In 1959, I moved to Berkeley for my second year of college (Univ. of Calif., Berkeley). Cal Tjader was based in S.F. and his appearance on a UCB recruiting 45r.p.m. record greatly influenced my decision to go to UCB. Within a few months, I began to play congas (I used my tunable conga and the "electrically heated" conga my buddy had made for me in H.S.) in a "real" Latin band "Los Locos del Ritmo" usually known as "Los Locos". The band played a couple of years (sometimes, in the early days, for beer and peanuts!) at several bars (Nod’s, Northgate Café, La Vals) and fraternity/sorority and private parties in Berkeley, Oakland, S.F. (Circulo Pan-Americano where I ate my first empanadas!), and the east county (Lafayette Inn, see poster). Los Locos never rehearsed! No charts, it was always a jam session led by whatever the the band suggested and piano played. Within a year of starting with Los Locos, I got my second Tom Wofford conga.

2000/04/26: while reading Steven Loza's "Tito Puente and the Making of Latin Music", I was reminded of some of the tunes we played in the groups Los Locos, The Latin Jazz Quintet, Guy Hoffman's Latins, and Cesar's Men in addition to the recordings below:

Anna (a baion), Que será mi china (Que será), Oye como va, Mambo diablo, Cuban Fantasy, Manteca, Night in Tunisia, Tea for Two, El Latigo, El cumbanchero, Tumbando caña, and more to be added as I recall them.

1999/02/00: Cesar just reminded me that we also played at Zacks in Sausalito quite a bit.

The original Los Locos were the ones who gave me my Latin nickname, "Califa", not meaning "from California" as many Latinos seem to think but referring to a ruler in the old Middle East, a Calif or Kalif, you know one of those guys with a harem! Based upon the fact that I had two young ladies renting a room from me; one of the ladies was Juanita Oribello (see 1964/05/30 below). I drove to and from the jobs (even to Pierre’s, see below) on my Vespa motorscooter with my two congas in duffle bags tied over the "Vespa bubbles", rain or shine, and once with Delmar Neely (see LJQ below) and his upright bass as passengers; the bass peg sat in the back rack with Delmar’s belt like a lasso around the neck! 

Los Locos: Cesar Ascarrunz (Bolivia), leader, piano, vocals; Jaime "Flaco" Lizarraga (Peru), started out using a gut-bucket for bass and later switched to bass, vocals; Guy Hoffmann (Peru), timbales, vocals; yours truly (Ft. Wayne, Indiana), congas, vocals(ha!); sometimes Rudi Petschek (Argentina), bongos, vocals (Rudi had been the original conga player for Los Locos but when I started to play he shifted to bongos); Tito Boas (Peru), quiro, vocals; and, occasionally, other Latin friends on maracas, vocals, etc. All were from South America except for me! Note: The posters for Los Locos was done by Joyce Zavaleta (una gringa) who later bought my TW congas and would not sell them back (see below for details on how I finally got them back!).

Influential LPs:

++George Shearing - several LPs

++"Machito Jazz with Flip + Bird" - Machito - (this album contains the tune "Bucabu" on which the rhythm section starts out singing their parts and then Flip Phillips starts his sax solo and then, one by one, the vocal rhythm is replaced by the actual percussion! This 10" LP is quite rare for many years but I got a reissued CD in 1998 of some of the tunes. 1999/05/15-the two Bucabus are different: Bucabu LP and Bucabu CD

++"Mambos" - Charlie Palmieri

++"The Heart of Cuba" - Orquestra Nuevo Ritmo 

++"Mambo Mucho Mambo" - Machito, Xavier Cugat, Belmonte (for some reason, "Fred’s Mambo Samba", a kind of corny tune, really turned me on and I could hardly wait to play timbales because of this tune!)

Anecdote: Just before Los Locos began to work at Pierre’s, we were required to join the Musicians Union. I remember the proficiency test: I was very nervous that I might not pass, i.e., be good enough to be a "professional" musician; I carried my congas to the test room and set them up (sweating bullets the whole time). An old man came into the room and sat down. He looked at me and said "What are those things?" I knew I had it made! I played a few patterns, paid my admission fee, and got my card!

