Aztex

Aztex draws its leadership from the husband-and-wife team of Joel Guzman and Sarah Fox, who merged their personal and creative lives. Music runs deep in both family lines. Guzman displayed early mastery of the accordion, earning the nickname Little Giant, or el Pequeno Gigante, while performing and recording alongside his father. Fox grew up as the child of a Mexican vocalist mother and a Cuban father. Years before their first introduction, she caught his performances on a Texas radio station. Each later built careers as session players and pursued college training focused on classical and jazz. Their studio work supported Tejano projects by Ruben Ramos and Ram Herrera, after which they launched a production company handling film scores and advertising music. Drummer and percussionist Brian Sebastian and guitarist Kevy Rojas round out the lineup. Steve Berlin, the producer behind los Lobos’s Grammy-winning Los Super Seven album, helmed Aztex’s Short Stories. That bilingual set fuses Mexico’s traditional sounds with blues, rock, country, and jazz from the United States; six of its eleven tracks are originals. Fox lists Billie Holiday, Tito Puente, Chaka Khan, Etta James, Celia Cruz, Aretha Franklin, and Tania Maria among her formative influences. Guzman previously played with Little Joe, Johnny y la Familia.