jazz Festival, which also included pianista Mark Levine and timbalero Carmelo Garcia, which was also a series of concerts that I promoted in the San Francisco area.

Joe had some type of “debt” so I “loaned” him some money, which I was at that time in a position and more than glad to do it!

Yes, we were good friends. I also indirectly helped him get his house in Potrero Hill on Las Palmas Street in San Francisco in the 1970’s.

The Little Giant album was the first time Joe and I worked together and I was musically honored when I called him to do the date and he said he would be there!

When he walked into the studio the producer (a wannabe) asked me why I had called Joe Henderson, when he could have got others! I naturally ignored Joel Dorn.

I never liked the name of the album ‘Little Giant’ which was embarrassing for me and I hated the album cover artwork –pineapples and pop art combined-.

There was already a real “little giant” a great tenor player called Johnny Griffin – so much for the great producer, thank you Joel Dorn: what a joke!!

After the “Chant” album, he (Joe Henderson) asked me to get the material, the music and the band for an album he was behind on for Fantasy Records and he wasn’t ready.

So, with the help of Mark Levine and Joe Gallardo, we recorded “Canyon Lady” with Orrin Keepnews an excellent producer for Fantasy Records.

But ironically about a year later, Joe Henderson, Cal Tjader and I were “dropped” from Fantasy Records. I was honored to be cancelled in such outstanding company, ha, ha, ha!

Time passed and at last at the age of 50 plus, Joe Henderson finally got all the recognition, like Grammy Magazine Covers, etc.

I saw him on a TV show at the White House with Bill Clinton, who ironically said that it was easier for him to become President than it was to ever play as good as John Coltrane or Stan Getz.

The last time I saw Joe before he died I asked him: “how it felt finally getting all this success”? He joked with me and told me it, “felt good to check out of a hotel with dignity ha, ha, and pay the bill with no trouble.”

I think about Joe often and forever I am honor and humbled to truly say I was a friend of his and he was a friend of mine.

I understood his demons. He was a very private person, “the phantom” as Freddy Hubbard once joked.

It almost seems to me that John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon and Stan Getz, had to pass away before Joe finally got his short lived recognition.

He certainly could easily fill those empty slots of the great tenor player of this musically complicated world.

I think about Joe often and will forever miss him!!

P.S. the name of Delanor Deans jazz club was the Both/And jazz club. A great place in the Fillmore district. The Both/And Jazz Club (350 Divisadero Street; San Francisco) were one of these.

Open from 1965 to 1972, the tiny space quickly became one of the last major jazz clubs in the area.

The fantastic saxophonist John Handy was part of one of the first bands to play the Both/And.

Handy says that he was responsible for putting the club on the map and “taking it from sandwiches to a liquor license” when Chronicle music reviewer Ralph Gleason came down to one of Handy’s shows and wrote about the club Readers are recommended to check out John Handy’s 1976 R&B cut called Hard Work, (Assembled on a 2-for-1 CD release on Verve, this January 2012 called Hard Work/Carnival, featuring a great band and Handy’s superb soloing).

Joe Louis Walker also has fond memories of the Both/And. He remembers seeing Miles Davis and Wes Montgomery there.

“It was a cool atmosphere at the Both/And, the premier jazz club for a while. It had a stage to the right and an upstairs area. John McLaughlin played there one night out of a Marshall amp. No one could believe it. Jazz chicks were going crazy. It was an excellent show.

Across the street was Pal’s Rendezvous (on 298 Divisadero Street; San Francisco), another bar that featured great music.

I asked Luis what had happened to the crazy, extroverted timbalero Carmelo Garcia???

Carmelo García is alive and well in Los Angeles.

(I believe according to Mark Levine he has now relocated to New York City- Jim note)

It was a very hard “struggle for him” especially being raised in Santo Domingo.

But he made it back and he’s one of the best and “natural” percussionists in the world. There was lots of “respect and cooperation”.

Between all concerned, which made it less intense, it was experimental and most of us were on cloud nine.

On the album credits; who was Gonzales Mares Garza “with little birds and flowers”?

Garza is my grandmother. She was a wonderful Indian woman who always worked in her rose garden with little birds and flowers.

I had to kneel so she could “bless me” in La Bendición before I went “ on the road” at a very young age.

Who was the cover artist Philip Lindsay Mason?

After my Joel Dorn album covers my girlfriend Patricia Henner introduced me to Philip, yes he was an Afro-American artist, he was one of the best.

I saw it on Patricia, my aunt’s wall, who was going out with Philip at the time and I knew immediately that was the cover for the music. I had in mind a really nice cover and the front I liked but not the back art they used? (also by Philip Lindsay Mason- Jim note)

Luis Gasca today……………..??

I now live a very peaceful life now, I had to pay tenfold for so many mistakes with drugs, liquor and I was much later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was not a good combo, but “all things considered”, there is not many musicians that have crisscrossed genres, such as Mongo, Count Basie, Janis Joplin, Dr John, The Grateful Dead, etc.. and especially coming from such a humble environment (the Mexican ward in Houston, Texas).

I touched “the stars” even if it was for a past moment in time.

A closer look at the music on the original recording and some other music sessions recorded in those two days that did not make the sessions………….

This record is only available on old vinyl copies and is still buyable on Ebay etc and also as an expensive Japanese import CD.  

I have enclosed YouTube clips of reasonable quality for you to hear this marvellous music. Please get this recording if you are able, it is well worth it.

TRACKS:

A1. Street Dude (11:40);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKbn4P9NcXg&feature=related

 This starts immediately after the Little Mama guitar jams on the undubbed sessions between Abel Zarate and Neal Schon. Here a gorgeous Latin guitar riff opens this piece played by Abel Zarate. Neal Schon also appears on this cut according to Abel and they work magic together. A different sound picture allows you to hear the deft guitar playing by Zarate. The solo by Joe Henderson on tenor is the same as on the finished recording. Shrieve and White on respective drum kits lope in a relaxed and intense fashion. There is an out-there vibe to this largely unstructured music that sounds both spontaneous and deeply thought about, at the same time. Chepito on vibes is heard clearly here along with the organ of Richard Kermode. The whole thing swings effortlessly and in a deep, almost contemplative groove. All the while the electric pianos point and jab and add colors whilst Chepito enhances the piece with vibraphone textures.

Gasca adds plaintive trumpet until Clarke adds a sonorous time change on bass, after which the whole ensemble switches gear and begins a percussive onslaught, which is still shockingly avant – garde all these forty years later. The timbaleros start to apply tom-tom pressure to proceedings. Please note here the added vocal chants that are on the finished recording are not all present here yet. Excellent guitar abstractions by Neal follow here. Africa is calling as the mood intensifies and the percussionistas get down. Chants begin, these I would imagine courtesy of Carmelo Garcia, Victor Pantoja; but here they are less defined than the finished recording but they are still compelling. The music moves along in a trance like manner similar to Bambele Bambeyo, with hypnotic congas by Pantoja and then the timbales strike up again.

This unedited piece finishes with guitar caresses by both guitar players around free form percussion and bass. Again it is longer than the album cut. On the fade-out it features some magisterial trumpet from Gasca. Electric piano adding free form flourishes, end out the piece.

(Unheard music here)

 And lead into a section of open playing without percussion, this I imagine is both Mark Levine and George Cables.

This leads into a subtle riff led by Stanley Clarke’s bass under the two pianistas. Shrieve and White set up a swing time drum pattern over which the pianists hit some laidback soloing with Clarke adding a ruminating bass solo. Shrieve then heads out into a snare and bass drum propelled solo piece with his trademark crisp snare two stroke rolls. This diminishes in volume until the bass comes back into the picture.

A further section features solo piano from George Cables in a spare setting, with sparse bass from Mr Clarke. At least and more than twenty minutes in length, this opens up with a light funky and jazzy pulse set up by the drummers. The music changes to drums being played in a light and fast style. It goes on further thru moods and time changes in a pure Latino jazz style, just the pianos, bass and the two drummers, bobbing and playing a thick but dexterous sheet of cymbal rhythm.

We then enter deeper abstract territory with wah-wah electric piano playing with snare drums playing thru what sounds like time delay or Echoplex; similar perhaps in feel to the Mwandishi/Sextant era Herbie Hancock. This resolves into a blues shuffle, like a funkier Jack Johnson and the music starts to get on down.  The music spins and wheels thru different moods and changes in the spaces of a few bars.

Never settling, always changing, the bass bubbles and Mike Shrieve plays some drum raps thru an Echoplex or similar device giving the drums a space age filtered feel. (Remember this is pre electronic era drums, back in 1971 and reminds one of Shrieve’s ever-exploratory musical nature)

A funky vibe starts up with Clarke Shrieve and White cooking up a storm, against a distant electric piano.

A2. La Raza (8:03);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0knkHC2ob0

 With a meditative and haunting opening horn theme by Gasca and Joe Henderson, La Raza is another musical jewel from this extraordinary recording session. Bowed bass by Stanley Clarke accompanies a poignant dreamy intro by Luis on trumpet here. The musicians feel their way towards an almost straight ahead funky 4/4 time riff, in which Gasca desultorily plays over the top, the drums start to kick in and push and thrust the piece into a more urgent mood. Joe Henderson appears from nowhere, as if he had just walked in thru the studio door at that moment. His tenor flurries are replied too with a kicking drum section, both jabbing and punctuating the sax player’s bluesy playing. Both drummers ride the tom-toms behind an increasingly agitated solo by Henderson.

It funks ferociously and Henderson drags the music to the point of exploding or imploding, whichever way you are hearing it? Henderson drags it back from the edge of collapse by a funky tenor refrain before hitting the main theme, aided and abetted by Clarke’s deeply bent and pulled bass strings. Thus, the track fades almost too quickly, after an eight-minute piece of the deepest jazz exploration.

B1. Spanish Gypsy (15:07);

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fE9uvjVMMk&feature=related

The atmospheric intro of this piece starts with a false start on the un-dubbed reel-to-reel tapes from the Columbia Studio sessions and then it starts up again; these two parts were edited on the final recording and made into a seamless start on the record.

