Viva El Chicano! ’70s Latin Rock Legend .

From Shakira to Juanes, Cafe Tacuba to Mana, Latin Rock has never been more popular than it is today. But in Mexican-American neighborhoods decades ago there was a band that earned acclaim behind only Santana and War, and remains a favorite among Latino baby boomers — El Chicano. Though none of El Chicano’s original ’70s albums are available domestically on CD, the group’s greatest tracks — 12 digitally remastered selections, from the jazzy instrumental “Viva Tirado” to the
brown-eyed soul classic “Tell Her She’s Lovely” — can be heard once more on THE BEST OF EL CHICANO edition that will be released October 5, 2004.

Today, with a new album in the works, scoring a documentary on union organizer and band friend Cesar Chavez, preparing a book documenting its lengthy history, and playing some 100 dates around the world each year, El Chicano is reaping the rewards of its influence on new generations of Latin rockers.

Formed in 1968 in East Los Angeles and nurtured by the area’s racially diverse audiences, El Chicano blended bilingual lyrics with hard rock and Latin rhythms, as well as soul, funk, blues and jazz. The group’s hypnotically funky reworking of jazz pianist Gerald Wilson’s “Viva Tirado,” an instrumental homage to Mexican matador Jose Ramon Tirado, became the title track of El Chicano’s 1970 debut LP and a surprise hit single, reaching #28 pop, #20 R&B and #10 Adult Contemporary. In L.A., the song was #1 for 13 weeks. The album also included a cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantelope
Island.”