Viva Tirado: The South/East LA Connection | Lost Notes

Michael Barnes
But then, the group changes gears, as they announce their break between sets. They play a little interlude, a slow, slinky, shuffling groove, that only lasts ten or fifteen seconds … but it’s strikingly different from what’s come before.

Novena Carmel
In the audience is a guy from East LA named Eddie Davis. Along with his former partner, Billy Cardenas, he was a major player in the Chicano music scene, which had come to be known as the “Eastside Sound.” By now, Eddie had already launched dozens, if not hundreds, of bands. And he’d been turned on to the VIPs through one of the engineers at his studio in Hollywood.

Michael Barnes
Davis had recently launched a new imprint called Gordo Records. And on the strength of that short interlude, he asks the VIPs to be one of his first signings. He thought it was the perfect extension of the sound he’d been championing for over a decade. He even came up with a name for the song: “El Chicano.”

Novena Carmel
But Davis didn’t know that the song already had a name … and what’s more, it wasn’t even their song.

Michael Barnes
The actual title was “Viva Tirado,” and it was brought to the group by their trumpet player at the time, Bobby Loya, who was trying to move them into a more Latinized sound. But even before the VIPs put their stamp on it, “Viva Tirado” was composed – nearly a decade earlier – as a deliberate fusion of Black and Latin musical forms.

Novena Carmel
It was written in 1962 by the legendary American Black bandleader, musician, arranger, educator Gerald Wilson. His wife, Josefina, was Mexican-American. And during a trip to Tijuana together, they decided to check out a bullfighting show. In it, there was an incredible young bullfighter named José Ramón Tirado. And Wilson found himself transfixed by the presence of this bullfighter in the ring.

José Ramón Tirado on the cover of Spanish bullfighting weekly, El Ruedo, May 1956

Michael Barnes
He was so moved by Tirado’s grace and style that he wrote the song “Viva Tirado” in tribute. He wanted the rhythms of his song to echo the flourishes of Tirado’s movement, particularly with his cape. And when you listen to the original recording, you can almost imagine the drama and the spectacle that inspired Wilson.

Gerald Wilson, “Viva Tirado”

Novena Carmel
For anyone who is familiar with Latin jazz, “Viva Tirado” has a very familiar combination of elements. And one of the noteworthy elements is the use of the clave, a rhythmic pattern common in classic Afro-Cuban music, which has already existed for over a century at this point. And Gerald Wilson is tapping into that lineage.

Michael Barnes
Afro-Cuban elements have been a part of Jazz almost from its beginnings, from all the way back to 1915’s “St. Louis Blues,” by W.C. Handy to the “Spanish tinges” in the music of Jelly Roll Morton. Wilson himself had other numbers that blended these sounds together going back to the 1950s, likely influenced by Latin-Jazz pioneers in the 1940s, such as Machito & Chano Pozo … especially on the song that Pozo recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, “Manteca.”

Dizzy Gillespie & Chano Pozo, “Manteca”

Novena Carmel
What really makes Wilson’s “Viva Tirado” unique, though, is not so much its musical form, but what it had to say about life in Los Angeles for the Black and Brown communities that shared this music.

Michael Barnes
Yeah, I mean, this is 1962. Jim Crow is still legal in many parts of the US, especially affecting Black and Brown communities in the South and Southwest of the country.  And while California reversed its ban on interracial marriages in 1948, it wouldn’t be until the Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia (in 1967) that those bans would be reversed nationwide.

Novena Carmel
Right. And here’s Gerald Wilson, a Black man married to a Mexican-American woman, and even though they were in California, which we now consider to be a liberal state, it wasn’t back then. So he writes this piece that is deeply reflective of his personal experience, and even though it’s an instrumental, it still makes a statement about the times they were living in.

Michael Barnes
And while Wilson is making this personal statement with “Viva Tirado,” all over Los Angeles, Black and Brown youth in their own communities are organically building bridges through a shared love of the same music.

Novena Carmel
By 1962, Huggy Boy was already a legend in the world of Los Angeles disc jockeys. He got his start spinning in the front window of a Black-owned record store called Dolphin’s of Hollywood … which was actually located in South LA. And although Huggy Boy was white, he had a style that transcended this difference. To the Brown kids of East LA, the intimacy of Huggy Boy’s tone made them feel like they mattered in his world. And in general, his natural charisma attracted young people of every color from all over town.

Michael Barnes
When Huggy Boy announced his location live on air – with his catch phrase of “Vernon and Central, Central and Vernon” – those kids came running. Before long, the street scene outside Dolphin’s was bumper-to-bumper with teenagers cruising the drag. 