Carabello’s congas are to the fore on this rough mix and the horn intro with Joe Henderson is the same a sultry thematic that heralds the beginning of a firecracker solo by Luis Gasca. Neal Schon’s rhythm guitar can be clearly heard, along with Carlos’s jazzy guitar extrapolations. Luis’s trompeta solo is different here to the one on the finished recording this seems to be a guide solo before he recorded the “real thing”. It is more tentative and not as explosive as the record. Stanley Clarke bass playing buzzes throughout the track. This first section is followed by Carlos playing some echoed and tasty guitar licks playing while around the pianists rippling and vamping. The percussion section starts to pick up energy and dynamism here with Carmelo Garcia injecting some tasty timbale fills. Joe Henderson erupts on tenor saxophone and this is the same solo as on the album recording. Victor Pantoja supplies simple but strong conga flams and drops along with Coke Escovedo and Carmelo’s timbale drops. Both Michael Shrieve and Lenny White start to heat up the piece as the pressure increases in the two-man drum section. Further excellent flurrying guitar from Carlos ensues, adding strong flavor to this extended track. Luis Gasca’s trumpet flurries seem to be pulling and braking the music back and the track breaks into a time change with Carlos playing a refrain over the time change. Congas and timbales all seem to be falling apart, as the track heads to a final fade with Carlos and Neal adding languid guitar fretting. This is a different mix than the finished album so Neal and Carlos are heard in a different sound picture. There is a much longer fade here, with much more fluid guitar from Neal and Carlos not heard on the recording. There is also some tasty drum kit and timbale interaction on the way outwards. Another Henderson solo comes in amongst the percolating and cooking rhythm section, which is bubbling in a very cool fashion. This unedited session is a good eight or nine minutes longer than the album cut. I would estimate an approximate time of 23/24 minutes or more for this excellent musica. Music of a kind, which was never to be heard in this form again.

B2. Little Mama (5:28).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4JcMRoCO3Y&feature=relmfu

This starts in a floating, almost formless way before the music heard on the session called Little Mama intro is heard on the record. Before Neal Schon brings in that light but funky guitar riff that starts some great guitar jamming between him and Abel Zarate. The guitar playing is light, airy but seamlessly intertwining as the riff gathers momentum and pulls to a halt, allowing Neal and Abel to flex their mighty musical muscles here. It’s a mesmeric brew of snarling and caterwauling guitar playing from both men. Both wailing and interwoven plus crisply bluesy and soulful; although the two had never met or played before, An example of the astounding musical telepathy extant in those heady days of the San Franciscan Latin rock scene.

There is an astonishing moment (4 minutes 34 seconds) when Neal and Abel Zarate hit a ”fugue” like moment that is truly astounding to hear. As Abel said earlier in the main interview, it was a pure moment that happened spontaneously in the room. On the finished recording the intro piece was recorded at a different time and edited onto the front of this piece. On the reel-to-reel it introes immediately afterwards with Abel Zarate’s beautiful chiming Latin guitar riff for Street Dude.

In the photo of Eddie Palmieri, Luis Gasca is on the left and on the right is the owner of Andres’ club, Bernie Arriaga in the North Beach area of San Francisco. The other is of Carmelo Garcia playing at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California.

Interview by Kenny Wardell

Dr. Bernardo Gonzales (also known around town as “Doctor Rock”) is one of the producers of the Voices of Latin Rock benefit concert for Autism Awareness that will return to Bimbo’s on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012.

BAM: You’re a successful dentist in San Francisco, Dr. Gonzalez. What is your connection to the Bay Area Latin music scene?

Doctor Rock: I do a lecture at the College of San Mateo once a year. I tell the students that when I was 15 years old, I saw the movie Woodstock. And, when I saw the Santana band playing “Soul Sacrifice,” I no longer wanted to play baseball.

It was like, whatever the heck they are doing, I wanted to do that. I started in high school in 1969, and being a young Hispanic kid in Redwood City, that was something I could call my own. Everybody else was into Led Zeppelin, and I was listening to music that was Latin-oriented. As far as I was concerned, there was nobody else other than Santana…that’s all I listened to for about four years. So I totally got into it, and then there was Malo, Azteca. And then I got into music my parents would play with some percussion, Spanish lyrics, but with a beat and a guitar.

via Voices of Latin Rock Return to Bimbo’s For 8th Annual Autism Awareness Benefit.

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When I travel to the USA, which has been at least 15 or so times over the last decade. I have been heartened and surprised by meeting so many Believers within the Latin-Rock community. Firstly; I recall Gabe Manzo and Tony Menjivar and I spent a great night at the top of the Mark Hopkins Hotel, which towers over downtown San Francisco. On the 19th floor, Gabe and Tony were doing a gig with Congas Y Guitarras . We got to talking and it was there I shared my testimony of coming to Christ and the subsequent changes after this life-changing event. Gabe and Tony were also involved in a CD release called Bueno (sponsored by Dr Bernie Gonzalez) that is a truly excellent piece of both Christian and Latino based music. I also remembered way back in 1999 after a Malo / Tierra gig in Ventura (just outside Los Angeles), being in my hotel room and the Word springing out at me (being “quickened” in spiritual parlance) from a Gideon’s Bible (as usually found in hotel rooms in the USA). I had driven down with Ron Sansoe from San Francisco and all these events, small as they may seem, were stepping stones and building blocks to my emerging faith. I have always liked the open and frank way these Americanmusicos have shared their belief and faith. It felt very freeing after the post-Christian society that is contemporary England, in which it almost politically incorrect to talk about Jesus Christ. Talk about New Age or Buddhism say, and people are OK with it; mention the Holy Name of Jesus and they shy away. There is something so challenging even about the name that people will baulk at even the mention of it.

This leads on to a review that follows Richard Spremich’s recent interview on this site. Breath, Spirit and Life is a tasty collection of Holy Spirit filled songs with a contemporary Latin, soul and funk feel.

The ten track CD opens with Christo and the horn charged intro leads to a deep Latin groove, infused with piano and a vocal that reminded me so much of Gabriel Manzo’s (Malo/Manzo/Bueno) vocals.
Heavily compressed vocals in the Salsa style give this tune an added urgency. The song sits in a nice medium paced groove. The tune enjoys both English and Spanish vocals. A nice cleantrompeta solo followed by trombone break lifts the song also. A crisp timbale break breaks up the songs feel for a few bars.

The second track Yeshua is deliberately reminiscent of Suavecito with a nice timbale cascara rhythm. Sweet harmony vocals add a warm edge to the songs chorus. Again the horns are very well arranged. Not surprising as it also features original Malo horn man Roy Murray.

Another horn-led piece of funk is calledWe’re Beloved Of The Lord. The phat horn charts are reminiscent of the mighty Tower Of Power; a sultry vocal from Kimberlee Leber and Tony Martinez is down home and funkified. Spremich’s drumming is subtle but funky and deep in the pocket. It is nice to hear Spremich clearly as on the Malo albums I felt the trap kit buried a little in the sound mixes under the general percussive onslaught.

Fly Like An Eagle follows and sees Spremich in a deep grooving Latin vein. Rich employs an open syncopated groove, which opens up the tune and leaves a lot of space in the music. The music has an assured confidence and allows Luis Sanchez on Hammond B3 to open up and play a very tasty solo outing. Spremich chops and cuts at the rhythm using some very interesting drum fills to keep the groove percolating.

Tremble is a ballad with muted trumpet opening and an atmospheric production. The song softly breaks into a smooth double time lope towards the end replete with Fender Rhodes style piano rippling, again featuring Luis Sanchez.
Jesus In The House is a straight-ahead piece of joyous funk interjected with Albert Sandoval’s carousing guitar, while bringing a Biblical lesson for the people. Yahweh ensues and is
up tempo with a nice bass driven gospelly feel, it again hints at the early glories of Malo’s debut album, with unison harmony guitar lines and its unmistakable joyous West Coast feel. It also features a nice rumbling timbale and conga solo from Paulie Lopez.

Never Will I say Goodbye plays like a blues with Larry Nobel burning on a fervent guitar intro. Tony Martinez supplies a heart felt vocal.
Devil’s A Liar reminds very much of a sixties Stax recording in the vein of Sam and Dave or Otis Redding with its strong soul theme and vocals. Great horns bolster the funky soul vibe with nice drum fills by Rich Spremich. The vocals are nice and dry and it continues the cool production values of the recording.Fall In Love Again is a sweet soulful sound and ends this disc on a suitably spiritually uplifting mood. A song of ensuing hope and of spiritual liberation. It also features a beautiful Santana-esque guitar thematic.

This is a solid, soul-filled piece of work with respectful nods to Spremich’s former allegiance to the first Malo band. And a definitely special addition to both Believers and / or Latin lovers
music collections.

PART 2

ANGEL OROZCO JR:
The life and times of a Latin Rock drummer………… PART 2

ANGEL OROZCO JR:
The life and times of a Latin Rock drummer…………

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Angel Orozco; although not known in the forefront of the Latin Rock vanguard, is a sterling example of a versatile drummer whose musical career has traversed a varied gamut of bands and players thru the seventies and eighties and into the nineties. He has played with, among others, Poncho Sanchez, El Chicano, Evil, Thee Midniters with Willie G, Changing Times, Chepito Areas and Cobra, Rubicon (with Jerry Martini), Attitude (with Chepito, Mike Carabello, Karl Perazzo and David Brown) and Puro Bandido as well.

Please note this an honest, unflinching account of hard, riotous times in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Those of a more sensitive disposition can choose not to read. It contains stories of hard drug usage plus the resultant crazed behaviour that comes with this territory. Many people from that Latin Rock era fell foul of these new narcotics (especially the revival in wide spread cocaine and heroin use) that engulfed the USA from the early 1970’s onwards. If the Latin rock scene is a microcosm of the entire USA music scene, then God help musicians and others, then and now! Particularly then; as the encroaching dangers from these drugs, were not entirely evident to these musicos, at least at first.

As someone who has been in recovery and clean and sober for nearly twenty-six years, a day at a time, my heart goes out to these dazzling young persons, who fell foul of this modern-day pestilence that destroyed their talent and opportunities and that has and is sweeping our world! The historic bubonic plague has got nothing on this horrendous, malevolent epidemic!

PART 2;
Angel plays with El Chicano, Santana, Cobra, Chepito Areas, Rubicon (with Jerry Martini) Attitude (with Mike Carabello and David Brown, Puro Bandido and more…..

