Singer added funk, grit to West Side Sound
Joe Jama, a Chicano soul singer with tremendous range, was among the most recognizable of San Antonio’s West Side musicians.
Jama, who also played bass, ushered in a new Brown Sound in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his funkier, grittier approach to R&B with the later-era Royal Jesters and his own bands.
The San Antonio musician and songwriter, born Joe Perales Jr., died Sunday morning. He was 74.
In the 1980s, he and his horndriven group fueled the dance floor crowd at Saluté on the St. Mary’s Strip and at the old Spanish Armada club.
Tejano Conjunto Festival founder Juan Tejeda, who first saw Jama performing with the Royal Jesters in a church parking lot in the 1960s, called him “a Chicano soul icon.”
“I was impressed with his crystal high voice and his bass playing,” Tejeda recalled. “Here was this Indio-chicano up there in a tux.”
There was a true musical giant behind those dark shades.
Trumpeter Adrian Ruiz, director of jazz studies at St. Mary’s University, played with Jama for five years beginning in the late ’90s. He said his appeal and musical arrangements were an “indescribable combination
of power and elegance.”
“He brought so many influences to the table,” Ruiz said. “The groove was a part of it. He could go from cosmic cumbia to jazz to soul and knowing what felt good.”
Jama grew up listening to traditional Mexican music and Elvis Presley records.
In 1963, while at Page Junior
High School with friend Fred Lozano, he formed the Radiants (later the Revells). They sang the Beatles song “She Loves You” in Spanish at talent shows.
The Revells scored a local radio hit on KONO-AM with the 45 “I Want You to Know” / “You Turn Your Back On Me.”
With the Eptones, he sang “A Love That’s Real,” which was recorded
at Sugar Houston.
Jama joined the Royal Jesters in 1968. That’s where he got his nickname — “Joe Pajamas” — for sleeping in pajamas. (The veteran members of the group didn’t.)
His first record with the Royal Jesters was a remake of the Rene & Rene classic “Angelito.” Record
Hill Studio in
producer Manny Guerra suggested the song, and Jama turned it into a sexy pillow-talk number.
Other classic Jama records include a remake of Chicago’s “Happy Man” and his signature song, the self-penned “My Life.”
He came of musical age when Mexican American groups such as the Royal Jesters, Little Joe y La Familia, the Latin Breed and Tortilla Factory were reflecting the attitudes and cultural identity of an emerging Brown Power movement. For Jama, it came with an exciting dance beat. Those records are still played at nightclubs by the likes of DJ Plata and Chulita Vinyl Club.
“He just had such a soulful approach,” said musician Eduardo Hernandez, aka DJ Plata, who counted Jama as a dear friend and mentor.
“His arrangement of ‘Angelito,’ my god, it blows my mind. He gave it a jazzy flavor. Anything he put out there was beautiful. This one really hurts.”
In a 2012 interview with the Express-news, Jama said he wanted fans to dance and have fun when he was onstage.
“When I see the people moving and grooving to the music, I get that good feeling inside,” he said. “And I know that I’m making them feel good for that night.”
Visitation is 4-8 p.m. Monday at Castillo Funeral Home, 520 N. General Mcmullen Drive.