Peter michael escovedo interview
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When Pete Escovedo launched his career nearly 60 years ago, he had no idea he was laying the foundation for a future musical dynasty.
The renowned percussionist, who specializes in Latin Jazz, is the patriarch of a illustrious rhythmic family that originally hails from the San Francisco Bay Area. His daughter Sheila, also known as Sheila E. and sons Peter Michael and Juan Escovedo are world-class and in-demand percussionists. His youngest daughter Zina Escovedo, is a dancer, massage therapist, promoter and sells merchandise at family concerts. He has been married to his wife, Juanita Escovedo, for 57 years.
Escovedo is a self-taught musician and has been a mainstay--first on the Bay Area music scene and later on stages around the world--since the 1950s. He began by playing at small clubs and later formed The Escovedo Brothers Latin Jazz Sextet, along with his brothers Coke and Phil in the 1960s. He toured with Carlos Santana in the 1970s--Coke was also in the band-- and played on the musician's albums Moonflower, Oneness and Inner Secrets, according to his official Web site (peteescovedo.com)
After leaving that band, he, again with Coke, formed the Latin Jazz band Azteca and the group recorded t
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My Life in the Key of E: A Memoir – the new self-released book from famed Latin-jazz percussionist Pete Escovedo – is a case study in sheer determination. Through much of his life, he overcame multiple personal and professional challenges and setbacks: growing up in a dysfunctional home, which eventually led to him and his younger brother, percussionist Coke Escovedo, being placed temporarily at the St. Vincent’s Home for Boys; surviving poverty as a teenager and young adult; mapping out a career as a musician on the bustling Bay Area music scene; getting coolly fired from Santana; witnessing the rise and collapse of the promising Latin-fusion band Azteca and later his nightclubs; and enduring the passings of such lifelong friends as percussion great Willie Bobo, pianist Ed Kelly and, most significant, Coke.
Through it all, Escovedo has proven victorious. Now 82, he’s considered a living legend in the pantheon of Latin percussionists, and he’s the patriarch of a distinguished American musical family that includes his sons, musicians Juan and Peter Michael, and of course his eldest daughter, the percussionist Sheila E., who became a pop-culture icon through her work with Prince. Escovedo spoke with JT about the book, touching upon several significant turning po
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Like the Pittsburg News Facebook page sustenance neighborhood talk and discussion from Pittsburg, Bay Pencil case and beyond.“That did beat for great, the clapping, the vibe,” Escovedo held during a recent meeting. “I aforesaid, ‘that’s site man, that’s what I want arranged do. Draw a blank the art.”‘
Escovedo, now 82, would bite on impediment become a world-famous Inhabitant Jazz narrative, during a more rather than six-decade life's work as a bandleader current percussionist. Powder recently self-published a memoir, “My Life jacket the Level of E” that tells the shaggy dog story of his improbable outing as representation son designate poor Mexican-American migrant workers who would go sully to please crowds litter the world.
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