First, the El Chicano band days in Los Angeles………….
El Chicano days! I performed with this band from 1974/75 to 1976 off and on! The line up was then…Bobby Espinosa/Hammond B3 and Vocals, Mike Albert, Guitar or sometimes Jerry Salas/Guitar & vocals, Hector Andrade/Timbales, Lee Pastores or Sergio Pastores/congas, David Torres/Piano and myself on drums. I cannot remember the bass players name. Bobby hired different bass players so it is hard to remember what the name of the bass player on the picture that I will attach! Bobby Espinosa was a sweetheart! I used to go to his house and work on the bands material and Bobby’s brother Henry was also a good organist but Henry could really play the piano. Henry was the one that taught Bobby how to play. The Espinosa brother’s had a grand piano in their living room. Henry would always go out and get burritos, tortillas, tacos, whatever we wanted and Bobby would continue to work out the arrangement for the band with me. Bobby lived at his mother’s old house that was all barred up, you know living in E.L.A. was tough and that was off the Atlantic Boulevard. Exit off the I-5 freeway. I cannot remember the name of the street that the house was on. I spend a lot of time there with the brothers. Bobby was a funny cat, good jokes, and a hell of a Hammond B3 player. The whole band would practice at an old building in Hollywood of Melrose Avenue. The pictures that I sent you is where those where taken at.
Remember I told you about baseball. Well, Bobby and Henry also loved baseball. In those days I was a Dodger fan like the brothers where. One year the Dodgers won the World Series and I think that was sometime in the 1970′s. Well Bobby and some other friends went to downtown L.A. to rout and cheer for the Dodgers. Now, as I told you before I always smoked pot and so did Bobby. At the celebration parade pot was being passed around. When the mary-jane came to us we got busted for a roach, when and by the time it got to us. The cops hassled us maybe because we both had long hair, who knows? The hassled us for about 15 minutes and finally let us go. What a drag that was but later on Bobby and I would laugh about it. Both of us knowing that was a close one. I am very honored to been able to work with him and especially to be one of his amigos!
Bobby, God bless you and rest in peace my dear friend

The first time I saw Hector Andrade (timbalero) was with the band, Caldera. I sure liked that band; they were hot. When Bobby told me that Hector is the guy and that he is in my band playing the timbales, Wow that’s great I said. Hector was/is not like Chepito or the Escovedos. He had nice rhythms and had good showmanship. Hector was/is a straight-ahead cat. I really enjoyed working with him.
Hector and Carmelo have the same kind of the style. At least that is my opinion. Hector where ever you are, THANK YOU & GOD BLESS YOU!

We toured but the one time I remember is I when we toured Texas. One of the places we played at was the Astro Dome, which is no longer there but anyway we got to open for Santana & Santa Esmeralda. Anyway, I thought to myself I finally get to meet the Santana band and I did.
Since the El Chicano Band was not doing much. We tried to do and recorded a music score for a movie that Lee & Sergio Pastoras from the Gino Vinelli Band, (they also worked with Eric Clapton). It did not work out. I still have a rough cut of that recording!

Too bad that the El Chicano band was not working that steady back then? I was lucky to be able to work with many other bands in the LA area. I had my bills and rent to meet. Like I said, I was on my own right after I graduated high school so I worked with many bands and if they were not busy I would look for the one that was. I guess that is why maybe I never really made it, BIG!!!
The recording that both Lee and Sergio Pastora worked on, did not pan out. We did record the song titled Street Boy or Gang Boy? I will have to dig it out and listen to it. I hope it still works for I have it on a cassette tape, I will check it out. The song was never released
I remember buying the anvil cases from Lee Pastora that he got when he was working with the Eric Clapton band. I sure needed them now, for I was starting to commute from Long Beach airport to SF airport, back then it was only $20.00 one way. After so many trips I moved to the Bay Area.

Here it is! Ramon Lopez/congero & Roy Reynolds/Bari Sax for the Stan Kenton Orchestra are the two in the middle.
Conga Players Lee & Sergio Pastora. These two brothers performed, recorded, & toured wih Don Ellis Orchestra, Frank Zappa, Eric Clapton, Gino Vinelli, Weather Report, and many others.
These two guys were awesome. I actually joined a band in LA that was a fusion band with trumpeter Mark Hatch. In that band were Tom, Bruce and Steve Fowler that played with Frank Zappa’s Band, Richard Torres on sax. Guitar was Grant Giezman. Grant was in the Chuck Manjione band. I think that is how you spell it? We would get together when we could just to do time meters like 7/4, 6/8, 5/4 and other types of crazy meters and fusion styles. This was a real challenge and I learned a lot from these guys. Thank you fellows!!!

1976! The last part of winter I left L.A. and moved up to San Francisco. I remember how my parents, my four brothers, and friends took it, but the one that took it the worst was my dear grandmother Mama Virita, may she rest in peace. My parents have always been so supportive especially with my music and so, they understood. I was tired of the L.A. hot smoggy summers that lay ahead, the traffic and long commutes!!!
Music was an up and down and it would get so tough that I would have to find part time jobs to support my self
I moved out from my parents house right after I graduated so I had learned to take care of myself at a very early age.
So with all of that, I jumped into my 1970 Chevy Super-Sport and hopped onto the I-5 freeway and headed North.
Back then in 1976, the 8 track tapes were the shit. I had a good collection but one of my favorites was Santana’s Welcome album. There is a cut that Richard Kermode composed called, Yours Is The Light. I kept repeating that song so much that I had it down and I was hoping to get to meet Richard and I will get to that later on in our interview.

To all, “KEEP HEALTHY AND CLEAN”!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Angel Orozco Jr.

cobra-band-1976-77-bimbos

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Angel moves to San Francisco and finds the Cobra Band rehearsals in the City…..

After the El Chicano tour, when we got back home to LA, I received a call from Mark Weisberth, who was the pianist for Chepito’s band and also Cobra. Well, Cobra was looking for a drummer and that if I was interested? I jumped for the chance. I started to commute from L.A. to S.F. Back then I would commute at least once a week to practice and perform with the Cobra band. So I finally made it to San Francisco! My directions at the end of my journey were to get to Howard Street and 6th Street in the City. I do not remember the address but it was on Howard St, in a three story building that was kinda’ funky place. Little did I know where I was; I should of known when I asked for directions from the gas attendant, when he said, “Are you sure you want to go there”!!!

When I first got to San Francisco at 6th Street and Howard Street for Cobra band’s practice place, I thought to myself, shit, I am in skid row. There were lots of bums, winos and hookers. The building that we practiced in was a three story funky, old, smelly building. That was OK with me. I was in a new place and I figured I had to start somewhere, what a place to start all over again!!!
I remember that like it was yesterday. So I made it to the address/studio that Mark Weisbarth told me how to get to, he was my contact and also the music director for the Cobra band. Mark showed me all of the material and gave me tapes to practice with and let me stay at his place. This was all new to me, the city, no real home of my own, practice without full attendance but that was OK with me because it gave more time to learn and memorize the material.

Yes! Mark Weisbarth is the person who showed me all of the Cobra material. Being that I had no home, he offered for me to stay at his house but his girlfriend did not like that, so I was bounced around the city until I got my own place. One place that he hooked me up with this guy Joe something, forgot his last name that lived in Glen Park in the city. Anyway I stayed there in this fucked up old house that had motors and engine parts in the living room. It was better than nothing. I had a 1970 Super Sport back then. Joe borrowed my car one day and never came back. He stole my car and his partner that lived with him, told me that he knew nothing and that he is going to sell his things and get the money for the rent that Joe owed. I told his roommate and his mother that I am going to call the cops. She said, go on I am tired of my son having me go thru all these things.
I had lost my car and that was a very tough time for me.

Mark and I would always be practicing and always the first ones to be there. The whole band should have been there on time but one by one at a time, they would show up and come, in and out. I thought that was a bit strange. I was not used to that kind of rehearsals but I did not care because I was going to meet the guys from the Santana Band. I was so naive!
I guess it took a week’s time to meet the whole Cobra band members during the band rehearsals!
Meeting Mike Carabello, Chepito and David Brown was like a dream come true. David was not the bass player at that time; he was either not into it or would not show up on time when he was supposed to, or even not at all. I think that is why they got Alfredo Ancheta in to play bass. Alfredo that is we all used to call him Freddie but Chepito had a nickname for him, CHINA MAN CHONG. Chepito had a nickname for everybody!! I remember once when he called Carlos Santana an M&M (Mexican Motherfucker) boy was Chepito cold! I could see that they did not like each other. Seems Carlos had no choice and would have to put up with Cheppy!
I know for a fact that Chepito was the driving force, music director, music arranger, teaching Mike conga parts, giving cues to the band on the Santana albums by whistles or other cool sounds that he was and still is so good at. Chepito pointed them all out to me one night at his house on Goldmine Drive in the city. That was pretty cool to hear and learn that.

Buddha! Yes, Buddha was the manager for the Cobra band. Buddha had his office on Kearney Street and I think the cross street was Pine Street. Anyway it was on Kearney Street on the 3rd floor. We would have our meetings there. This is where the band was hanging out while Mark and I would be rehearsing back at the Howard and 6th Street studio. After 4 months of this unusual way of life, rehearsing etc. I started to understand it or should I say to see what was going on. There are so many crazy stories and moments that I could not tell them all. One thing for sure is, all the entire band wanted to do, except Mark and I back then, was to get high!!! Buddah and the drug scene was not what I hung around much off of (then). He tried to keep it to himself and seemed that he did not want me to know, so it was sort of a hush-hush thing. I found out about the coke and freebasing later on thru Chepito, Mike C. and David B. You can say that they were the ones that introduced me to freebasing cocaine! Mark W and I, as I said spent most of the time working on the material, so I did not hang out at Buddah’s office on Kearny Street as much as the other band members did.

Where is the MEDICINE? That was the nickname for the drugs. I only smoked pot back then in those days and even before that with my old buddy’s from LA. These guys were serious about getting their next fix. Cocaine was one of the big problems and I know that heroin was going on because I would see some of the guys in the band nodding off and sweating like there was no tomorrow!
I could go on but for now here is the Cobra band line up/personnel.
Michael Carabello – congas, percussion, keyboards, & vocals
Jose “Chepito” Areas – Timbales, Percussion, Vocals
Gregory Dawkins – Vibes, Flute, Harp, Percussion, Keyboard, Vocals.
Gregg Watt – Keyboard, Synthesiser
Mark K. Weisbarth – Organ, Hammond B3
Angel Orozco – Drums
Alfredo Ancheta – Bass Guitar
Fernando Arragon – Guitar
Jennifer Romaro – Vocals
(Jim note from Angel; Mario Sanchez was/is Chepito’s conguero who played on the Chepito All-Star album. Mario also has a brother named Roland that lives in Hawaii who is a very active musician there. You can check out Rolando Sanchez on Facebook)

Yes, all Mark and I wanted is to do is play our music. As mentioned before with the Cobra band, little did I know when Mark invited me into the band is that the band was a drug band. That pretty much tells you all. I am sure Mark knew that but never told me. We both were just into the music and I think that is what he liked about me, so he kept it away from me as much as he could.
It was fast paced in the Cobra band but when we would practice every once in a while as a whole band, it was great. I don’t know when it was but we did record (Jim note – Columbia Studios- 2 tracks) and I don’t remember where. I do have the tape that awhile back I made a copy of. That band was really good when they got serious. Maybe that is why I hung in there with them.

