Banda El Recodo

Banda el Recodo ranks among Mexico’s most accomplished and versatile bandas, sustaining an 80-year legacy that blends Latin dance rhythms with jazz swing and classical passages. As the first banda ever committed to record, the ensemble has issued more than 200 albums, carrying its sound from neighborhood streets in Mexico to global audiences. It also became the first Mexican recording act to appear on every inhabited continent—Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas—while collecting more honors than any other Mexican Regional group, among them 12 Premio Lo Nuestro awards and six Latin Grammys.

Don Cruz Lizárraga, born July 1, 1918 and deceased June 17, 1995, founded La Banda el Recodo in 1938. Though his schooling concluded after the first year of junior high, the self-taught clarinetist overcame his father’s objections by selling a pig to secure the down payment on his first instrument and earned the balance by harvesting corn for a neighbor. In the early 1950s he joined a banda de musica sinaloense and eventually assumed its direction; after relocating to Mazatlan, Sinaloa, he signed with RCA Victor. His initial sessions yielded the tracks “Mi Adoracion” and “El Callejero” with a quintet, yet he soon assembled La Banda el Recodo’s signature configuration of two clarinets, two trumpets, two trombones, bass drum, and snare drum.

Lizárraga guided the group until his death from cancer in 1995. His sons German and Alfonso, both clarinetists, then steered the band, which entered a period of heightened productivity in 2000. Five years after their father’s passing, La Banda el Recodo captured its first Grammy for Best Banda Performance with “Lo Mejor de Mi Vida” at the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards. In 2003 the ensemble sold out three consecutive nights at Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional. During Cinco de Mayo festivities the following year, it became the first banda to perform at the White House. The 2006 release Mas Fuerte Que Nunca fused banda, salsa, and cumbia, drawing younger listeners, while the group also contributed the theme to Televisa’s telenovela La Fea Mas Bella and placed songs on the soundtracks of Rocky Balboa and Babel. In 2008 the city of Las Vegas declared October 9 “Day of Don Cruz Lizarraga” and unveiled separate Walk of Fame stars for the band and its founder.

Touring demand continued to rise. Between 2010 and 2015 the group placed no fewer than six titles on the Mexican Regional Albums chart and eight on the Top Latin Albums list, several at number one. Me Gusta Todo de Ti logged 38 weeks on the Hot Latin Albums chart in 2010, and La Mejor de Todas reached number three in 2011. The 200th album, Haciendo Historia, appeared in 2013 with fourteen tracks spanning romanticos and rancheros, peaking at number six and registering on multiple digital charts. Mi Vicio Más Grande topped both the Mexican Regional Albums and Hot Latin Albums charts in 2015. Raices, released in summer 2016, duplicated that dual-chart achievement and confirmed the ensemble’s ability to attract fresh listeners. A year later the band issued Ayer y Hoy, which featured the single “Me Prometí Olvidarte.”