* En anglais uniquement
Azteca was a large Latin rock band founded by percussionist
Coke Escovedo (April 30, 1941 - July 13, 1986), formerly of
Santana, in San Francisco in early 1972.
Escovedo brought in his brother, singer/percussionist
Pete Escovedo, and another percussionist
Victor Pantoja; singers
Errol Knowles,
Wendy Haas, and
Rico Reyes; horn players Bob Ferreira (saxophone),
Tom Harrell (trumpet, flugelhorn),
Mel Martin (saxophone, flute), and Jules Rowell (trombone); keyboardists George DiQuatro, George Maribus, and
Flip Nunez; guitarist
Jim Vincent; bass player
Paul Jackson; and drummer
Lenny White. (Guitarist
Neal Schon, another former member of
Santana, sat in on guitar, bringing the total lineup to 17 musicians.) The band signed to Columbia Records and released its self-titled debut album in December 1972; it spent nine weeks in the lower reaches of the charts starting in January 1973.
Azteca recorded a second album, Pyramid of the Moon, for release in the fall of 1973. By the time it appeared, Bill Courtial had replaced
Vincent on guitar;
Pat O'Hara had replaced Rowell on trombone; and John Brinck had replaced
White on drums. The album failed to reach the charts, and personnel changes continued, with
Coke Escovedo leaving the group, after which Columbia canceled its recording contract.
Azteca continued to perform around the San Francisco Bay Area until disbanding in 1976, with
Pete Escovedo's teenage daughter
Sheila Escovedo (later known as
Sheila E.) replacing
Pantoja toward the end.
Filmmaker Daniel E. Meza began trying to put
Azteca back together in the mid-2000s, eventually succeeding in assembling a version of the band that included
Pete Escovedo, Courtial,
Haas,
Jackson,
Knowles,
Pantoja, Rowell, and
White, along with trumpeter
Mario Gonzalez, keyboard player Murray Low, flute and saxophone player
Melecio Magdaluyo, and piccolo and saxophone player
Alex Murzyn. This 12-piece unit played a concert at the Key Club in Hollywood, CA, on September 15, 2007, that Meza filmed and recorded for the DVD documentary Azteca: La Piedra del Sol and the live album
From the Ruins, both released by Inakustik on January 20, 2009. ~ William Ruhlmann