One crazy story about Chepito and I think I told that to you already but here it goes. Cobra played somewhere in Mendocino and Cheppy took his girlfriend with him. Oh great, well Elizabeth (Chepito’s wife) found out about it and drove all the way from the city, all the way to the gig in Mendocino. Anyway she drove up there and when she got to the venue, we were all on stage. Elizabeth came up, onto the stage and I could see it in her eyes, we all could see how pissed off she was. Elizabeth started to beat Chepito up on stage and pull out his hair. The audience first thought it was part of the show but soon saw that it was not. Chepito ran offstage and we kept on playing.
David Brown was not in Cobra; Freddy Ancheta was the bass player. Oh yea’ Freddy was a probably just as bad. Freddy was always asking, “who’s got the medicine” but that’s another story. I heard Freddy also died and he ended up having a child with Jennifer, the lead singer for Cobra. I think it was a boy?

Meeting up with Santana in transition……..

Mark and I used to go to Studio Instruments Studios (SIR) on Folsom Street in the city. There is when I first met Carlos Santana and the band. Carlos and the Santana band had just let Leon “N’dugu” Chancler go. I do not know the whole story but N’dugu was no longer with the Santana band. Tom Coster was on keyboards/B3, Pablo Tellez was playing bass, Armando Peraza on congas and there was no timbalero or drummer.
Armando came out during there break where we used to hang out in the hallway so that we can listen closer or see what’s going on when the door opened. God, that was so exciting. Good memories. Well, like I said Armando came out and Mark introduced me him to me.
What an honor I said to him, I just did not know what to say after that, I was standing next to, EL MAESTRO CONGUERO and all of the sudden he says, so you play drums you do? Yes sir! I replied and he told me; well get in there or something like that. So I went in with him and he tells Carlos and Tom that here is a drummer. Great they said. I looked down and it was an old Ludwig rental kit that was falling apart. Great I said to myself. I had no choice I jumped on that old fart and started jamming and all was going great until the last part of the song that went into a double time. The drums started sliding across the floor and we would have to stop. The drum legs were not holding. So we duct taped it I think or some kinda’ tape like that. Anyway, I got to jam with the band and that is when I started to hang out with them at S.I.R. studios and got to meet other great bands and musicians. Those where the good old days!

What do I think of Michael Shrieve? M.S. is a fantastic drummer. I remember Armando Peraza once telling me about the time that they where recording Richard Kermode’s song “Yours is the light” from Santana’s Welcome album. Airto was originally asked to record “Yours is the light” since Flora Purim did the vocals.
Meanwhile M.S. recorded “Yours is the light” to have on the tape reel, or should I say on file until Airto can come to the studio after his tour and to record the drum track/part.
When Airto finally showed up to the studio he listens to “Yours is the light” after listening he tells Carlos that, “why do you want me to record over M.S. drum track when he did a great job with it” or something like that. I told Armando that I thought that was one of Michael Shrieve’s best drum work, I loved that song and drum work. I guess that will let you know what I think of M.S. and it is also a honor to know him.
(F.Y.I.! David Margen was the bass player in Santana after Pablo Tellez. I bet you knew that? David’s last name is misspelled I believe? 1977?) (No- your OK! Jim note)

Rubicon band with Jerry Martini………
In 1977 I got the chance to audition for the Rubicon band. They also rehearsed out of S.I.R. studios. David Bartlett; the second drummer from the Tower Of Power band was the guy that I replaced.
The band consisted of Jerry Martini/sax of Sly & the Family Stone, Dennis Marcelino/sax of Elvin Bishop Band, Mike Sasaki and Max Haskett of Cold Blood, Steve Carter/piano, Jack Blades/bass and myself on drums. This was a very funky band but was looking to go to the rock direction. I was with that band for almost a whole year. We did some great shows and all originals and recorded at the Record Plant in Sausalito, Columbia studios was the studio before The Automatt anyways there. Half way thru the year they decided to get rid of Steve Carter and hired this B3 singer to replace him. Jim Pugh is his name. I was so pissed off that they fired Steve who became a very close friend. Shit! Here we go again I thought to myself. That damn music business!!! We were on a weekly salary from the investors that Jerry found from Australia of all places, um!! What they said went!!! Next was Mike Sasaki, they fired him and I was not happy again. Well I started not to care and they could see it so I was the next one to get fired. Oh well!!
Rubicon went on to get a record deal and play some great concerts, but they finally broke up and Jack Blades took over and later on started Night Ranger.
Tags: Abel Zarate, Airto, Angel Orozco, Attitude, Bobby Espinosa, Carlos Santana, Changing Times, Cobra, David Brown, Doug Rauch, Jerry Martini, Jim McCarthy, Jose (Chepito) Areas, Latin Rock, Los Angeles, Mike Carabello, Poncho Sanchez, Ramon Banda, Santana, Sly Stone, Stan Marcum, Thee Midniters, Voices of Latin Rock, VOLK, Welcome

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Joining Attitude with Carabello, Chepito and David Brown.
Now this is the time that I hook up with ATTITUDE!
I was with Attitude from 1977/78 to 1980. They were not an active band and did not have many gigs. Richard Kermode, Dougie Rauch and Abel Zarate!! Yes, they were in the Attitude band but a bit before my time. I did get to be good friends and play drums in other bands with Richard Kermode and Abel Zarate. As for Doug Rauch, everybody knew that he had a problem with drugs and I did not even ever get to meet him. What a great bass player he was!!!
I played with Abel a short time with Attitude until he left the band and then Carabello got Mike Sasaki in to play guitar. It worked out great! Most of the guys were playing with other bands and it was tough to get every one together to do a gig. We practiced a lot in San Rafael in a studio called Hun Sound Studios. The line up then was
Michael Carabello – leader, congas
David Brown – bass
Abel Zarate was the original then Mike Sasaki – guitar
Steve Carter – piano
Jeffery Chin – keyboards
Chepito was the first timbalero then Karl Perazzo and sometimes Pete Escovedo (Timbales & perc).
Angel Orozco – drums
Tommy Banks – vocals
Sometimes; we also had Andre Lewis from the Buddy Miles band on B3 organ and vocals. (You remember Them Changes? – sure do!! Jim note)
Here it goes! Attitude was a Soul, Funk, Latin and rock and roll band. It had it all if we wanted; we could of even played country music if we wanted too. We tried to stay or find a commercial sound that would sell. The band recorded one record the 45 rpm, Pretty Little Girl, that I told you about, that was it!
Mike first got Fred Catero in as an engineer if I remember right then Micky Hart ended up finishing the record project that was recorded at the Automatt Studios. Attitude, as I said before rehearsed in Marin at the Hun Sound Studios in San Rafael. That was a great place to rehearse.
At that time it was the toughest, just to get on time to the studio because I had to wait for M.C. for at that time I was living at his place in Fairfax. I hated it. I have always been an on-time person, so it was frustrating for me. When the band did get together we rehearsed hard and for a long time, I loved it. Yea’ man that BAND SHOULD HAVE MADE IT!!!

Well since the band did not have many gigs, it got tough I even moved in with Mike Carabello (in Fairfax, Marin County) and looked for part-time work and other gigs.
I did play drums for a couple or so with the Pete Escovedo band and also the SF All-Stars band.
The SF All-Stars band, I will get to that later.

Carabello was always highly strung then and did not practice much. He would lock himself in his room at home when I was living with him in Fairfax and I am telling you he spend more time in that room, than playing his congas. I would at times dance with the devil with him, cocaine, but he would get weird and I could not stand to be with him and I knew that I had to get away from this. There were shady characters all around! Shit!! I even met Sly Stone thru Michael and what a mess he was when Mike took me to his house in Novato. I thought I was going to meet a great, famous person. I was wrong; it was nothing but drugs.
Meeting the legendary Sly Stone, was an enormous let down for the young Angel………
Here is what I can recall about meeting Sly Stone. The first time I met him was when he came by Hun Sound Studio. We were practicing with Attitude and when we took a break and I’m pretty sure that it was Jeff Chin and I because we stayed a bit longer finishing up a part that we had worked out. When we finished Jeff and I stepped outside the studio and there was Sly talking to Mike C. Sly was dressed up in his usual crazy, colorful outfit and I immediately knew who it was. A bit later for we were standing outside close by the studios entrance and that’s when MC introduced us to him. Sly and MC was very quick about it and they continued their conversation. That day Sly never came into the studio! Sly took off and I did not even see how or what car he came in. I still thought that it was pretty cool meeting Sly/Sylvester Stone, even as quick as it was. Then, I did not yet know about his ways or the way he was/is!!!
One day not too much longer after that Mike asked me if I wanted to go to Sly’s house with him so we did. When we got to his house somewhere in the hills of Novato we arrived in a big ranch type house/property. As we drove up to the house, which seemed pretty much well taken care of but when I noticed the big stables I thought that Sly had horses or he rode. I like riding horses myself but there were no horses in Sly’s stable. When we parked in front of the house that I can barely remember exactly what type of house it was but it seemed to be pretty big two-story house.

Mike got to the door knocked and walked right on in for he’s always been kind of like that, just walks right on in. So, I followed him right into Sly’s house and there must have been about, I guess ten people scattered all around with the TV on but really nobody watching it. I did not recognize anybody. I remember the rug was purple and on his walls he had Zebra skins, there were couches and chairs with crazy different colors. There were pipes laying around in the smoke filled room, over flows of cigarettes butts from the ash trays, empty booze bottles, and so on.
Man, that place really stunk and smelled bad! All the people in there were high/fucked up. So, Mike C. then says to Sly, “You remember my drummer Angel?” and Sly yells out to the rest of the room, “ That’s Angel” and they all kind of say, Hey there or something like that. I asked Sly about his horses and he told me, that’s just for looks and that I don’t have horses and I never will. I just said something like, that’s cool and that was it.
All MC went there for was just to get hooked up and that was it!!! We did not stay very long and then we just took off as fast as we came.
That is about all I can really tell you about Sly and his place in Novato.
When it came to music/drumming I would give Michael ideas about beats and he would always knock them down. It all was a fast-paced kind of life back then with those guys and it’s somewhat hard to remember it all!!!
Mike Carabello had a problem with Tommy who was Mimi’s first husband (Mimi subsequently married Mike Carabello) and Tommy was father to their daughter Dawn. One day he showed up at the house in Fairfax where the band got together for a meeting or something like that. They started at each other and the next thing they are out in the street fighting and just going at it. The police finally showed up but it was all over. Mimi passed away. I am not sure when but I had been out of touch with Carabello, so I do not know the whole details.
I lived with Mike at his house in Fairfax, Marin County. This was during my Attitude days; I lived there for a little while.
Mimi and Mike used to really get into it. One night Mimi came into my bedroom crying and I can hear Mike yelling at her and all pissed off.
I calmed him down and he went back to his room and after settling Mimi down she would go back to their room.
This got old and not that I am saying that happened like that all the time but they would get into it at kinda’ different times!