Novena Carmel
And this was just the latest in a long line of shared musical touchstones between the two communities. Styles that came from Black culture, from the jitterbug to jump blues to zoot suiters, were beloved in East LA. And Mexican-American lowrider culture leaned heavily on a deep affinity for early R&B, particularly artists like Chuck Higgins, Big Jay McNeely, and Richard Berry. So when Gerald Wilson writes “Viva Tirado” in 1962, he’s speaking directly to all that history.

Michael Barnes
And it’s a straight line from there to the VIPs. They come along only a few years later, in 1965. The band is formed by kids from San Gabriel High and San Gabriel Mission High: neighboring schools not even a half-mile away from one another. At first, the VIPs have a standard rock’n’roll line-up: guitar, bass, drums, and organ. Then, in 1968, they bring on a brass section … including Bobby Loya, the trumpet player that we mentioned earlier.

The Lighthouse Cafe in the 1950s. Photo credit: The Lighthouse Cafe

Novena Carmel
Bobby had gone to see Gerald Wilson play with his big band at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach. And he is transformed by what he’s just seen. He comes back to the VIPs, absolutely convinced that this Latin-jazz fusion should be their new direction. And to his surprise, they’re into it. But before they can even get an arrangement of “Viva Tirado” down on tape, Bobby leaves the band, along with the rest of the horn section. So now they’re back where they started.

Michael Barnes
But they’re also a more seasoned ensemble than the group of kids who started the band out of high school. And their direction has been forever changed by Bobby’s influence. So they adapt the main hook of “Viva Tirado” for organ and guitar, plus they add a more robust percussion section … which really brings in that stronger Latin feel.

Novena Carmel
And unlike Gerald Wilson’s take, which goes from that hook into different themes and sections, the VIPs’ version stays locked on that central riff, circling around and around. It has a hypnotic vibe. And if Wilson’s version felt like it approached Latin music from the jazz side, the VIPs’ take feels like a Latin number with a jazz finish. And that’s the winning formula that brings them to the attention of Eddie Davis.

Novena Carmel
The VIPs go into the studio to record a demo of “Viva Tirado” for Davis.
But at this point, he still thinks the song has no title. So he goes ahead with his original title suggestion, “El Chicano.” But the band doesn’t tell him about Gerald Wilson, or “Viva Tirado,” until midway through the song’s final mixing session.

Thee Midnighters, “Chicano Power“

Michael Barnes
And all of this is taking place as the early Chicano pride movement begins to gain steam. In 1968, a rival record man put out a single by the East LA group Thee Midnighters, called “Chicano Power.” Davis doesn’t want to miss the moment, and he especially doesn’t want to cede ground to a rival. So he decides that they should rename the band to El Chicano instead.

Novena Carmel
And this – unsurprisingly – does not land well. To the members of the band, the term “Chicano” was too loaded. They saw it as a derogatory name from the past, or as a revolutionary one that just felt too political in the present day. And in either case, they didn’t think it should be decided by their white record label owner.

Michael Barnes
Davis isn’t sympathetic to their concerns and he actually threatens to replace them with a fake El Chicano band if they don’t comply. Then he goes ahead and puts out the single as El Chicano anyway. He’s midway through putting the new “fake” band together when “Viva Tirado” hits the airwaves. And once the single starts gaining traction, the former VIPs come back to Davis and agree to the name change.

Novena Carmel
Meanwhile, the VIPs’ … or El Chicano’s … version of “Viva Tirado” is burning up the charts. It peaks at #28 on the national Pop charts in May of 1970, and stays on the chart for nine weeks – five of which were in the Top 40. Over on the national R&B charts, it makes it to #20. And closer to home, it goes to #1 in both LA and San Bernardino.

Michael Barnes
So, the band goes on to record a full-length album for Davis named after their hit song. And in a footnote on the back cover, it reads:

This album was recorded after hours in the lounge of the Kabuki Sukiyaki Restaurant, 3840 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, California, because that is what El Chicano wanted.

El Chicano’s Viva Tirado LP.

Novena Carmel
The album is mostly adapted from the covers they were playing at the Kabuki: “Light My Fire” and “Eleanor Rigby” and such. But it opens with a nod to their newer direction with a cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island.”

Michael Barnes
With this unique blend of styles & sounds, the album does even better than the single, charting on the Pop, R&B, and even the Jazz charts, where it goes all the way to #8. But the record’s greatest impact is felt in all the cover versions of “Viva Tirado” that follow.

Jack “Mr. Bongo” Costanzo, Viva Tirado, 1971

Novena Carmel
No kidding. Over the next few years, the song is covered by artists in Panama, Jamaica, Italy, Belgium … and even here in the States, by the Fifth Dimension and Percy Faith and his Orchestra. (But sadly, not together.) And each version of the song seems to have its own pan-global take on the song’s origins – as if to say that, in every culture, there are divisions that can be healed, or at least surmounted, through the language of music.

