Azteca

In early 1972, percussionist Coke Escovedo (April 30, 1941 - July 13, 1986), an ex-Santana member, assembled the expansive Latin rock outfit Azteca in San Francisco. Among those he recruited were his brother, singer and percussionist Pete Escovedo, along with another percussionist, Victor Pantoja; vocalists Errol Knowles, Wendy Haas, and Rico Reyes; horn section players Bob Ferreira on saxophone, Tom Harrell on trumpet and flugelhorn, Mel Martin on saxophone and flute, and Jules Rowell on trombone; keyboardists George DiQuatro, George Maribus, and Flip Nunez; guitarist Jim Vincent; bassist Paul Jackson; and drummer Lenny White. Former Santana guitarist Neal Schon also contributed on guitar, expanding the roster to seventeen musicians total. Azteca secured a deal with Columbia Records and issued its debut self-titled album in December 1972, which charted for nine weeks after entering the lower positions in January 1973.

The group cut a follow-up, Pyramid of the Moon, issued in fall 1973. By then guitarist Bill Courtial had taken over for Vincent, Pat O'Hara had assumed Rowell's trombone chair, and John Brinck had replaced White on drums. The album did not chart, prompting further lineup shifts that included Coke Escovedo's departure and Columbia's subsequent termination of the contract. Azteca kept playing in the San Francisco Bay Area until its 1976 dissolution, during which Pete Escovedo's teenage daughter Sheila Escovedo (later known as Sheila E.) took Pantoja's place.

Filmmaker Daniel E. Meza launched efforts in the mid-2000s to reunite Azteca and eventually gathered a twelve-piece edition featuring Pete Escovedo, Courtial, Haas, Jackson, Knowles, Pantoja, Rowell, White, trumpeter Mario Gonzalez, keyboardist Murray Low, flute and saxophone player Melecio Magdaluyo, and piccolo and saxophone player Alex Murzyn. This configuration performed at Hollywood's Key Club on September 15, 2007, an event Meza captured on film and tape for the DVD documentary Azteca: La Piedra del Sol and the live album From the Ruins, both issued by Inakustik on January 20, 2009.