Malo - 1972 - Malo

Malo

1972

Malo

01. Pana 6:54

02. Just Say Goodbye 7:53

03. Cafe 7:19

04. Nena 6:30

05. Suavecito 6:35

06. Peace 9:21

07. Suavecito (Single Version) 3:29

08. Nena (Single Version) 3:13

09. Cafe (Single Version) 3:30

10. Peace (Mono Single Version) 3:40

11. Pana (Single Version) 3:05

Arcelio García, Jr. — vocals, percussion

Jorge Santana — guitar

Abel Zarate — guitars, vocals

Pablo Tellez — bass guitar, percussion

Richard Kermode — keyboards, electric piano, Hammond organ, piano

Richard Spremich — drums, percussion

Coke Escovedo — timbales, percussion

Victor Pantoja — conga, bongos, percussion

Luis Gasca — trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals

Roy Murray — flute, trombone, trumpet, soprano sax

Richard Bean — vocals, percussion, timbales

Recorded and mixed at Pacific Recording Studios, San Mateo, California

Additional Recording at Funky Features, San Francisco, California

Front Cover Credits: Reproduced with the permission of Galas De Mexico, S.A.

Note “We would like to acknowledge our special thanks to Coke Escovedo & Victor Pantoja for their beautiful feeling and contribution to this album.”—Malo

This album is dedicated to Linda Rogoff with our appreciation.

Tracks 1-1 to 1-6 taken from Warner Bros. album BS 2584 released 11 January 1972

Tracks 1-7 and 1-8 taken from Warner Bros. single 7559 released 24 January 1972

Tracks 1-9 and 1-10 taken from Warner Bros. single 7605 released 31 May 1972

Track 1-11 is previously unreleased and taken from an assembled, but never released Warner Bros. single

The youngest of three brothers, Jorge Santana had his greatest musical success as the leader of an early-'70s Latin rock band, Malo. Their self-titled debut album, released in 1972, included the Top Twenty hit, "Suavecito." Initially drawn to blues, Santana began playing guitar shortly after moving, with his family, to San Francisco in the early '60s. After playing with a four-piece high school blues band, he was invited to join the Malibus, a popular nine-piece blues band known for its horn-driven arrangements. The band, which evolved into Malo in 1971, featured former Janis Joplin's Kozmic Blues Band keyboardist Richard Kermode and trumpet/flügelhorn player Luis Garca. After recording Malo's final album, Ascension, in 1974, Santana performed, at New York's Madison Square Garden, as a special guest of the Fania All-Stars. The performance marked his last public appearance for three years as Santana retreated to his Mill Valley home, where he did little but eat, sleep, and play guitar. Although he released two solo albums -- Jorge Santana and It's All About Love -- neither sold well. Planning to take a year-long sabbatical from music, in 1982, Santana remained out of the public eye for seven years. Santana's return to music was sparked by an invitation to join his brother, Carlos's management company as director of artist relations. In addition to working on production, music clearances, and publishing, he toured with his brother's group. In 1994, the two brothers collaborated on an album, Brothers.

Malo were formed in San Francisco by ex-members of the Malibus and Naked Lunch. Led by vocalist Arcelio Garcia and guitarist Jorge Santana (brother of Carlos Santana), the band signed to Warner Bros. in 1971 and recorded its debut with David Rubinson, producer of fellow California-based acts the Chambers Brothers and Moby Grape, and a future close associate of Herbie Hancock. The album, self-titled, was released in early 1972 and was successful due to "Suavecito," a mellow romantic groove written by members Richard Bean, Pablo Tellez, and Abel Zarate that peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became a low-rider classic.

Malo shed several members, including Bean and Zarate, and were unable to sustain that level of popularity. Dos, released later in 1972, and Evolution, released in 1973, were also produced by Rubinson and appealed to a declining crop of listeners who appreciated bold fusions of soul, rock, jazz, and Latin music. Both albums charted but sold poorly compared to the debut. Ascención, the final release of the band's first phase, followed in 1974 and continued the downward commercial trend, despite co-production from Fred Catero, who was known most for his work on Santana's Abraxas.

Later incarnations of Malo recorded and performed on a sporadic basis for the next few decades. Six albums were released on as many labels during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Meanwhile, "Suavecito" remained alive, included on numerous compilations and referenced in Sugar Ray's Top Five pop hit "Every Morning." Additionally, Rhino Handmade released ¡Celebración!: The Warner Bros. Recordings -- a four-CD box set that included all four Warner albums and single versions. Garcia continued to lead the band into the 2010s.

Malo's debut album remains their best and best-known work, primarily for the inclusion of the hit single "Suavecito." That track managed to make a Chicago-like pop-soul song sound hip with its smooth integration of Latin rhythms and irresistible "la la la" chorus. However, it represented just one facet of a band who, despite some expected similarities to Santana, played some of the most exciting and exuberant fusions of rock, soul, and Latin music. The six extended tracks (all clocking in at over six minutes apiece) leaned more heavily on hot Latin jazz brass than Santana did, though Jorge Santana himself generated plenty of friction with his burning electric guitar. It's not an exaggeration to state that by the time this came out in 1972, Malo's Latin rock blend sounded fresher than Santana's, if only because they sound hungrier and less formulaic than Santana did by that point. The Santana comparisons are unavoidable, though in this case it's to Malo's credit, as they too boasted a deft balance of improvisatory instrumental passages, solid multi-layered percussive rhythms, and emotional, romantic singing in both Spanish and English. The album has been reissued on CD as one of the discs in Rhino Handmade's Celebracion box set, with the addition of five bonus tracks, though those are merely edited single versions of songs on the LP.

At a time when brother Carlos turned spiritual and got ready to release Caravanserai, Jorge Santana became a member of this band, Malo. Malo, the debut album from 1971/72, continued with the formula from the first three Santana LPs which had made them world-famous: fusing Latin percussion, Rock and West Coast Pop. The album mainly consists of uptempo songs complete with wahwah guitars, excellent brass and percussion sections and great arrangements. Peace is a suite beginning with a heavy Rock vamp leading into a swinging Jazz improvisation by the trumpet; a quiet guitar improvisation leads back to the Rock vamp from the beginning.