Norma Zenteno
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Houston Press Music Awards winner 5 years running.

You could argue that the Norma Zenteno Band doesn't fit in any category, but then, you could also argue that this 15-year local institution, if so inclined, can fit in just about anywhere. They're jazz, they're salsa, they're funked-up fusion, they're classic rock and roll -- sometimes all within the span of a single blistering evening. With it's sizeable inventory of originals and covers, the group displays remarkable versatility, catering its shows to multiple audience types -- from younger, paler demographic at the occasional Satellite Lounge gig, to the posh, multicultural mix at Cody's, to the mostly Hispanic crowds that dominate the various Corpus Christi venues the band has headlined.

And while the Norma Zenteno Band are, by very definition, Latin, they are not Tejano -- not in the modern-day, commercial sense at least. Their approach is too steeped in the percussive synthesis of blues, rock, and Hispanic dance forms pioneered by the likes of Carlos Santana and Ruben Blades for that. And if you factor in Zenteno's vocals -- part Gloria Estefan spit and polish, part guttural emoting a la Grace Slick -- nothing about the band be handed over to simple categorization. Then again, why slap a category on greatness.

--Howard Rowland,
Music Editor,
Houston Press