Ozomatli

Since issuing their self-titled debut album in 1998, the Los Angeles-based group Ozomatli has cultivated worldwide acclaim through an energetic fusion of Latin salsa, urban hip-hop, jazz-funk, R&B, and rock. Emerging from the jam-band milieu of the 1990s, this horn-driven and percussion-heavy collective earned early regional recognition for the vibrant intensity of its concerts and its refined musical craftsmanship, qualities already apparent on that 1998 debut. Subsequent releases such as Street Signs in 2004 and Fire Away in 2010 achieved commercial traction and global radio exposure, allowing the ensemble to extend its performances to European audiences. Between 2011 and 2014 Ozomatli functioned as the house band for Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution. In 2012 the band directed its music toward a younger audience with the children’s project Ozokidz. The crowd-funded and guest-filled Non-Stop: Mexico to Jamaica surfaced in 2017. Following their affiliation with Blue Elan Records, the full-length Marching On arrived in 2022.

Ozomatli coalesced in Los Angeles during the mid-1990s and eventually coalesced around a flexible roster that encompassed Raúl "El Bully" Pacheco, Ulises Bella, Jiro Yamaguchi, Cut Chemist, Chali 2na, Wil-Dog Abers, Mairo Calire, Rene "Spinobi" Dominguez, Justin "Niño" Porée, Asdrubal Sierra, and Jabu. After establishing themselves on the city’s club circuit, the musicians appeared on the urban late-night program Vibe! and issued their self-titled debut in June 1998. Embrace the Chaos followed in 2001 and the EP Coming Up appeared in 2003. Street Signs, the third album and the first to feature a revised lineup after Cut Chemist and Chali 2na departed amicably, reached stores in 2004 and later received a Grammy. A live recording, Live at the Fillmore, accompanied by a DVD of the performance, came out in 2005, implicitly marking the band’s tenth anniversary; Don’t Mess with the Dragon was issued in 2006 and Live from Soho followed in 2008. The group then collaborated with producer Tony Berg to deliver Fire Away, its first album for Mercer Street Records/Downtown Records, in 2010. Two years afterward the unexpected children’s-music detour produced Ozokidz. In 2014 Ozomatli released its seventh studio album, the Robert Carranza-produced Place in the Sun. While supporting the record on festival stages throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, the band maintained its customary touring pace across Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2015 the musicians adopted a fresh approach by re-examining their shared Latin musical roots through reggae and Caribbean idioms. They launched a PledgeMusic campaign that exceeded its target by 53 percent and recorded with Sly & Robbie serving as producers. A roster of guests contributed, among them Gaby Moreno, Juanes, Regulo Caro, and "Herb Alpertto." The project incorporated compositions originally written by Selena, Café Tacvba, Juan Gabriel, Julieta Venegas, and Los Tigres del Norte, together with reinterpreted selections from the band’s own catalog. Cleopatra released the resulting set, Non-Stop: Mexico to Jamaica, in spring 2017.

In May 2022, now operating as a six-piece, the group unveiled the single "Sunsets" on its new label Blue Elan Records and followed it with "Una Mas" in June. July brought the David Garza-produced album Marching On. Gaby Moreno returned as a featured vocalist on both "Mi Destino," which also included B-Real, and the title track; Lisa Lisa and JJ Fad appeared on "Fellas."