GROWING UP WITH THE BLUES AND BRINGING IT TO BAJA

by Jose Perez, September 2008

I was born and raised in 65% Afro American Oakland California. My parents were born in Spain and Spanish was the primary language spoken at home.  And in the streets.   The language was Ebonics.  The term Ebonics was presented to the world about fifteen years ago when the Oakland school district made history by teaching kids the common street language I learned from my black playmates.  Elevating Ebonics to a legitimate language.

To further complicate my multi ethnic life, my mother,   who worked in an Oakland cannery with mostly black women, asked these women the names of their sons.  Mom wanted to give me an “American” name in an effort to better assimilate into 1940’s America.  Le Roy came up a lot so Le Roy Jose it was.

Maybe it was my given name or the African rooted flamenco music, performed in house, by Spanish born friends and family that drove me toward African rooted music.  My life, at an early age, became dominated by the sound of black music and most prominently The Blues.    The blues, in 1940’s and 1950’s Oakland, dominated the radio airways: Jimmy Reed, Bobby Blue Bland, Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf became my musical heroes.  At age 15 I started “hangin” in Oakland Blues clubs.  Age restrictions were loosely enforced in these clubs and the authorities pretty much left us alone, preferring to police white neighborhoods.

As a music lover and student of black music, I was blessed by having the great fortune to live in the Bay Area.  My parents loved big bands and on Saturdays we would go to movie matinees at the Fox or Paramount theatres.  For a dollar you could see a movie and at the end of the film, the hydraulic stage would rise and present to us: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, The Dorsey Brothers and almost every orchestra my parents loved to jitterbug to. 

In the 50’s it was the blues and in the sixties, as a student at San Francisco State, I hung out in intimate Jazz clubs when San Francisco was the center of West Coast jazz.   I was in “my glory” rubbing elbows with Be Boppers: Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk.  In the 70’s it was the Fillmore Auditorium that became my venue:  Jimmi Hendrix, Santana, Big Brother and the Holding company and Steve Winwood.
I moved to Ensenada in 1984 when Oakland became better known as “Cokeland”.  I immediately began exploring live music clubs and was delighted to meet Maestros Francisco and Ernesto Rosas who founded Ensenada Jazz.  Classically trained musicians who have devoted their lives to teaching young people both classical and jazz idioms.   Sustaining their music teacher father’s legacy-“The Young people’s Orchestra of Ensenada”.   The brothers Rosas also founded the annual Ensenada Jazz festival, celebrating its eighth year this October.

This year, I began my small contribution to promoting Afro American music, South of the border, by producing a radio program called “Soul Street”-Sunday evenings on XS 92.9 FM.  The signal coverage is from Ensenada to the border, presenting:  jazz, funk, r&b and of course the blues in Baja.  

My latest labor of love is the development of, what I hope will become, a new musical tradition in Baja called The Oakland – Ensenada Blues and Jazz Festival.  I am bringing a Big Band Blues group called Delta Wires voted the best San Fracisco/Oakland blues group by Oakland magazine.  They have that “Tower of Power” three man horn section: gritty and funky.  Homeboys, with that great R&B tradition that Oakland is famous for.  Oakland style ribs and Ensenada’s best seafood tacos will also be available.

 Jose Perez is the founder of Mexicomatters, serving the foreign investor since 1984.
You can consult with Jose by calling 619 819 9369 U.S. Phone or 011 52 646 1766759, see our website www.mexicomatters.info
Jose email: :leejose@mexicomatters.info