During this time, I also played congas with the "Latin Jazz Quintet", around S.F., Berkeley, Sausalito (Bridgeway Inn?), and Oakland. The band (all black except for me!) played Tjader and Shearing style Latin jazz plus some more authentic Latin including Puente, Rene Touzet, etc., tunes. One of the more interesting jobs was at a "Black and Tan Ball" in S.F. I was probably one of two or three white folks in a crowd of 2000-3000 people! And there I was playing congas! The folks up front were having a good time and enjoyed what I was doing but when I needed a pit stop at the back of the hall, where no one could see me playing, the band insisted on accompanying me for my safety!

One night on the way to a job, at my suggestion, based upon what I had heard on "Bucabu" by Machito (see above for audio links for two versions), we did a very nice vocal only version of one of our tunes which was very tasty and this was before Vocal Sampling!

Latin Jazz Quintet + One (L-R: Joyce Zavaleta sitting in on bongos, Califa (congas), Carol Vorhes (piano), Ulysses "Sonny" Crockett (vibes), Delmar Neely (bass), ? (timbales not seen). Probably at a fraternity in Berkeley.

Anecdote: Several years later, when I got my first drum set, I ran into James Levy and asked him for a few pointers. He took me "under his wing" for a while showing me a few licks, taking me to some of his Whisper’s jobs and even got me (on congas) on a recording session with the Whispers! Later when I asked him why he had spent the time helping me with drums, he replied that he and several of his black friends (who later became very good conga players) used to stand outside of the Northgate and watch me play and that is how they got started with Latin music, congas, and timbales! He said he was just paying back what he owed!

Latin Jazz Quintet: "Sonny" Ulysses Crockett, leader and vibes; Carol Vorhes? (a guy), piano; Delmar Neely, upright bass; James Levy, timbales; yours truly, congas.

Carol had a very interesting style of playing which was heavily influenced by church music. He later quit the band to play at his church! What a loss for us, what a gain for his church! We had several other piano players but none of them ever really could take Carol's place!

James later played drums with the Whispers and toured the "chittlin’ circuit"). The last I heard (1992?), he was playing drums with jazz organist Jimmy Smith. 2000/01/08: I am still trying to find James.

Influential LPs:

++"Palo Congo" - Sabu Martinez (quite rare because BlueNote pulled it back a few weeks after its release). 1999: I finally got a Japanese reissue CD.

++"Cuban Jazz" - +Walfredo de Los Reyes

++"More Drums On Fire" includes "Artistry in Rhythm" and "Trieste" featuring Armando Peraza with some of the finest jazz conga/bongo drumming I have ever heard. In 1999, I sent Armando a cassette of the LP at his request and he called me and we talked and reminisced for about half an hour.

++"Seeco Sampler of Latin Rhythms"

Los Locos got a 6 night a week job at Lucky Pierre's, a club at Broadway and Columbus in S.F. Although there were several Latin clubs around S.F., our group was probably the first Latin group to play a full time (6 nights a week) regular job at a non-Latin club on Broadway. We packed the place all 6 nights a week! Flaco started on bass but soon he was replaced by several "real" bass players, first a cousin of Pete Escovedo, followed by Willie Colon (PR from Hawaii) (Willie was playing congas with Benny Velarde in 1992) and then we got Harold Martin. Harold and I became good friends and he became my compadre when my son was born). Still no rehearsing and no charts. Due to the owners cheating him on taxes (19990214: after 30 years, in a phone conversation with Cesar,I finally found out why he left Pierres!), Cesar left Los Locos and started another group across the street at the El Cid. I think Los Locos and Guy Hoffmann's Latins really started something because soon after that we started many Latin groups suddenly popped up almost everywhere in S.F. and especially in the clubs on Broadway!

Sometime just before or during the Pierre’s job, I began to switch to playing the tumbao using HTSTHTOO LLRRLLRR.

Harold Martin (PR from Hawaii), bass; one of my best and closest friends for many years up until I left Latin music and started playing with the Poor Boys of Hawaii; I made contact and visited Harold again in 1991 and gave him a copy of the 1962 tape.

Los Locos also played frequently at "the Circulo Pan-Americano (a South American Social Club) in the Mission District of S.F.

