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Pete Escovedo is known as a world-renowned, Grammy-award-winning jazz percussionist who has performed alongside other music legends like Santana, Prince and Stevie Wonder. Beyond his prodigious musical accomplishments, Escovedo is a gifted painter whose artwork dates back to the 1950s. 

“Pops started painting at a very young age. It was music and art that were his life. But then, he just wanted to do music, and thank God, because now we have Pete Escovedo winning Grammys and all kinds of awards,” said daughter Zina Escovedo. “Now, I wanted him to focus on his artwork.”

Pete Escovedo: The California Art Tour (Oakland Chapter)

Artist reception
When: Thursday, July 17
Time: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: The Grand Gallery Oakland,
560 2nd St
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
RSVP online

The musician, who will be turning 90 on July 13, is not slowing down. He is currently on tour in Europe with his other daughter, Sheilah E. 

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Zina Escovedo has been helping curate exhibits for her father’s work for years. She said “Pops,” as Pete Escovedo is known amongst friends and family, has about 80 to 100 art pieces, some of which have never been seen in public, and some adorn the family’s home in Los Angeles. The artwork includes abstract paintings of faces, mostly women in vibrant shades of red, oranges, and yellow. One of the most striking pieces on display in Oakland is a self-portrait from 2003 on loan from Escovedo’s private collection.

Now, Oakland artist Eric Murphy collaborated with Zina Escovedo to curate The California Art Tour. The multi-city exhibit includes stops in Oakland, San Francisco, Carmel, and San Diego. The Oakland exhibit will showcase new pieces, while the one in San Francisco will feature memorabilia, including Escovedo’s Grammy. 

Zina Escovedo said that it was important for the tour to kick off in Oakland. Zina still resides in Oakland, while her parents have lived in Los Angeles since 2000. 

One of the pieces part of “The California Tour.” Credit: courtesy of the Escovedo family

The Escovedo family has deep ties to Oakland. The matriarch of the family, Juanita, was born and raised in Oakland and attended Oakland Tech. While Pete Escovedo was born in Pittsburg, he was raised in Oakland and attended McClymonds High School. In 1997, the Escovedo’s also own a jazz club in Berkeley called Mr. E. In 2021, the Escovedo’s celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. To celebrate the milestone, Escovedo shared on social media a little bit about their love story and how they met at the Walgreens at the corner of 14th Street and Broadway.

In October 2023, the family was honored by the Oakland City Council for Hispanic Heritage Month. The following year, the family had 9th Avenue and East 21st Street, the location of the family’s former Oakland home, renamed “Escovedo Way” in their honor.

“My parents come and stay with me a lot. When they do, we actually go back to 920 East 21st, that was our original address,” Escovedo said. “We still, to this day, go to Nation’s. We still visit Casper’s, the Grand Lake Theatre. There’s so many things that we love about Oakland.”

Murphy first met Zina Escovedo about a decade ago, he had no idea who her father was or that they had grown up in the same neighborhood. In February, Escovedo reached out to Murphy to talk about the concept of the tour. Murphy began reaching out to various art galleries to showcase the exhibit. 

The show is on display through the end of the month at The Grand Gallery in the Jack London neighborhood, where Murphy has an artist studio space behind the gallery, as well as at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco.

The exhibit in Oakland sprawls from the front of the gallery and into the walls of the artists’ studios, culminating with a pop-up shop where attendees can purchase merchandise and prints from some of Peter Escovedo’s extensive collection. The Escovedo family will be attending the artist’s reception, where “Pops” will conduct a meet-and-greet. 

“We have to work with our legends while we have them,” Murphy said. “We have to seize the moment.”

Oakland artist Eric Murphy, curator of “The California Tour” at The Grand Gallery in Oakland. Credit: Azucena Rasilla/The Oaklandside

Escovedo sees this as a tremendous opportunity not only to celebrate her father’s birthday and his accomplishments, but to help others get to know another artistic side of the legendary percussionist. 

“There are three pieces he painted back to back within the last couple of weeks. I came here to my parents’ house, and I looked at them, and I almost started getting emotional, because they were just different,” Escovedo said. “His colors were deep. These pieces depict strong women, and they feature colors like black and blue that he rarely uses. Those pieces stood out and that’s why they had to be showcased in Oakland.”

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