Escovedo was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Pedro Escovedo, a plumber and amateur musician, who had immigrated from Mexico at age 12, and Anita. Escovedo grew up in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. He 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. Coke's older brother, fellow percussionist Pete Escovedo, recruited Escovedo for a local Latin jazz combo led by pianist Carlos Federico. The Federico combo evolved into the Escovedo Brothers Band, which also counted Pete, bassist brother Phil Escovedo, saxophonist-flautist Mel Martin and trombonist Al Bent among its regular members.
Career
Escovedo began to gain some notability in the San Francisco Bay Area Latin jazz scene and worked with jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader. 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. Escovedo was featured on Santana's Santana III album. Escovedo co-authored a hit song from that album, "No One to Depend On", which peaked at #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Years later the song would be covered by Vitamin C as part of her 1999 hit "Me, Myself and I". While in the Santana band, Escovedo performed at many high-profile concerts, including the historic closing of the Fillmore West. Santana drummer Michael Shrieve has credited Escovedo for showing him how to incorporate some Latin percussion figures into his drum set playing during their time together. During Carlos Santana's transition period between the original and "New" Santana bands, Escovedo also performed with the Carlos Santana/Buddy Miles group, appearing on the 1972 release Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! Escovedo and Areas had been pioneering a new style on the traditional Cuban timbales. Though drawing on the influence of the extroverted timbale showman Tito Puente, Escovedo took the explosive power of the Cuban drums even farther, adding spice to rock and soul music recordings by artists such as Boz Scaggs, Cold Blood, It's a Beautiful Day, and Malo, as well as to freer jazz experiments with artists such as trumpeter Luis Gasca. In early 1972, Escovedo, following his vision of putting together "a band that could play anything", formed Azteca along with his brother Pete Escovedo. The band signed to Columbia Records and released its self-titled debut album in December 1972. It reached No. 38 on the R&B chart in 1973. A second album, Pyramid of the Moon, was released in the fall of 1973. Both albums prominently featured Escovedo's timbale playing and some of his compositions, as leader of an all-star cast of musicians, many of whom would become prominent solo artists. Despite garnering critical acclaim and playing high-profile concert tours, the big-band Azteca lineup was difficult to sustain. Their second release, Pyramid of the Moon failed to chart and by 1974, Escovedo left Azteca. In 1975, he began work on the first of his three solo albums, simply titled Coke. This 1976 solo debut featured a spare, sophisticated soul/funk/jazz/Latin blend highlighting the talents of vocalist Linda Tillery and keyboardist-composer Herman Eberitzsch. A Top 100 R&B single, "Make It Sweet", resulted, along with a TV appearance on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. Escovedo recorded two more albums: the pop-oriented Comin' at Ya! in 1976. 1977's Disco Fantasy proved critically and commercially disappointing and became the last album of solo material he released. 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. He also 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.
Personal life
Coke Escovedo has five musician brothers:
Phil Escovedo played bass alongside Coke and Pete in the Escovedo Brothers Band, and also on sessions with Latin Jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader.
Pete Escovedo also was a percussionist with Santana. His daughter Sheila E. collaborated with Prince.