Influential LPs:

++"Soul of Cuba" - Gloria Matancera

++"Canta" - Celia Cruz

++"West Side Beat" - Tito Rodriguez

The group was renamed "Guy Hoffmann’s Latins) and we stayed at Pierre’s. We got an "older" pro (older to us kids!), Carlos Federico (from Panama) whose real name was Carlos Federico Smart (1930-1996), to play piano. Armando Peraza who knew Carlos (Carlos wrote some tunes for Shearing with whom Armando was playing at that time) used to come and sit in with Los Locos and Guy Hoffmann’s Latins whenever he was in town! Guy Hoffmann’s Latins had no charts and never rehearsed, we just let the piano start and the rest of the band jumped in!

Carlos Federico (Panama), piano; he would have been one of the best and best known except for personal problems; he influenced and taught many of the current "big time" S.F. Latin musicians including Pete Escovedo and Rebeca Mauleón.

1962 reel-to-reel tape (very good home recording done by Larry Kay at Rudi’s home in Berkeley) of Guy Hoffmann’s Latins (I was not able to copy the tape to a cassette until 1991); pretty good quality; includes Rudi Petschek, bongos; Jaime "Flaco" Lizarraga, guiro: Poinciana, La_Bola, Chevere, Preparen_Candela, Abaniquito, Guajira_de_Salon, Malagueña. Coco_Seco and Tengo_un_Chivo.

Tune comments:

Preparen Candela - the conga pattern is possibly what Carlos later (1991) described as a precursor to the Mozambique.

***1998/07/11 as I listen to the pattern, I do not recall hearing it any where else and I don't recall playing it again, since I begin the tune with a fairly straight tumbao, and then switch into the weird pattern, I think that was just a "discovery of the day", i.e., something I just felt.

***1999/11/07 - Victor Rendón listened to it and also says it sounds like a mozambique a la Pello El Afrokan! I mentioned to Victor that I was probably in a transition from a self taught RLRLRLRL to the LLRRLLRR conga tumbao, so this might well be a transitional combination of some kind.

***2000/01/29 - Bobby Sanábria and Chembo both say it sounds a bit like an early mozambique!

***2001/06/08 - I just found something on the internet that says Pello El Afrokan introduced the mozambique rhythm in 1963. If this is true, my "discovery of the day" preceded Pello!

Abaniquito - contains a decent conga solo IMHO :>)

Coco Seco – the conga pattern is a mixture of patterns including basic tumbao, some of a similar pattern to that used in Preparen Candela, and a "reverse" guaguancó pattern which I had not heard anyone use until Celia Cruz’ Gua Gua in 1997 in which the pattern is used for the entire tune.

Tengo un Chivo - the conga (Me) plays one of the fastest "caballo" beats I had ever heard until the new fast merengues of the 80’s-90’s.

After the year or so at Pierre's, Guy went back to Peru and I was designated the leader (leader in name only!) for the last two weeks of the job (sweating every night, until the whole band arrived and was able to play, convinced me that I never wanted to be a leader again!). I guess I had my own band "Combo Califa". 

The Latin craze lasted until the "twist" and topless dancing took over Broadway a couple of years later.

After Pierre’s, I worked various jobs with Carlos (including some with the young Pete Escovedo (Sheila E’s father! I do not know Sheila or even if she was born at that time!).

Influential LPs:

++Tito Puente, Cal Tjader, George Shearing – many LPs

++"Goza Mi Son Montuno"

++"Exitos del Clave De Oro" - Cuarto Son Ritmo De Oro

++"Los Mejores Musicos De Cuba"

++"The Incendiary Piano of Peruchín" - +Peruchín

++"Guaguancó Afro-Cubano" – El Vive Bien con el Grupo Folklorico de Alberto Zyas

++"Descargas", "Cuban Music in Jam Session", "Jam Session with Feeling" – Cachao 

I also did a couple of stints in S.F. with Benny Velarde’s group at the old Copacabana (later the Tropicoro) at the east end of the Broadway Tunnel in S.F. Benny asked me to play congas with him after Cliff "El Chino" Andersen left the band. We also played the after-hours joint Coffee Don’s on Saturday nights for a while). While with Benny, I met and was especially privileged to work with older experienced professional musicians: Wally Chilcott piano (probably one of the best piano players in Panama about the time before he came to the U.S.) and Lalo Reyes (he was so good that whenever Rene Touzet came to S.F., Rene picked him up as a sideman).

