Coke Escovedo grew up in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
10 Facts About Coke Escovedo
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Coke Escovedo developed an early interest in jazz and Latin music through exposure gained from his father Pedro, an aspiring big band singer, and eventually gravitated to drums and Latin percussion.
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Coke Escovedo began to gain some notability in the San Francisco Bay Area Latin jazz scene and worked with jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader.
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Coke Escovedo rose to even greater prominence in early 1971 when he first became a member of Santana, initially as a replacement for timbale player Jose "Chepito" Areas, who had been sidelined with medical issues.
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Santana drummer Michael Shrieve has credited Coke Escovedo for showing him how to incorporate some Latin percussion figures into his drum set playing during their time together.
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In early 1972, Coke Escovedo, following his vision of putting together "a band that could play anything", formed Azteca along with his brother Pete Coke Escovedo.
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Coke Escovedo continued to perform in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond at the helm of a band that included former Malo guitarist Abel Zarate in pursuit of a new record deal which never materialized.
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Coke Escovedo continued to do session work and to tour with the likes of Santana, Herbie Hancock and his niece Sheila E, finally relocating to the Los Angeles area in the 1980s.
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Coke Escovedo has a son, Paris A Escovedo of the Escovedo Project, and 2 daughters, Sabrina L Escovedo and Antonia Escovedo.
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Coke Escovedo died of cirrhosis at the age of 45 on July 13,1986.