I do remember one time when Michael received his quarter royalties. He said and I think that it was about $35,000 he got and he throws it onto the bed out of a Wells Fargo bank bag and the dollars go flying right on the bed. He threw me some money and told me to go get lost, playing around. Mike was a generous kinda’ guy when he had money but it would not last long! Mimi was a very beautiful, classy, and polite women who supported MC all the way even at his worst and during the times he would treat her bad.
Mimi’s daughter Dawn is also as beautiful as her mom. I wonder how old Dawn is now and where she is? All I know is that Mimi was good to me and always treated me with respect. Yes, I also lost track of MC and I do not know when Mimi passed away. Mimi, God bless you and may you rest in peace!!! I finally moved out and back to the City.

(Jim, when you asked me where that Attitude picture was taken at where I am standing on the far right side of a b&w picture? I replied to you that that picture was taken in a building on 6th Street, between Folsom Street or Harrison Street in San Francisco. I do not remember who’s idea it was to take that picture there. That is one of my favorite picture’s of the Attitude Band!!!)

Michael had a real bad attitude. Actually we used to play a song, BAD CONDITIONS. I really liked that song. I think Abel Zarate and Mike wrote that one.
(Jim note; The song was written by Abel Zarate with added lyrics by conguero Jose Sierra – the song may have changed by it’s recording date)
Pretty Little Girl! That song was composed by Mike Sasaki and recorded at the Record Plant. Mickey Hart was the engineer. (Pretty Little Girl was released by Attitude on Armstrong Records as a 45rpm)
Armstrong Records was Mike Carabello’s idea and his baby. He named that after his dog Armstrong. Yesterday’s Love was the B-side of the single and was composed by Abel Zarate and Carabello. This song is kinda’ like an Earth Wind, & Fire tune. I know that because when Dave and I worked out the bass and drums parts, we thought of Earth Wind & Fire.
This song had a beat like that old song The Letter, except a bit faster but you know, “give me a ticket for an airplane”….and so on. (Jim note: Originally recorded by The Boxtops with Alex Chilton, who went on to form the feted cult band Big Star)
The Attitude band was like a Latin Rock band with mostly original material.

Angel describes his styles of drumming, relating to the Latin rock scene……………

In terms of drum styles, for Rubicon, I did not use Latin Rock style drumming. Rubicon was more of a funk/rock band that later ended up with a sound of solid Rock & Roll band. Hearing and learning to play funk drumming like from Cold Blood, Tower of Power, Sly & the family Stone, Earth, Wind & Fire back in my/the early day’s in LA was easy to pick up and fit right on in with Rubicon’s original funk/rock sound . My drumming styles like big band, Jazz, fusion/time meters, Latin Rock, Salsa funk, marching band/drum corp., top 40, hell even Disco drumming but for Rock & Roll drumming was and is not my forte! So with all of the drumming that I learned I figured out how to incorporate all of these different drum beats when and if needed!!!
Now as for Cobra and Attitude band! I had Latin Rock drumming already under my belt from L.A. days with El Chicano and the other bands that I mentioned to you before.

The Attitude band recorded at The Automatt Studios on Folsom Street in San Francisco. Micky Hart was the engineer and assistant producer to Mike Carabello.

(Jim note: Carey Williams was a SF based R&B and soul singer and he recalls some of the early Attitude recordings, he also played possibly the first gig with Attitude. “Hey Jim, The songs I have digitized that I sang lead and background vocals on in the studio are, Bad Conditions, It’s You and Keep On Dancin’. I think this was the very beginning of the band Attitude with Pablo on bass. Or, maybe it was Pablo starting his own thing and then it became Attitude. I also have two songs that I’m singing on and wrote the lyrics for from one of the first, if not the first live gig that Attitude did somewhere in Marin or Sonoma county. The songs are, It’s An Attitude and Why Do You Treat Me So?
USA.
I left the band shortly after that live gig so there are no pictures of me with the band that I know of or can remember being taken. I never recorded with Coke, I just sang background vocals in his live band and a little lead when the lead singer didn’t show up (who’s name escapes me at the moment – Erroll Knowles??). It was for a very short time, maybe two to three months, near the end of his life.” Carey Williams was also in another SF based grupo called The Force with Abel Zarate and Jose Sierra.

As I mentioned to you before David liked Asian girls and so did I. We both had what they used to call, yellow fever. He had a Japanese girlfriend named Cookie. Cookie had a Chinese girl friend that later on we hooked up and we even had a child and that was in 1980. I had to go to work and Christina’s family owned a meat market in Chinatown San Francisco on Stockton Street, it was called Hop Sang/El Dorado Meat Co.
I had to go to work for them to support my new family.
I had no choice but to go to work. I delivered Pigs/hogs all thru the Bay Area. I then stopped playing drums/music for about four years and just worked and raised my son Angel.

The beginnings and spread of freebase cocaine in San Francisco………
Yes dangerous! Dangerous is right. I got out in time because I started to get sucked into that cocaine and smoking crack, that was no good!!! Chepito, Mike and David are the ones that turned me onto that horrible drug. I am not saying I am an angel, I was curious. But I am glad that I got out. You are right; crack came out in the 80s but the original name was free-basing, that I was introduced to in 1975/76. That shit is so bad and so dangerous. I loved it though when I first got turned on to it from whom I mentioned to you before. It was hard to quit but I did and have had to quit off and on. The rest of this story will tell you that and especially at the end of this interview. Yea’ if you could not afford it or run out of money, you would hawk you stuff at the nearest pawn shop, or just sell it. I once did both back then. I am not perfect either for I also carry many old demons on my back that like to knock on my heart and brain. I have been off and on and that did not help my success, I would think!
So it is not only dangerous but also losing one’s self respect and honor!!! Meeting Christina and having a baby was a blessing in disguise.

(Jim note; I enclose this quote from Herbie Herbert; who road-managed the original Santana and was on hand to witness the totally destructive effects of cocaine on the band from mid to later 1970 thru 1971. And this was way before freebasing hit the Californian drug scene.
“Cocaine is such a habitual top thing and you take a one-on-one and you become a new man and then the trouble is the new man needs to get high. Repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat at all costs. Pretty soon, you can’t have a conversation, you can’t take a shit, you can’t think, you don’t wanna’ do anything until you’ve had a bump. Then when you’ve had a bump, the new guy wants to have a bump and that’s his priority. And it goes on and on and you think you’re being great, you think you’re being creative and your really just bouncing off a non-existent cocaine wall.

“ All of a sudden, when the realisation comes that, Holy Shit, I’m not making any fucking sense, this is not my best creative work, it’s not even buyable, by the time you realise that, it’s often too late!”)

When I was living in Mill Valley. David would come over a lot and he knew that I would not turn him away. He did once in a while, put me up in his apartment in San Rafael when Mike and Mimi would argue. Dave would just let me stay at his place. So between both places and spending time with him all he wanted was to smoke that freebase, as far as I was concerned. I never practiced with him like one-on-one bass and drums and that was too bad. He was so caught up into that shit, running all around town like a chicken’s head cut off!
Once he said to me, you want to get high?? We got really drunk and then he pulled out his pipe and butane torch that he carried with him in his bag all the time and started to smoke and told me and here is where we have to be careful. David told me that he was going to blow the second hand smoke of the freebase into my mouth. Damn, I did it and that shit was so strong, that it really worked. Dave knew all of the tricks when it came to that. His lips on mine; blowing that shit into me. Remember me telling you at the time that he broke into my house and stealing my TV. I got it back, thanks to Dave’s mother. I felt so sorry for David’s mom and Dad, having to see his son go thru what he did. You know his dad was a preacher. David also had two wonderful sisters. Jan and I forgot the other one’s name? (Jim note; her name is Diane)

I did not know Alberto Gianquinto, Ron Estrada, or Rico Reyes that well. I was just introduced to them or when they would show up to a gig and Carabello, Cheppy and/or David would invite them up from the audience to sit in.
Stan Marcum! What a piece of work he was. He seemed to always look like he had not taken a shower for days and was really scruffy looking with his cloths wrinkled. Every once in a while I would go to his house with Carabello. Stan had a corner lot four-bedroom house with a pool in Novato in Marin. Man that place was filthy and was flea infested all inside the house on the carpet, curtains etc. but they did not seem to care because it was all about getting high. Stan was too much, for if he did not have a pipe around, he would get tin foil and make a pipe out of that or what ever it took. I hated going there!!! Michael knew that I hated going to Stan’s place and plus I would tell him that it’s a flea invested place and he would just laugh about and say we are not going there but would still end up going there. I did get high with them smoking that shit. After a while I would tell Carabello that I am not going with you anymore but he would say something like we’re off to the store or whatever is where were going, but we would still end up going to Stan’s house, SHIT!!!
I’ll tell you something though; Stan cared about and loved the Attitude band. Stan would always make sure that the band had all what we needed at gigs, rehearsals, or at band meetings and he was a very polite person!
Is Stan Marcum still alive? (Jim note- Stan died in 2010. I believe and there was an obit in the San Francisco Chronicle, according to Herbie Herbert).

Richard Kermode! Now that is another sad story. I worked with RK in the SF All Stars band, in the Francisco Aguabello band, and he played with me in the Bandido band for awhile. The Bandido band is where he got his nickname, “BATHROOM RICHARD”. Every time we did a gig, rehearsal, stay at hotels while travelling we would be looking for him and most of the time we would find him in the bathroom or he would tell us that I’m going to bathroom and time would go by so we would check on him and he would come out all fucked up and nod out. There where times while on stage during our performance RK would just nod out right on stage and we would yell out, “HEY RICHARD WAKE UP” or “RICHARD SOLO”!!!
I’ll tell you one thing, when he’d snap out of it and it was time for his solo RK would just rip out these incredible solo’s really amazing I don’t know how he would do it but he would just kick ass on his piano solo. I do want say even thru all of this, that Richard was a very humble person.
There was this time when we did a gig in Sacramento with The Francisco Aguabello Band. I drove up and back in a van after the gig driving back he was nodding in and out and I well we all thought there he goes again. The band was hungry and it was very early in the morning and we where almost home in SF but we all wanted to stop off at Denny’s in Vallejo. RK was sitting in the back in the middle of the seat and we where yelling to him wake up do you want to eat we are going to stop so I pulled a fast one that I feel bad about it now but anyway during the exit off the freeway almost to the stop sign I hit the brakes and RK went rolling over and woke up. We all started laughing but he was pissed off, he got over it! Yea, I know what a dirty trick but it woke him up!
There is song that RK composed that was recorded on Santana’s Welcome album called Yours Is The Light. I love that song and RK showed it to me and to this day I perform that song on the drums and my piano & vocal solo act that I do here. I also learned it on bass for I play bass here with the blues, rock and jazz bands around the area. I am having fun doing that! Thank you Richard Kermode I miss our magical music times together. Richard, may you rest in peace my dear old Friend!