After a few months, Cliff wanted to come back and Benny let me go. Although I was disappointed, it was all right with me as Cliff was a more experienced player.

Benny Velarde (Panama), leader, timbales and vocal; Wally Chilcott (Panama); Lionel Samuels, vibes; Lalo Reyes (Mexican-American), bass; Califa, congas.

Somewhere around this time, I also played congas for a San Francisco off Broadway production of Truman Capote’s musical "House of Flowers". There were just two musicians, a piano player and myself. The piano player was a math T.A. at UCB and had gotten the job for me. We worked in body makeup and costumes and sat/played on the side of the stage.

Anecdote: The piano player also played intermission music and frequently played classical pieces. One night I suggested that I might play along with him on some classical pieces, he looked surprised, but I suggested some Mozart, he started, I joined in, and it worked great! This was several years before Deodato’s "Thus Spake Zarathrustra"!

1999/08/04: I just remembered that I used the octagon conga with the light inside for this job so it must have occurred at about the same time as the Pierre's job!

In 1962, I began what was to become a life-time career as a computer programmer/analyst with the Univ. of Calif., first at Berkeley, then at the Office of the UC President (Berkeley), and finally at the Univ. of Calif., San Diego (see 1978). Up to this time, my income had been basically all from playing music.

The new Los Locos then got a job at in San Jose at Maria's Club for about a year. Several excellent San Jose musicians used to sit in on a regular basis including Jesse Burciaga on saxes. With the new Los Locos, Maria’s club was one of, if not, the most popular clubs in San Jose. No charts and no rehearsals.

One night at Maria’s Club while we were playing a tune, probably a guaracha or mambo, in walks an entire Mariachi band playing loud as they could, trumpets, guitars, guitaroon, violins; we stopped playing and Jim rushed out to his car, got his viola, tuned it up, and started playing with the Mariachis although he had never played that kind of music. He sounded like he had been playing with them for years! Jim also played bass with the Four Amigos for a while. He later quit playing music, joined a religious order, and moved to England. I lost contact with him for many years but sometime around 1991?, I located him in Utah! My son, James Dennis Reed, was named after James Barstad.

New Los Locos: same personnel as Guy Hoffmann’s Latins except that Casto Ascarrunz (Cesar’s brother) played timbales and Jim Barstad (un gringo)(my other best friend during the 60’s), Jim was a schooled viola player who picked up Latin bass like he had done it all his life! Guillermo Ascarrunz played maracas and sang. Ted Rivera (PR) was the featured singer.

In 1962, at Maria’s Club, I met my wife, Maria (not associated with the club!) and we went together for about two years. Mary is PR and she introduced me to PR food and culture. (see 1991 below).

I met or was "discovered by" several Latin band leaders while at Maria's (more on this later). Ted Rivera also introduced me to Bobby Zamora, a San Jose band leader, with whom I played many jobs.

Bobby Zamora Band: Bobby Zamora was the leader and there I met several musicians with whom I would later play including Sal Caudillo and Mike Hermosillo (Mike with Ted later formed Sonora Marianao).

Ted and Mike were some of my best friends and, as of 1991, we keep in touch.

2002/08/21: I still talk with Mike occasionally and see Ted a couple of times a year.

I also worked again for a year or more with Cesar’s Men in San Jose at the Cesar’s El Patio. The El Patio was probably the most popular club in San Jose at this time. Cesar’s Men never rehearsed! No charts and no rehearsals.

Cesar’s Men: Cesar, leader, club co-owner, piano; ? started and later Harold Martin, bass; Guy Hoffman and, later, Willy Vargas (PR and well known in S.F. and L.A.), timbales and vocal, and yours truly again, congas; Joe Sorci (Italian-American), flute and saxes. Casto, also co-owner of the club (?), started with the band but I don't know what he played nor do I remember why he left (possibly business disagreements with Cesar regarding the club?)

Moderate quality 1964 cassette of Cesar’s Men with Ted Rivera (PR) and Joe Guillen (Mexican) sitting in on featured vocals. If I remember correctly, the recording was done with two mikes lying on the carpet on each side of the stage. Vocalists are shown in parenthesis: Mexico_Lindo (Ted), No_No_No (Joe), Seguere_Sin_Ti (Ted), Oye_Cayuco (Guy), Tule_Bomba (Ted), Malagueña_Salerosa (Guy starts, Ted does some improv), Moliendo_Cafe (Guy) and Negra_Tomasa_(Bilongo) (Guy).

