Timbalero Pete Escovedo played with Cal Tjader and formed his own Chicano-rock group, Azteca, before coming to prominence with Carlos Santana's band in the 1970s. Throughout a long career (and as patriarch of a talented musical family), Escovedo has focused on a vision of contemporary Latin jazz filtered through a pop-tinged prism. His eleven-member group produces a unique and powerful sound, a mixture of African, Brazilian, contemporary
Latin, jazz, soul and pop styles.