Tortilla Factory, San Angelo

TORTILLA FACTORY - Cookin' and La Malaguena (from Tortilla Factory, GC Records)

On January 10 of 2011 Tony "Ham" Guerrero passed away. To fans of Tejano music Tony is a legend as both a player- trumpet- and a band leader. While he first gained fame working out of Temple with the famed Hernandez brothers and their Latinaires, which later grew into the legendary La Familia, Guerrero's groups on either side of the Hernandez brother projects have deep West Texas roots.

Tony Guerro grew up in the community of San Angelo, a military, college, and agricultural community that sits at the edge of two important Texas regions. To the west and north lie the Permian Basin and the plains. To the east is the beautiful Hill Country. Cotton farming, ranching, defense, education, trade, size and more made (and make!) San Angelo an important crossroads in Texas.

Tony took to the trumpet early on eventually going to the Berkley School of Music to train and study before returning to Texas and forming the Tejano Brass. By the late 60s Tony was making the 400-mile round trip between San Angelo and Temple, Texas to rehearse with Little Joe, Johnny, and Rocky Hernandez and their group the Latinaires which eventually became the group most synonymous with tejano, La Familia.

In 1973 Tony, Joe Gallardo, and a number of other members of La Familia split and regrouped as the Tortilla Factory, naming themselves after a San Angelo, well, tortilla factory as the legend goes. Also along for the ride were Gilbert "El Coyote" Deanda (guitar, vocals) and Gilbert Sedeno (organ), both of whom two had played with Tony in the Tejano Brass. The Brass was Ham's first recording combo and issued a handful of singles for the Hernandez Brothers' Buena Suerte label (more on the Tejano Brass can be seen HERE on their official website). Along with Dwayne Daniel on trumpet the factory had a heavy San Angelo presence. Also present was the famed El Charro Negro, Bobby Butler from the Latinaires days.

As the 60s came to a close and the 70s opened, the Onda Chicana movement was in full swing nationwide as Mexican-Americans began to look more closely at where they had come from and where they would be going. Not only was this change be seen in the political activism of the day, but it could be seen in the music contemporary to the era as well. Groups were bridging the proud and iconic Hispanic sounds of decades previous with jazz, funk, and rock grooves of the present. "Ham" wanted the Tortilla Factory to be big and he wanted them to be the best. At everything.



In August of 1973 Tony Guerrero and the members of Tortilla Factory entered Manny Guerra's Amen studios in San Antonio. The final product, named after the band, was released the following fall on Guerra's GC label. (Manny was like a Chicano Bill Smith or Huey Meaux in that he seemingly had a label for a each day of the week). The group recorded 9 cuts, leaning heavily on traditional Mexican rhythms but incorporating elements of jazz and funk as well.

The uptempo "Cookin'" stands as the best known track from the lp- en el mundo de los jueros. The only English language number on the album, "Cookin'" is a pulsating mix of funky bangin' drums, wah-wah'd guitar, stabbin' horns, and good time vocals which has made the track a favorite among funk and soul DJs, driving the price of the record up into the lower 3 figure range.

The majority of the album is Spanish language tunes... at times jazzy, sometimes breezy, and still traditional. The group's update of "La Malaguena" with a vocal from el Charro Negro is a good example of the Tortilla Factory sound heard throughout the rest of album.

There group would work through the 70s shifting from label to label, including the long-running Falcon brand, making a bunch of money and moving many feet along the way.