Malo album cover
Malo

Malo

1972
Warner Bros. Records

Did you know Carlos Santana had a younger brother, Jorge, who was also a guitarist? It’s true! His best-known performance was at the Fania All-Stars’ 1973 concert at Yankee Stadium, where he tore it up behind vocalist Cheo Feliciano on the bluesy bolero “El Ratón,” but his band Malo made four albums for Warner Bros. in the early ’70s, of which their self-titled debut is easily the best. Their music combined powerful Latin-tinged hard rock, not unlike the work of Santana, with the Chicano street soul of East L.A. Indeed, tracks like “Pana” and “Café,” with fierce horn charts and rattling timbales, were at times harder and more energetic than Santana’s work, which was drifting toward jazz fusion at the time. And Jorge was a pretty fierce shredder. But they were also capable of gentle ballads; the lilting “Suavecito” was a major hit and can still be heard today wherever lowriders gather.

Phil Freeman

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