Wer war/ist Mando & The Chili Peppers ? - CDs, Vinyl LPs, DVD und mehr
Mando And The Chili Peppers
Armando Almendarez a.k.a. Armando Or Mando And The Chili Peppers was one of the first Chicano rock and roll bands to experience a commercial breakthrough, releasing three singles and an album in 1957. The band con- sisted of five teenagers led by Armando Almendarez, who was born in 1935 and hailed from the lower Rio Grande Valley where the river forms the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Almendarez made his first recordings under his own name in 1955 at the age of 20, releasing some 78s on the obscure San Antonio-based Rio label, owned by Hymie Wolf, who also ran a small record store in San Antonio’s pulsating downtown area. Rio’s releases were aimed strictly at the Mexican American community in the barrio, promoted by word of mouth only.
That was great promotion as San Antone had the highest population of Mexican Americans (55% at the time) in the U.S. Almendarez’ recordings for Rio were all sung in Spanish and arranged in the conjunto style for the local ethnic market. 17576 Chicano 1 book 36 pg.pmd 6 21.09.2020, 00:43 -6- Armando truly broke traditions when he recorded his Spanish- sung version of Chuck Berry’s Maybelline, along with its flip, a version of Clifton Chenier’s Boppin’ The Rock. Almendarez cut more songs sung in Spanish for Rio and another ethnic label called Corona throughout 1956 when Elvis dominated the charts.
But Almendarez was clearly far- sighted; he and his boyhood buddy Chucho Perales formed a rock and roll band by the end of 1956 with a bunch of teenage musicians from the barrio. Perales switched from his traditional bajo sexto instrument to electric guitar, Almando took the vocal and played bass, and they were joined by pianist Rudy Martinez, Abel Garcia on saxophone, and Juvey Elizondo on drums. Mando and The Chili Peppers headed north to Denver, Colo- rado in early 1957. They soon caught the attention of Clark Galehouse, boss of the Shelley and Golden Crest logos in New York City. South Of The Border, an adaption of the Brit- ish song from 1939, was their first single output on Golden Crest, played in a swampy Fats Domino style. The record received heavy airplay on New Orleans radio stations and sold moderately well all over the Gulf Coast area. Galehouse obviously had sufficient faith in the band.
To record the full-length LP ‘On The Road With Rock ‘n Roll’ was a rare privilege for the band at a time when soundtracks, musicals, classical music, and major pop artists dominated the album market. There wasn’t much hope for a bunch of Mexican rock and roll kids to enjoy the first-class treatment until that mo- ment; it wasn’t until Ritchie Valens broke through about a year later that Chicano rock gained any degree of accept- ance. That Mando and The Chili Peppers LP is a hard-to-find collector’s item today...
Marc Mittelacher in August 2020
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The Right To Rock - The Mexicano And Chicano Rock'n'Roll Rebellion 1955-1963 (CD)
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