Malo

The arrival of Malo marked an awakening. The Northern California Latin Rock octet exploded onto the scene in '72, the dawning of an inspired new generation reveling in an explosive sound of it's own: roots soaked in151 rum. Their self-titled 6-song debut LP encapsulated the stretched out sound of a band boldly proving themselves as musicians that could blaze with the best, flexing a fiery fusion of grungy rock, peppery salsa, cool jazz, boogaloo and doo wop. Crisp heralding trumpet (like Lee Morgan meets Mariachi) holds down the frontline with twin guitars of sand-raising doom over roaring organ & bass, pulse-pounding percussion and as-one horns blasting any identity crisis blues away. Malo - the name a Spanish flip on the soul brother use of the word bad meaning bad-ass musicianship as good as it gets - was co-led by lead vocalist Arcelio Garcia & guitarist Jorge Santana, younger brother of rock superstar Carlos Santana. The Malo LP was on Billboard's Top Pop Albums chart for 31weeks (peaking at #14) the Lead Vocal on the smash hit Suavecito is by Richard Bean. That signature Latino love song has been called greatest Chicano love song of all time. This album includes the full length album version & the single edit as a bonus track.