I played bongos on a recording with the Dick Oxtot Trio. I got the job through Juanita who was renting a room from me.

Dick Oxtot Trio: Dick Oxtot, leader, bass, vocal; Juanita Oribello(?), guitar, vocal; Tim Small, guitar, vocal; Califa, bongos.

I bought my first drum set (a black Ludwig jazz cocktail set). After quite a search, I found a drum teacher (Jack ?)who would teach me the basic rhythms for swing, waltz, polka, mambo, etc., on the drum set using all four limbs without forcing me to learn the rudiments, etc. He had been a Las Vegas show drummer for many years. I took lessons for a couple of months or so in which he showed me a variety of basic rhythms.

Anecdote: We often had a lesson which lasted twice as long as his other students and frequently took a snack/coffee break in the middle of the lesson and discussed music in general and drumming in particular. It was interesting when I got to the lesson early and heard other students, they could do rudiments but when he asked them to play time followed by a rudimental lick,  followed by time, they played the time, did the lick but did not come back in time. When I tried the same thing, I would play time, usually fouled up the lick, but I came back in time! 

I got my first drum job (a Latvian - not Latin - trio with piano, sax and drums)a few months after I got my first drum set. A friend of mine, Scott Gilbert, was quitting the group and he recommended me! A tough job for a beginning drummer without a bass (hard to coordinate the bass drum without help)! The band played Viennese waltzes, German polkas, marches, Polonaises, etc. I played every waltz as a "jazz" waltz, every polka as a "Mexican" polka, faked marches, etc. 

Anecdote: After my first job with the band, a older couple came up to the stage and told the band leader that they really liked the new drummer and that they thought he was better than the previous drummer. I think that what they noticed was that I played very straight time (that is all I could do!) and my friend had probably played with a lot of fills so as to not get too bored. 

Wally and Lalo left Benny’s group and started a trio (I was playing somewhere else at the time) and asked me to play drums/congas with them! (remember, I had just recently gotten my first set of drums so I was a real beginner but I could keep time!). The trio worked for about 6 to 9 months in a Broadway club about half a block up from the Broadway Oakland Bay Bridge exit (all kinds of music including paso dobles for a Flamenco dancer and strip music for a topless dancer. The club then folded and our last paycheck was all the booze and glassware we could carry out of the club. What a great musical experience and on-the-job training for a beginning drummer!

Anecdote: One night Wally said some of his South American friends who played on a cruise ship were coming in to see him and the group. He mentioned that the drummer was one of the best Brazilian drummers. I was looking forward to having the drummer sit in so I could watch. We were playing a tune and Wally suddenly stopped and said play a samba because they had arrived! I just about froze in my tracks but began to play my version of a samba (single bass drum kick and brushes playing a samba-mambo cascara pattern on the snare with an occasional lick on a tom). I was totally embarrassed. But when the samba finished (I wanted to just crawl away), his friends came up to say hello and the drummer inquired about me and told Wally that I was the first American he had heard who played the samba with the right feeling (I know my technique was non-existant but I guess I had the right feeling)!

Anecdote: One night right just after the bass had finished tuning to the piano, I sitting behind them, pulled out a kazoo from my trap case and I said "Give me an E" and automatically Wallie played an E, I blew an E on the kazoo which totally busted them up and we could hardly play the first tune, all of us laughing so much!

Trio: Wally Chilcott (Panamanian), piano; Lalo Reyes (Mexican-American), bass; yours truly (un gringo), drums, congas.

I played congas with the Becho Gloria Orchestra on a fairly regular basis usually in san Jose at the Rainbow Ballroom.

Becho Gloria (Mexican-American), leader, arranger, piano; many of the same musicians who sat in with Los Locos and who later played with Sonora Marianao (see below) played with Becho.

I principally worked in San Jose with Sonora Marianao at Arturo’s Quiet Village. Sonora Marianao used a lot of charts (few percussion charts) and rehearsed frequently. 