We also did gigs with the Hiroshima Band. David Brown got us a couple of gigs. They opened up for Attitude. Wow, what a great band that was and still is. (Named for the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the band is best-known for the fusing of Japanese musicand other forms of world musicinto its playing. Its early jazz-pop R&Bsound gave the group a huge following among the African Americancommunity and they are regarded as musical pioneers among the Asian Americanand Japanese Americancommunity)

We played in San Francisco’s Japan Town for the Cherry Blossom Festival. What a fantastic gig that was.
David knew those guys and they were from the Los Angeles area. Dave would often go to L.A. to visit and play with them and other bands. That is all I know about that! (Jim note: According to David’s sister Jan; he also had a band called Bad Baby out of L.A. for awhile but he was not motivated to go out on the road with them).

As I mentioned before in 1980 I had met David Brown’s girlfriend Cookie’s friend Christina. Dave and I both had the Yellow fever, we loved them Asian girls.
So 1980 since the band was not doing much and with the drugs happening the band started to fall apart. Mike tried from what I hear to keep the band going on. But I believe most of us got burned out by his bullshit. Plus all the drugs and the attitude! He went thru a lot of different musicians. Mike went thru a lot of different musician’s when I was with them. Seems that people would get tired of his bullshit, attitude and his fast-paced life, trying to keep up with him. He had a rough way about himself. The healthy times is when he would tell me that “I will be back, that I am going to play tennis with Carlos”, Yeah right! I never saw that. Maybe it was true who knows but you could not always believe what MC said.
I had a child with Christina and then had to go to work and start supporting my new family. I ended up working for her family’s business, HOP SANG. You know the rest of the story from my earlier statements.
That is all I know. I got out of the music business and or playing drums for about 4 to 5 years?

What did I do then! After working for 4 to 5 years at Hop Sang driving & delivering pigs/hogs that weighed from 100 to 200 pounds each travelling 5 days a week from San Francisco to Modesto to San Jose and back to SF. I really started to miss the music scene and playing my drums with a band or jamming. My wife was not happy and she told me that you have a family now and you best continue working!
Ha, I thought to myself. I am going to start playing the drums one way or another. So I started to go out to clubs in the city and checking out bands. One night I went to this club on Geary Avenue called the Brick House I think Rick was the owner name?

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Playing with Bandido/Puro Bandido from the Mission…….
Well, There is where I met Jose Mayorga. Jose heard me sitting in with a band there that night and if I remember right the bands name that I sat in was called, Beluga Wale. So after me sitting in playing a couple of songs I went back to the bar and that is when Jose approached me and said, My band can use a drummer like you. Oh yea’ I said and he said, Yea’! He gave me a tape and his phone number and told me to call him.
One week later I called him after hearing the tape. The band on the tape was Bandido and that was in the winter of 1984.
I thought that the band sounded pretty good back then and this would give me a chance to get back in the saddle playing drums.
Jose was the $ backer and front man and not much of a singer but he sure looked great on stage, the women loved him!! Bandido used to rehearse in the back room of Albert Giles’ mothers flower shop on Mission Street. That was a really cool place. Well that is what happened to me and I could not tell you it was 1999 in Seattle because there is more to come on Bandido and your other questions.

Bandido was the original name. I was with in the band from 1984 to 1997 then I left to Seattle and lived in Seattle from 1997 till 2000 to do my own material land CD, since Bandido was not interested with my songs anyway!
In 2000 I reunited with Bandido. The band had changed there name to Puro Bandido (pure bandido). I thought that was a stupid name and I still do! It was bad enough that Jose was a real bandido. Jose was a cat burglar and drug dealer. I found this out in 1986; I always wondered where the money came from? Jose would get us any music equipment, drugs, SIR rehearsal time and the recording time that we did at Fantasy Studios.
(Jim note; Jose Sierra, a conguero based around the Mission and who played often with Abel Zarate, had also played with Richard Segovia (Bandido timbalero) in a much heralded Latin band called TNT. Also, Segovia was in another much-touted band called Mabuhay, who apparently recorded an album’s worth of material for Warner Brothers that got shelved, due to record company inner reshuffling. Freddie Ancheta; bassist with Cobra was another instrumental player in that outfit).

Yes it is all true about Jose Mayorga, who was also the band leader and founder of Bandido band.It was the recording that was engineered by Fred Catero at Fantasy Studios in 1987. Jose paid for it all. Studio time, musicians, music equipment, S.I.R studio time, food, beer, drugs, and/or anything else we needed.
Jose loved his band. At last, the band finished that project but in 2005/6 the band recorded two more songs at a studio in SF of 3rd Street at Hunters Point. That was done/recorded threw Pro Tools and Jorge Santana got involved and helped write some of the material. (Donny Baldwin of Jefferson Starship recorded Latin Lover and I recorded Casa Bandido and the rest of the tunes. Jim note; both these can be found on Jorge Santana’s Here I Am CD recording, they are really raw, funky Mission style Latin rap and salsafied rock- both cuts are excellent!)
The Puro Bandido CD eventually came out in late 2007)
Yes, the band was into drugs. Shit, I can’t get away from that scene I thought to myself again but there I was!!! The band was a bunch of great guys and some good talent. Bandido did a lot of cool gigs and the band almost broke up when Jose Mayorga was assaulted at SIR Studios one night during one of our practices in 1986. Jose was in a coma for quite a while. He passed away not to long after that.

Jose had a big mouth and the way that he used to dress up was kind of a crossover of drag and/or a pirate look. Men did not like him, is what I seen when we would go out or do a gig. He had a unique way with women though, they loved him and men would not like that. We thought it was great but he did have a big mouth and since he could almost get anything he wanted and or he would push his weight around at times. I myself, along with the rest of the band would some times get so pissed off at him, that all you wanted to do is to punch his lights out, but you never ever did!
Would you believe that the argument was all about a song. Well, this ex-boxer that he pissed off was not a good thing I was there in the lobby of SIR when that happened. Both guys were arguing and you can just see it coming. Jose’s mistake was that he threw the first punch and the guy used his leverage of the fist coming at him. He just threw him over his shoulders and he landed towards the Leslie speaker and hit his head and then that fucker started to kick him when he was down. I started to stop him and this guy gave me look like, you are next. I will never forget that and knowing better I stayed clear and told the guy in charge that night at SIR to call the police and ambulance. Jose Mayorga was in a coma for months at the Laguna Honda Hospital in the city. After about a couple of years, he passed way.
JOSE, MAY YOU REST IN PEACE!!!

We, the band got back together and we carried on but the recording from Fantasy that we did, that by the way, which Fred Catero engineered, got shelved.
The Puro Bandido CD was finally released in 2007/8 titled, “we don’t need no stinkin’ badges”.
I at this time moved to Mexico in February 2008.
They got a new drummer and I do not know who it is for they keep changing drummers from what I hear???
Jorge Santana is on it and so is Johnny Gunn from the Eddie Money Band and other guest musicians.

San Francisco All-Star band was a fucken’ hot band!!! That was in 1985/86/97 round about that time.
We would get together without practicing once in a while when it was possible to do a performance around the Bay Area. Each musician played or worked with other bands so this was really just for fun getting together, we were buddy’s like.
Eric McCann on bass from the Al Dimiola band & Mingo Lewis’s earlier band.
Able Zarate – Guitar & Vocals
Norbert Stachel – Tenor sax & Flute
Mario Sanchez – congas from the Chepito’s band and recorded congas on that album that we talked about (???)
Richard Kermode -Piano
Rolando Sanchez – Timbales – Mario Sanchez, his brother and sometimes Pete Escovedo
Angel Orozco – drums

The last days of David Brown………..
What happened to David Brown! I believe, after all the fucking around and hanging around with no good people from the Tenderloin district or wherever? That is where I saw him two different times when driving thru the city to get to North Beach/Chinatown where I lived. Dave motioned me over from the sidewalk the first time and the second time he was crossing the street, I felt so bad but I kept on driving. David was not looking good. I had heard that he had contracted Aids and the way he was dressed both times when I saw him in real flimsy tie-dye material and lost so much weight that I did not recognize him. That was just right before he died. It was really sad to see!
What happened is that David finally contracted the Aids virus and passed away. It was just a matter of time. When I seen him last he looked so bad that I hardly recognized him.
David Brown passed away in 2000, was it that year? (Yes it was – September 2000 – Jim note) I lost touch with David during his last years. It broke my heart to see him going down and I knew that there was nothing that I can do. I would tell David to stop and get some help, I am and I did! As I mentioned to you in one of the previous questions, I fell back into drugs again and when I saw that I was headed in the same direction as David and knew then that I had to stop or I am going to end up like David and die! (Angel is now clean and sober since 2007, for four years- God Bless you Angel!) My dear old friend David; God bless you.
David’s funeral! That was a very sad day for me. Dave may have been lost in a crazy world of drugs and that terrible disease of aids but I’ll tell you one thing, HE HAD A HEART OF GOLD!!! I don’t care what anybody says; he treated me with much respect at least when he wasn’t lost, you know what I mean.
His funeral was in the city and I do not remember the name of the church or the preacher? It’s on the tip of my tongue.. (Jim note: David’s funeral was attended by both preachers Freddie Stewart (brother of Sly Stone) now with a church community in Vallejo, Ca. plus Leon Patillo, singer and keys on Santana Borboletta recording) Now a much recorded Christian artist and based as a preacher in Las Vegas)
Mike Carabello with Herbie Herbert was there and I think Greg did make it.
I went to the funeral by myself and took the bus that day. I did not go to the Interment in Colma. I was able pay my respect’s to Dave and my condolences to his family.
So relieved I was that Dave did not have to go thru all of that pain any longer. GOD BLESS YOU MY DEAR FRIEND AND MAY YOU REST IN PEACE!!!