The Fifth Dimension, “Viva Tirado”

Michael Barnes
El Chicano continues to record throughout the 1970s, the group even has another hit with their song, “Tell Her She’s Lovely,” but their version of “Viva Tirado” begins to fade from memory … until a new generation gives the song a fresh lease on life.

Kid Frost, “La Raza”

Novena Carmel
South LA in the late ‘80s was a very different place than it had been when El Chicano were holding it down at the Kabuki. The demographics had shifted from a predominantly Black populace to a mix of Black, Mexican and Central American working-class residents.

Michael Barnes
And if the forces of displacement were strong in the past, they were even stronger now in the 1980s. South LA was besieged not just by economic collapse, but all the social consequences that come with soaring unemployment and a total absence of civic support. And, of course, young Black and Brown people were often the convenient scapegoats within the city’s criminal justice system.

Novena Carmel
By this point, rap music had become the megaphone for the new generation to report on their lives. Black and Brown kids alike had taken up the art form to tell stories and air grievances. And they were still blending together musical and cultural styles.

Michael Barnes
When LA native Arturo Molina Jr.,  aka Kid Frost, releases “La Raza,” in 1990 he brings a specifically Chicano point of view. Not only is he rapping between Spanish and English, but he’s also incorporating the street slang known as caló, first popularized by Pachucos in the 1940s. And those cross-cultural signals were never louder than in this breakout hit.

Novena Carmel
Just like Gerald Wilson put all these layers of reference into the writing of “Viva Tirado,” Kid Frost & producer Tony G do the same by adapting El Chicano’s song for the arrangement of “La Raza.” And he’s making the connection between cultures even more clear by adding multi-lingual verses into the mix.

Michael Barnes
In the same way that El Chicano stood on the shoulders of their forebears, Kid Frost followed a whole generation of Afro-Puerto Rican and Cuban rappers, DJs, graffiti writers, b-boys & b-girls, who had been in the game since the birth of hip-hop. The first bilingual rap released on record was a cut called “Disco Dream” by the Mean Machine, in 1981, on the legendary Sugar Hill Records.

The Mean Machine, “Disco Dream”

Novena Carmel
And there were so many others: The Real Roxanne, Prince Markie Dee from the Fat Boys, Charlie Chase of Cold Crush Brothers, Ruby Dee from the Fantastic Five. Kid Frost is calling back to these deep Latin roots in rap music. And by sampling “Viva Tirado,” he’s also intentionally inviting older generations into the conversation, drawing a bridge between their struggles and his.

Michael Barnes
It really demonstrates the power of sampling to situate people in multiple frames of reference at the same time: a groove from the past riding on a beat from the present, tied together by a verse that lays out all of the connections.

Novena Carmel
Absolutely. And that’s something that Kid Frost said that he did very deliberately with “La Raza.” At the time, he talked about the importance of using oldies, or los recuerdos. The sampling of old songs has the power to bring up memories in the listener. So he would sample other classics, too, from artists like King Curtis, Hank Ballard, and the Persuaders, to similar effect.

Kid Frost, “In The City”

Michael Barnes
And unlike El Chicano, who at first resisted the political implications of their name, Kid Frost fully embraced the identity. He partnered with the California Coalition to End Barrio Warfare. And in 1991, he formed the supergroup Latin Alliance with rappers including Mellow Man Ace, A.L.T., and Markski. In a further nod to his culture, their album included a reworking of “Lowrider” featuring the band WAR.

Latin Alliance, “Low Rider (On the Boulevard)“

Novena Carmel
Of course, the story doesn’t end there. In 2010, the Mexican-American brothers known as Akwid released a track called “Esto Es Pa Mis Paisas,” or “This Is For My Countrymen.” The song updated “Viva Tirado” further by joining El Chicano with Kid Frost and adding their own modern twist, with a guest verse by Frost himself.

Akwid, “Esto Es Pa Mis Paisas”

Michael Barnes
Undoubtedly, this isn’t the last we’ll hear of “Viva Tirado.” 

Novena Carmel
Especially when you take into account the resurgence of retro soul with Southern California acts like Thee Sinseers, Thee Sacred Souls, Chicano Batman, Brainstory, Trish Toledo … I wouldn’t be surprised if “Viva Tirado” is out there being performed at venues, or on the way to being sampled or recorded again.

Michael Barnes
As long as there are new generations to interpret the past, with music as a unifying language between them, “Viva Tirado” will be a part of the conversation.

Lost Notes is a KCRW Original Production. It’s made by Michael Barnes, Ashlea Brown, Novena Carmel, and Myke Dodge Weiskopf. Special thanks to Gina Delvac, Jennifer Ferro, Ray Guarna, Nathalie Hill, Anne Litt, Phil Richards, Arnie Seipel, and Anthony Valadez.

Extra special thanks this week to Oliver Wang, whose scholarship on this topic was essential.

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