John Santos & Bobby Matos

Since the 1970s, percussionist/bandleader/arranger/producer John Santos has been one of the San Francisco Bay Area's strongest proponents of salsa/Afro-Cuban music and Latin jazz (mainly Afro-Cuban jazz). The Bay Area, like most of California, has a large Hispanic population; millions of people of Mexican descent live in Northern California, where regional Mexican music (mariachi, ranchera, norteño, banda, tejano, duranguense, tierra caliente, grupero, sierreño) has been extremely popular for many years. But the Bay Area has also had a community of musicians who specialize in ...