Hi Jim! One more thing about 1999; I actually moved from SF to Seattle in 1997. Since I have family and good contacts for musicians, I went for it. Bandido was not interested to do my original material that I had.
I hooked up with Lee Oskar of the original War band and he did some gigs with my band. The band was a 12 to 14 piece band. We did some great gigs. Lee played at the Orozco band’s CD release party, WOW! That was great show. What a cool sound we had.
It rains a lot in Seattle and some gigs would get rained out. The summer time was and still is the best time there in Seattle. I moved back to San Francisco in 2000.

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I have to update you on my life and times! After so much disappointment in the music business and not enough gigs to support myself I went back to work again for my Chinese family’s Hop Sang Meat Co. in Chinatown driving/delivering pigs/hogs all threw the bay area again! It was tough and I off and on would play with Bandido but that was not really happening or going anywhere. There is a trumpet player by the name of Lance Gurner, who I met in the city. I was telling him how hard it is to support yourself in music here in the city and that I have a day job and I still was not making my bills and Jim just so you know, I was not on that shit then and I was clean. Anyway it got real expensive to live in the city and then the Dot Com thing, the housing/rent went up everything went up. I just had to work harder and more overtime. Lance hooked me up with the music director for Green Street Funarla Memorial band. He told me it was boring music but it paid scale and you know those hymns and that I could be marching up and down the streets of North Beach and Chinatown and make some dollars but that I had to join the musicians union so I did Local #6 and they put me to work. I now had two jobs the meat co. and the memorial band. We would do 3 to 4 services both on Saturdays and Sundays and once in a while during the week that I would have to ask Uncle Burt, my son’s grandfather who owned Hop Sang to have part of the day off and he would. I did this from 2000 to 2004 when Hop Sang finally closed the meat co. and rebuild the building to rent out for a store front and upstairs for rentals that was already happening but fixed up better. I ended up as the building manager and I got my room rent-free, I just had to manage the place.
After Hop Sang closed I found out during one of the funeral services that the Funarla Parlor was looking for a driver so I applied and having an in with the company for playing in there Green Street Memorial Band I was hired. Little did I know that a driver was not just a Limo driver or flower delivery in their vans. No, I had to do human removals I was not ready for this but I took the bull by the horns and went for it. This is where I saw the most gory things in my life. I moved and delivered so many dead people that you cannot imagine how horrible that was. The company went thru a lot of drivers because of that. Once I mentioned to the manager that I did not know that I was going to be doing this kind of work and he said, if you don’t like it quit. They were so used to saying that I bet but I stood up to him and said, FINE!!! I was hired at Green Street Memorial Funarla Home in March 2005 and was fired June 2007. I got back on that shit during this time and I was so fucked up between seeing so much death and started smoking that crack again, that was so easy to get from the blacks who had it across the street in the projects. I started to flake out so much and sold all of my shit and I used money that I should not have and did not care about work, music, friends and most importantly my son and family. My situation was bad and I would call my mom and they started to figure it out and told my brothers and dad about it that at that time lived in Tacoma, Washington.
Now my parents and two out of all the five brothers invested money and built their houses here. My mom and dad are now retired and their plan as they did, is to move to Mexico and live in their dream house where they now live. Since my situation was bad and there was no rehab or any of those kind of places that would of worked for me, I was to move to Mexico. A whole new life for me, start all over!!!

Tony, my fourth brother out of five flew to SF and came to my place in Chinatown. When he showed up I was on the verge of probably committing suicide, I was so fucked up. Tony was knocking on the door and yelling Angel, Angel, hey Angel it’s Tony! Holy shit! I barely remember and I answered the door and he was so pissed of that he told me to get your stuff you are coming back to Tacoma with me. I told him I just can’t leave and so he came back with a Richard a friend of mine to get me out of there. I argued but they finally got me and talked me in to it.
Tony said that they would come back tomorrow in the morning and to be ready because our flight will be that afternoon to Seattle/Tacoma. Later on that night it all hit me and I started to pack and throw all of my crap away. Pack whatever I could in boxes and moved all of my furniture except my bed onto the sidewalk. The next morning all that stuff was gone and when Tony showed up he got my luggage and said, here we go say good by to SF, so I did.
Thank you Tony, Angel/son, mom, dad and my other brothers, family and Susan for all of your support. I love you all!!!
With all that love and support that I have here and meeting more Orozco family here in Mexico and also meeting so many cool tourists from all around the world that I have found tranquillity and am able to once again be inspired to play my music. I even got into gardening. There is so much beauty in our world that it is so sad to see people fall apart into a life of drugs or crime!
Jim, I would say that’s how I got clean at least it did for me and to have your family step up to the plate when a family member is down no matter what”!!!

To all, “KEEP HEALTHY AND CLEAN”!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Angel Orozco Jr

ANGEL OROZCO JR:
The life and times of a Latin Rock drummer…………

Angel Orozco Jr. Norwalk, Ca

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Angel Orozco; although not known in the forefront of the Latin Rock vanguard, is a sterling example of a versatile drummer whose musical career has traversed a varied gamut of bands and players thru the seventies and eighties and into the nineties. He has played with, among others, Poncho Sanchez, El Chicano, Evil, Thee Midniters with Willie G, Changing Times, Chepito Areas and Cobra, Rubicon (with Jerry Martini), Attitude (with Chepito, Mike Carabello, Karl Perazzo and David Brown) and Puro Bandido as well.

Please note this an honest, unflinching account of hard, riotous times in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Those of a more sensitive disposition can choose not to read. It contains stories of hard drug usage plus the resultant crazed behaviour that comes with this territory. Many people from that Latin Rock era fell foul of these new narcotics (especially the revival in wide spread cocaine and heroin use) that engulfed the USA from the early 1970’s onwards. If the Latin rock scene is a microcosm of the entire USA music scene, then God help musicians and others, then and now! Particularly then, as the encroaching dangers from these drugs, were not entirely evident to these musicos; at least at first.

As someone who has been in recovery and clean and sober for nearly twenty-six years, a day at a time, my heart goes out to these dazzling young persons, who fell foul of this modern-day pestilence that destroyed their talent and opportunities and that has and is sweeping our world! The historic bubonic plague has got nothing on this horrendous, malevolent epidemic!

Angel describes his early days in Norwalk, Los Angeles and how he got involved in the music game. Angel is an engaging and “ Voice of Latin Rock.

To start off with, I started on the trumpet that my father taught me. He was a big fan of the big band jazz orchestras and he always played that music and old jazz classics. I was 5 years old when I started to actually play every day. By the time I was in 4th, 5th and 6th grade I was asked to play the, call to the colors of the rising of the American flag at D.D. Johnston Elementary School in Norwalk, Ca. I never missed a day. My mother made sure of that!
By the time I was in 6th grade the song Wipe Out that had that cool drum solo in and out thru the song. I fell in love with the sound of the drums. Then The Beatles came out and Herb Albert, The Monkees and so many other cool bands during that time. My mother bought me my first snare drum at a garage sale. I picked the drums like I knew I would. I taught myself and my 1st song was, you guessed it, Wipe Out. I was so popular for playing that song. So with that, I wanted a drum set and I would use old pots and pans or what ever worked and started jamming away.
During all of my school days I always was in the school bands playing the trumpet from 4th grade up until the 10th grade. I only played trumpet in the 9th for the Excelsior High School Band.
I auditioned for the school drum squad and got the part starting with the bass drum but that did not last long, maybe two months then I was moved up to the snare drum. I was so happy. I even auditioned for the jazz band and got the part!
My grandfather bought me my first drum set for Christmas in the 9th grade so I started practicing a lot. I drove our neighbours crazy!!
Ramon Banda was my school friend that played drums but mostly the timbales. He turned me on to the sounds of salsa, Santana and other Latin music. Man I feel in love with that sound and I said to my self I got learn that type of music. I started to jam with Ramon and listening carefully to that sound and practiced my ass off. Ramon went off to play with another Norwalk friend, Poncho Sanchez. Ramon & Poncho were very tight friends. I got to know Poncho real good. We used to jam, house parties and concerts all around the Los Angeles area.

Ramon Banda is the same age as I. We went to school and graduated together. Ramon did not get involved in the high school band like I was. Ramon was more into Latin jazz/salsa kind of music/style that I was not aware of back then!
I spend all the time with the marching band, pep band, jazz big band, and the orchestra band. Rehearsing even before classes in the mornings and after school practicing our marches or the drummers practicing our drum cadence and so on. I was very fortunate to be able to participate in all of those class’s that kept busy and out of trouble. I did not get to know Ramon Banda until I graduated. Poncho was introduced to me by Ramon who in my senior year. They had both had started a band called, Sabor. Sabor was a mix of salsa and a bit of James Brown, whom they both liked so much; otherwise it was all salsa Latin jazz. Poncho did not go to the same school as I did and I think if I remember right, Poncho dropped out of high school? Ramon and Poncho are pretty alike, they are both funny and they liked to go fishing a lot, eating lots of Mexican food but somewhat reserved.
Ramon and Poncho are just some of musicians back then, man there where a lot of talented musicians back in those days in the Norwalk California.
I was in that band Evil and I was doing or playing with a lot of groups and attending different colleges that kept me busy so I did not hang out with them that much.
I am very proud of both Ramon and Poncho. I here from them once in a while, mainly Ramon Banda! There are both doing very well. Ramon Banda played with Poncho until sometime in the 90s, I don’t know exactly?
Once in a while I would call Ramon to do drum gigs when and if I could not make them. I was gigging a lot back then.
When I moved to the Bay Area I was pretty much not in touch with them.

I asked Angel about his early influences.
My influences! Let me see, there where so many and still are. Elvin Jones, Sonny Pain from the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Ralph Humphreys from the Don Ellis Electric Orchestra, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Peter Erskine, Steve Gadd, Airto and Louie Bellson who was my old drum teacher that used to teach at the Hollywood Drum Shop. Also, David Garibaldi from Tower Of Power, how could I forget Dave G. Who I did have the honor of meeting and spending time with him and DG showed me some of his drum beats. What a hell of funky drummer. And that is to name but a few!

