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'I cannot begin to tell you how much I learned from him . I never would have been able to do it with a group like Canned Heat if I hadn't learned from [Bátiz] first.' - Fito de la Parra

Bátiz: Laying down indelible tracks on the Tijuana Sound
By Fernando Romero

TIJUANA - 1960. Music reverberates throughout downtown Parque Teniente Guerrero and beyond. Los TJs, led by their heart and soul, guitarist Javier Bátiz, are serving their raw, driving mélange of rock, R&B and top 40 hits at the city's main park. A skinny bass player named Carlos Santana is among them as Bátiz, his music and his band reign supreme.

Los TJs' music served a harbinger of change in Tijuana in the '60s: the arrival of rock, of the Beatles, of the youthful revolution that swept the world - from music to clothes to social mores.

Bátiz, the patriarch of R&B in Mexico , his from-the-soul riffs inspiring countless guitarists, recalls how he came to teach young Carlos. "His mother and a friend brought him over to my house and asked me if I could teach him how to play the guitar like me. I said 'yes,' and the condition I asked was that I teach him how to play the bass, because I didn't have a bass player in the band. So that was it. He already was playing the violin and the acoustic mariachi guitar, but I taught him how to play the Electric Blues guitar."

José Molina Serrano, a childhood friend of Santana who has, like Bátiz, toured with the Latin rock icon, says Bátiz is "The daddy of that [ Tijuana ] sound – all of us have a lot of respect for him."

Molina Serrano, who in 2000 released his first album, "Only by Grace," says Bátiz opened the door for many who felt the urge to become a musician when they heard his hard-edged rock sounds. "You felt like being right up there with him, to play with him," Molina Serrano says. "He was saying with his music, 'Come join me, pick up the guitar.' And I did."

Drummer Fito de la Parra and bassist Abraham Laboriel felt Bátiz's pull too. Both went on to acclaim in the United States – De la Parra with the '60s legendary group Canned Heat; and Laboriel, after playing rhythm guitar for Bátiz, with the fusion band Weather Report, as he became one of the world's best jazz bassists, playing with stars such as Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Christina Aguilera, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Stan Getz.

In De la Parra's words, Bátiz not only influenced him, "but all Mexican rockers . he brought the black music to Mexico City , his knowledge of it," he said. "I cannot begin to tell you how much I learned from him . I never would have been able to do it with a group like Canned Heat if I hadn't learned from [Bátiz] first."

In tribute to Bátiz, De la Parra released an album in December 2004 titled "Canned Heat in 1969 – The USA Sessions," which digitally remastered the band's work with his mentor 34 years before.

De la Parra's appreciation for the old master remains as strong in 2006. Even though he regrets that Bátiz has had to re-adapt his style to fit the new wave of "rock en español" ("re-adaptation due to economic demands," explains De la Parra), the talented drummer plans on calling Bátiz back to record with Canned Heat again and perhaps to play a few dates with the band in California.

"He's still is un chingón [a top guy] and a great master," De la Parra said.

Today, Bátiz is back in Tijuana , living in the modest downtown house where he grew up. Mementos and photos of concerts, and recognition plaques from universities, labor unions and authorities line the walls. On the outside wall of his studio, next to the house, is painted a gigantic reproduction of his signature logo, "Bátiz," with the letter "z" transformed into a guitar. He's now playing with a younger group of musicians and still teaching ("advanced students only," he emphasizes).

Bátiz is wearing his humongous Afro for an interview, an Afro he uses only in concerts or special occasions. He's almost 62, but he shows the same enthusiasm. The year 2006 is his 50 th in music. Does he feel his age?

"No," he answers quickly and directly. "It has to do with the power of music – you have to be sincere with music, and if you are sincere, you will be happy, and I am happy with the music I play, and even though music has not given me lots of money, I am a happy man. When you learn to be happy with your life, you have it all."

He's currently involved in recording the sixth album in a series he has titled, "The Warlock's Trunk." Overall, he has recorded about 20 albums, but participated in recording 30 more with different artists. Of Santana, he has only the kindest of words, even though there appears to be a rift caused by a misunderstanding. "Santana is like my little brother – you're never going to change that," says Bátiz.

(The rift is still a bit of a mystery even now to Bátiz. It might have been spurred in 2002, when Tijuana was to name a downtown street after Santana. Bátiz was playing in San Jose at the time, but, in jest, he said that if Santana got a street, he should get a whole neighborhood named after him. "I'm a comedian," Bátiz explains. But when Bátiz returned to Tijuana , he says, "all hell was loose" and "a lot was going on without me knowing what was happening." Many were opposed to Santana's getting the nomenclature - they claimed there were many more deserving - so ultimately the city settled for giving Santana the keys to the city, an empty gesture. Santana showed up for the ceremony, at the end of which he disavowed Bátiz as his mentor.)

Today, Bátiz tours the state of Baja California with a group of young musicians and his wife Claudia - who primarily sings background choruses. Occasionally, he'll play in San Diego venues - he's dying to play The House of Blues.

"It's a place for the best players of blues in the world," he says. "It's like going to church."

So the man many acknowledge as Santana's first teacher remains true to rock and the blues, still going strong. And what does Bátiz think about his place in Mexican rock history?

"I may not be the best, but I am the first," he said, and went back to what he has done between gigs for 50 years – practicing his guitar.

Fernando Romero, a San Diego-based writer who is also a drummer, has played with Bátiz on several occasions, in the 1960s and as recently as 2000.

Su Conexión

Javier Bátiz's music: www.javierBátiz.com

Bátiz's album with Canned Heat in 1969, "The USA Sessions": www.cannedheatmusic.com

José Molina Serrano's music: www.josemolinaserrano.com