Sonora Marianao: Mike Hermosillo (Mexican-American), co-leader, trumpet, valve trombone, fluegel horn, arranger, composer; Ted Rivera (PR), co-leader, vocals; other personnel varied and included: Frank Mecina?, trumpet; Jesse Burciaga, saxes, flute; Johnny Olachea/Marty Olachea (sometimes flute and vibes)/others, piano; Harold Martin/Mike Olachea (sometimes guitar) /Pete Flores/Sal Caudillo /others, bass; Sal also played timbales and drums but Ronnie Eridia (Mexican-American)was the main timbale player (very tasty and a real clock!); yours truly, congas (occasionally bongos) and later drums when appropriate and, when Ronnie left, I played timbales (my first or second timbale job!).

Ted Rivera 1970

Anecdote: One night an elderly couple was celebrating their anniversary (50^th?) and requested Anniversary Waltz. Mike said that we had no charts and it was a waltz so we could not do it. I told Mike to wait and suggested to him that we do it as a mambo. He asked how so I softly played a tumbao and sang the melodic line for him. He said OK and the band did a jam of the tune. The couple danced to it half time, beaming from ear to ear. After the tune finished, they thanked us profoundly. Along the same line, in 1968, as I had been messing around with Scarborough Fair on the guitar, I suggested to Mike that the band might do it as a cha cha chá, he said it was a waltz and couldn’t be done. I insisted that it could and he said to write it down which he knew I could not do and which shut me up quickly. Within the week, Brazil 66 hit the airwaves with a hit, you guessed it: Scarborough Fair as a cha cha chá! At the next job I mentioned it to Mike and he just shrugged and said he had been wrong.

I have some 1965? and 1968-69? moderate quality cassettes of Sonora Marianao. 

1965? Sonora Marianao recording live at Arturo’s Quiet Village, San Jose, Calif. Featuring Augie Dones (PR) sitting in on vocal for some jam tunes: Evil_Ways and Sonny_Boy.

Tune notes:

Evil Ways - Jam with Augie singing and in which I play what I call an Afro-Cha (for lack of a better term) and I kept feeling 6/8 and kept trying to get the band to shift from 4/4 to 6/8; about 3/4 of the way through the tune, in frustration, I just "dug in" and kept the 6/8 going, and finally the piano, then bass, and last the timbales picked it up; and, after a bit, we brought it back to 4/4 TOGETHER!

Sonny Boy – Jam where Augie sings and Califa takes a fairly nice conga solito - 20010603, I just noticed how much cleaner my playing was compared to the earlier recordings, cleaner and more taste IMHO. Trumpet solos by Mike and Pete Messina; piano solo Johnny Olachea.

+++Trini’s party tapes ?

Anecdote: The band also played opposite Lobo’s (Lobo of Lobo y Melon) group when they came to San Jose; we had a going away party when their job was done; we played almost constantly, tune after tune, and the musicians simply easing onto an instrument and the former player moving to another instrument or getting something to eat or drink. When listening to tapes of the party several years later, it was impossible to tell who was playing except for certain distinctive licks! What a ball! I think I have some copies of that party’s tapes, fair quality. The party tape may include my only recorded timbale playing which is too bad because at least one of the bass players was not to strong or had been drinking so, when I took a solo, I also had to keep time for the group!

1998/07/15: I just discovered that some other tapes have samples of my timbale playing!

Sometime, late 60’s or early 70’s, I worked with Blachy Gutieriez (PR) and his quartet for about a year at a small PR club on 3^rd Street in S.F. Blachy played traditional PR and other Latin music. Harold Martin got me the conga job when Blachy needed a new conguero by convincing him to try me out even though I was not PR. I was not really familiar with plenas, bombas, and other traditional rhythms but I managed to "fake" it well enough for Blachy and for the crowds! No charts and few rehearsals. I also later played timbales for Blachy.

Anecdote: One night while we were playing, in walks one of the red-headed Nicaraguan brothers (Sergio or Lee Pastora) I had known and learned with in my High School days and with whom I had had no contact for about 10 years! He sat in on congas (I probably played bongos).

Blachy Gutieriez (PR), leader, vocals, tres/quattro/guitar; Harold Martin, bass; Wayne ? (PR), timbales; me again, congas; when Wayne left, I switched to timbales (first or second timbale job); I think Nelson Ramirez (PR) may have played congas and maybe Willie Colon (a local S.F. musician, a PR from Hawaii) also came in to play congas.