I was very fortunate at my High school because after my 9th grade that I was playing trumpet, our music teacher quit and a new music teacher was hired. John Prince was a wonderful teacher. He gave me the chance to audition on the drums even though the other kids told the music teacher that I played trumpet. He told the kids that I had the right to audition for the drums and if I did good, it would only be fair to give me the chance! Our music teacher spend a lot of time with the students and during the summer he would let us know that there are summer school music classes and work shops at different college’s. This helped me to know where all the good schools and musicians were at!
Our high school even won 1st place in a band competition. That was my 1st record that I recorded on a trap drum set. I wish I had a copy but I lost that with some other cool things a while back, too bad!!! The year was 1970 when Excelsior High School Jazz band under the direction of John Prince!
We won 1st place that year

The Corona Jazz festival/competition in Corona, Ca. was where that event was held. Creative World Music was the one that recorded that concert performed by 1st, 2nd and 3rd place band winners. I think for it was so long ago but the Stan Kenton band also performed that night.
That was so exciting for the band to win 1st place. We cheered all the way back home on the school bus GO PILOTS GO, for we are the Excelsior High School Pilot band!
When I graduated high school in 1972. I immediately attended Cerritos College, East Los Angeles City College, Rio Honda College from 1972 to 1974. E.L.A. City College went to Mexico City for a tour that had one College Jazz Big Band and from each state. East Los Angeles City College was picked to represent California. That was a lot of fun. We also played at other small pueblos near by Mexico City.
I was a very active drummer. I never could play enough and or go to listen with my college band companions to check all kinds of great different types of music/bands.
The Stan Kenton Summer Clinics were my favorite music school. I attended the one at Irvine California in 1971 and Sacramento in 1972. The Irvine Stan Kenton Clinic was my 2nd recording on the trap drum set. That recording was done by Stan Kenton’s and was calledCREATIVE WORLD MUSIC CORP.
1970 was the first time at the Corona High School jazz band competition at Corona, Ca with the Excelsior High School jazz band. The second recording for the Creative World Music recording was done when I attended the Stan Kenton clinics in the summer of 1971. I had to audition to be able to attend the clinics and I made playing it into the Mike Vax clinic band. Mike Vax was one of the five trumpet players for the Stan Kenton Band
The way it worked is that you would audition and you would get so many points and then you get placed depending how good you were. The teachers were the musicians from Stan Kenton’s band. I met a lot of great drummers there and other musicians threw the S.K. clinics. At the Stan Kenton Clinics at Redlands, Ca, it was five days from Monday to Friday. Friday was the concert and recording from Creative World Music of all the bands that where under the direction of S.K. band members. As I said I was with the Mike Vax clinic band. There is where I met Peter Erskine who later played with Stan Kenton’s band, plus Maynard Ferguson and many other students. Jeff and Joe Porcaro was also two of many others that attended the clinic. Jeff went on to do the TOTO band and also many other greats.

When Stan Kenton passed away he donated all of his music arrangements and creative world music, records and archives to Texas State University. At least that is what I was told! Our High school teacher John Prince left one year later after my graduation. He was hired at Long Beach State University. I called him up and asked him if I had a chance to audition or if I was good enough. Well I auditioned and attended the Wednesday night Jazz band. I only attended for one year and that was in 1975.

As I mentioned to you before, I was a very active drummer and also played with different bands in the LA area. I was also a member of the Musician’s Union Local #47.
My passion for playing drums was pretty intense. I even decided to start my own band. Lynn Farney/bass, Ron Vermillion/trumpet and I started our band EVIL during my first year in Cerritos College back in 1973. I’ll Get to the Evil Band a bit later to continue to stay in order!
Attached are, E.L.A. City College Band concert photos. Me on drums and Pete Christlieb from at that time, the Doc Severson Big Band for the Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and also tenor sax on all of Steely Dan’s Asia Album.  The other picture is fro l to r, Roland Mendoza/Friend, Ramon Lopez/congeuro for Stan Kenton Band, Roy Reynolds/Baritone Sax for Stan Kenton Band and me.

The 3rd album that I recorded on was SIMPLY MACRAME with the Bobby Rodriguez Latin Jazz Band. That was a hot band and a hot recording. (Released on Jazzman Records and still available to buy on eBay and various vinyl sites on the web).
Leon ‘Ndugu’ Chancler played drums and that is when I met him and he introduced me to a lot of people. One of my favorites was the George Duke band whom he played drums with; they were great and still are!!!
Bobby Rodriguez also introduced me to a lot of other great musicians and bands and that is when I met Bobby Espinosa of El Chicano; who I will later tell you about.

As I mentioned before, during Cerritos College we put the band Evil together. Well, this band got pretty popular and we even recorded at Wally Heiders Studios in Hollywood next to Shelly Mann’s Jazz hole, I think that was the name. It is so long ago that I can’t believe that I can remember some of these things but as I go along with our interview my brains somehow kicks out all of those old great memories.
Anyway, Evil played everywhere from L.A. to Palm Springs and all kinds of nice venues back then. Well, the band fell apart because our lead singer/guitar got into an accident. Brian Evens quit the band and told us that he has found God and turned to a Christian way of life. Brian was the main part of the act and was hard to replace. We tried but finally we broke up!

One day I got a call from Carmelo Garcia (the feted timbalero) and I could tell it was him because of his low raspy voice. Well he tells me that there are these three brothers from East L.A. that are looking for a drummer, Changing Times is the band and I am to be playing timbales and congas. I thought to myself, how can you play timbales and congas together at the same time. I knew Carmelo was a fantastic timbalero and also I thought, boy another band to play with and I’m still going to college. I did not care, for I had to see or should I say hear this, timbales and congas at the same time and it sounded like a pretty cool band as he kept telling me about it. I told Carmelo, sure I will go and check it out to see if I like it or even more important if they like my drumming. I could not believe it; Carmelo was playing timbales and congas. Next thing I am rehearsing twice a week and played gigs and recorded with them.

We even met Stevie Wonder because Carmelo recorded an album with him. I think it was the one with one with the butterflies, I do not remember. (Jim note; Hungria Carmelo Garcia is credited on Songs In The Key Of Life. Mike Carabello also told he played on those recordings but was uncredited on the sleeve). Anyway, we got to go to Stevie Wonders studio and meet the band. We tried to get him to back us but some how that did not work out. I think it had to do with Carmelo’s behavior at the end. He got pretty raw, there where so many embarrassing moments that I could not tell them all and maybe it should be left like that. God bless you Carmelo but boy could he play.

Carmelo Garcia was a very talented timbalero and conguero. His cocaine problem was all a new thing to me and I would not get involved with that at all, at least back then.
I remember after practice with the Changing Times band, we would take turns taking him home and during the ride home he would ask if I knew anybody so he go and score. I always smoked pot and he really did not care for that and I would tell him that is all I can get!
At times toward the end at the gigs he would find a way or someone would show up to the gig and hook him up with coke. Immediately right after he would get weird and start stroking his cock in public. Very embarrassing it was.

I used to carry around a couple of baseballs, softball, baseball bat and a couple of baseball mitts in the trunk of my car. I found out when one night at band practice in LA during the Changing Times band that Carmelo loved baseball. He told me that he was in a baseball team in Dominican Republic when he was young and that he was good at it. He sure proved that when I asked to do some catching of the baseball and hitting the ball. For a short cat he sure could throw that ball really fast and hit good. Carmelo, the band, and I loved baseball. I wish we would have done that more often, Carmelo would say, NOT TODAY!

If it was not for music I myself would of maybe went pro?
I sure love baseball up to today. Always have!!
Armando Peraza is the same way but only he is from Cuba, he told me that himself a while back at S.F. when one day I was hanging out with him.

Angel went on to another LA based group called Changing Times….
Changing Times was a Latin, fusion, jazz band. This when I met Wayne Bergeron trumpet player that is one of the top trumpet players in L.A. Check out his site on Facebook. There is lots of good info.
During Changing Times day’s back in 1973 thru to 1975, this would be the time that I met Willie G’ from Thee Midniters. I also got to play with that band and if it would not have been  for Carmelo and Willie G I would have not ever played with that band. Thank you Willie wherever you are. Thee Midniters band were a bunch of cool guys.
The line up for the Changing Times band was and I can not remember all of there last names and the most important one are the three brothers that started the band. I will try to remember or look for some more info if I can? I remembered the last name of the last name of the three brothers that started Changing Times band, They were the Valenzuela brothers; Jaime, Javier, and Carlos Valenzuela.
But anyway the line up was for the picture I will attach is Jamie/singer & guitar, Javier/guitar, Carlos/bass, Wayne Bergeron/trumpet, Steve Price/trombone, Freddy/piano, Willie G/lead vocal & front man, Carmelo Garcia/timbales and congas and myself on drums!

Evil Band! This band as I mentioned before keeping it in that order was a doing funk and cover material like Tower Of Power, Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind  & Fire, Santana, Malo, Azteca and our own material.
I told you earlier about the Evil band and how it got started by Lynn Farney, Ron Vermillion and myself on drums and I was also the band director and did the booking, how long and why the band broke up was also mentioned earlier, we lasted from 1972 /73 to 1975.
The band line up was: Brian Evens/lead singer and guitar, Lynn Farney/bass. Gabriel Padillas/B3 & piano, Roland Mendoza/conguero and vocals, Ron Vermillion/trumpet, Richard Torres/Sax, Rocky Robles/trombone & music arranger, & my self on drums & vocals. Sometimes we would use David Luell/tenor & baritone sax who played with Cold Blood and also with LA Express, when he was not busy. What a sax player he is, WOW!!!
We used to rehearse in Santa Fe Springs at Gabriel Padillas house once a week in the evening time from 7pm to 10pm sometimes 11pm but the neighbors would complain, so we would cut it short. I had a lot of fun with that band and I do miss my old partners from that time.
So like I said the band broke up because of Brian Evens automobile accident. That was too bad!!!

Thee Midniters and Willie G…………
Thee Midniters Band & Willie G’! It was an honor to get to play with those guy’s. They had a hit, LET’S TAKE A TRIP TO WHITTIER BOULEVARD. This song was very popular with the Chicano low riders. I used to play at a lot at the low rider magazine events with these guys. I was only the back up drummer so I did not become a full-time member and anyway, they ended up taking a break after many years of playing.
Huggy Boy was the name of their manager and he was the Bill Graham of East L.A. back then. Huggy Boy had a theater on the corner of Atlantic Boulevard and Whittier Boulevard, in East L.A. That was his office and also the Midniters headquarters. Wow, I can’t believe I am remembering this, It’s all a kinda’ blur to me!
(The band was also promoted by Dick “Huggy Boy” Hugg on local radio station KTYM, Inglewood and by his fill-in Godfrey [Godfrey Kerr]. Huggy Boy was later the most popular DJ on KRLA.)
Willie G’ Then moved to the Bay area and joined the Malo band. I think he recorded 2 albums? (Actually he recorded on Malo’s final Warner Brothers recording Ascension – Jim note). Willie told me that El Chicano was looking for a drummer and that is how I joined up with that band.

PART 2: Coming soon……………………..…….
Angel plays with El Chicano, Santana, Cobra, Chepito Areas, Rubicon (with Jerry Martini) Attitude (with Mike Carabello and David Brown), Puro Bandido and more…..

Here is a link to the official website of Jim McCarthy; British author of contemporary graphic novels  and music celebrity biographies and veteran 2000AD comic artist.