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Best of the Music Scene

The beats rattling the windows of cars, moving feet on the street and swaying hips on Valley dance floors isn’t just noise – you are hearing the history and shaping of Latino identity in metropolitan Phoenix.

Music doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Nearly every kind of Latino music enjoyed today in the Valley was spawned by realities of Latino life, past and present.

Latino Phoenix music has followed the waves of in-migration of Latinos here from other countries, other states. The genres – son, salsa, merengue, bachata, tango, samba, bossa nova -- are as diverse as the Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominican Republicans, Central Americans and South Americans who are attracted to Arizona by a warm climate, jobs, affordable housing and a growing population of fellow Latinos.

Each new Latino that settles in Maricopa County – the fastest growing county in the United States – adds another layer of richness to the melting pot of Valley musical culture. And these new residents, in turn, mesh their music with Latinos who have lived in Arizona for generations.

Latino Phoenix also has its own brand of homegrown, amalgamated, acculturated music forged by those Valley-born and raised. The Latino Rebel Band, Mesa’s Quetzal Guerrero, jazz guitarist Jay Soto, and Tempe’s Pistoleros carry the banner for home musical rule. These musicians blend the U.S. elements of rhythm and blues, jazz, funk, punk and Old School with the Latino chemistry of son, samba, reggae, and traditional Mexican musical genres.

Tossed together in a salad of sound, they all comprise a Valley cultural scene that seems the same to the casual onlooker, but in actuality is a banquet of musical tastes that spice up the flavor of Valley cultural life.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE

Most Valley residents get an idea of the diversity of Latino music when they attend a Cinco de Mayo festival. For this year’s three-day festival in downtown Phoenix, attendees were treated to Ruben Ramos, Little Joe y la Familia, and Ozomatli: Norteño, Tex-Mex, and urban Latino world beat, respectively. Other bands at Phoenix’s downtown Cinco festivals may include Benton Wood or the Temptations singing Old School favorites, or groups playing corridos, banda and Latino pop.

Ray Arvizu, president/CEO of Arvizu Promotions and Advertising in Phoenix, is hands-on when his firm books the acts for the annual Cinco de Mayo celebrations. Arvizu, a third generation Mexican American, figures that the average festivalgoer has musical tastes as eclectic as his.

“Phoenix has a wide range of Latinos who live here,” he says. To attract the biggest crowds, he says, the festival not only has to please the varied tastes of Latinos both homegrown and recently arrived, but also must provide Latino music that will entertain non-Latinos old and young.

Raul Monreal, an administrator at South Mountain Community College, is another expert of the Valley music scene. He is one of the most prolific and frequently recorded songwriters in the exploding Latin music market. About 100 of the songs he has written have actually been released on CDs by a variety of musical artists. One of his songs, Quebradita en el Mar, was an international hit.

Most of the songs he composes have a Mexican flavor, he says, which is natural because he and the majority of the Latinos who live here are from Mexico or of Mexican ancestry.

“Mexico has a strong influence on music in Phoenix,” he says.

Mexican music historically has spilled across the border. Visit any Mexican food restaurant with live music and you’ll find a mix of Mexican music. Mariachi, banda, corridos, cumbias, norteño, and conjunto are most popular in the Valley.

“The Mexicans who come to live here love to dance, so give them the music that makes them feel at home – and makes them dance,” says Martha Chavez, who runs the Rio Grande nightclub near 16th Street and Broadway. On weekends her parking lot is filled with Stetson-wearing Mexican men and Mexican women sporting tight dresses and high heels. Another night spot for traditional Mexican music is El Capri, on east Van Buren.

The border regions also have spawned a Mexican-U.S. regional hybrid called tejano and Tex-Mex, two genres most popular in Texas. Tejano and T-M fans find satisfaction with national acts like Little Joe, Ruben Ramos, and Emilio at fiestas and concerts, but few local clubs feature local bands specializing in the two genres.

ELECTRIC AND ECLETIC

In addition, the border has been the source of innovative changes that have popped up among musicians in urban immigrant enclaves and along the U.S.-Mexico boundary. One such variation is Nortec Collective’s electronic music emanating from Tijuana.

Nortec derives from norteño and techno, and first became popular in T.J. in 2001, says April Bojorquez, who as a curator for MonOrchid art gallery in downtown Phoenix, imported some musicians from the Nortec Collective to play for an art show two years ago.

Nortec is characterized by hard dance beats and electronically manipulated excerpts from traditional banda, norteño or sinaloense, mixed with border street slang/hip-hop.

The most recent contemporary trends in music that appeal to young, urban Latinos from all cultures is reggaetón, which hit Phoenix around 2002, and is the hybrid of several types of music: Latino hip-hop, Caribbean reggae and bachata, and Latino club techno music.

Jose Rodiles, general manager of 95.1 Latino Vibe, says his radio station signed on in May 2005 with the region’s first all-reggaeton format. Listeners regularly heard mega-stars like Daddy Yankee (Gasolina). The music caught on with Latino youth because of its high energy, driving beats and accompanying hip attitude and lifestyle.

Reggaetón migrated from Caribbean and South American countries to hot Latino cities like Miami and New York. After debuting on Latino Vibe, the sound migrated to popular Valley clubs like Club Dwntwn in Phoenix and Axis/Radius in Scottsdale. Although the reggaeton tide temporarily overpowered traditional pan-Latino rhythms such as salsa and merengue, Rodiles says reggaetón’s ominance is waning and the station now is mixing in more traditional Latino sounds into its form.

MUSICAL MESSAGES FROM HOME

Jay Soto, jazz guitarist, has played many Valley lounges and is finding success on the Billboard jazz chart with his new CD, Stay Awhile. Stay features special guests Jeffrey Osborne, Michael Lington, Jeff Lorber, Paul Brown, and Michael Brown, among others (Hear samples at www.jaysoto.com).

Soto says the Valley jazz scene – while not yet the caliber of Los Angeles or New York City, has quality players. The short but deep list includes Joe Corral, Delphine Cortez, Augie Mendoza, Raul Yañez, and Rich Oropeza.

“If you know where to go, you can find good jazz,” Soto says.

Quetzal Guerrero is another domestic product. The Mesa-born musician now living in L.A., will soon release a CD that has bust-out potential. (His new EP is reviewed on in Vibe on Page 28.)

Guerrero portends the future of American urban Latino sounds, heavily influenced by his Valley upbringing. The son of Chicano artist Zarco and his Brazilian wife Carmen de Novais, Guerrero performs on vocals, violin, guitar, bass and percussion. He’s a polyglot, singing in English, Spanish and Portuguese since he was a tot. Guerrero calls his music “Brazilian centric,” with dashes of R&B, jazz, and Afro Caribbean thrown into his cultural caldron.

“These are the musical influences I grew up with,” he says, referring to the diverse sound track of Latino Phoenix.

Just like the Valley, which is slowly but surely being raised with a greater understanding and appreaciation of a unique musical culture that reflects a multi-dimensional history that comes with being Latino.