Ron Estrada
With the surge of Latin Jazz and Rock in the 70's he formed his own band "Estrada's Natural Band" in 1978. The band played various clubs around the Bay Area. They were together until 1985. Some of the members included Benny Vallarde (Cal Tjader) and Bruce Unsworth (Pride and Joy) .
After disbanding he started playing on the Blues and R&B scene. He played with the Lisa Kindred Blues Band and The George Gregory Band from 1986 to1990 playing clubs in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He filtered down to the South Bay Blues scene where he joined The Michael Osborne Band from 1991 to 1995. The band performed at the 1993 Monterey Jazz Festival, the 1994 Saratoga Wine Festival and a six week European Tour of seven countries in 1994.
He joined up with The Fog City Band playing Funk, Soul, Rhythm and Blues from 1994 to 1999.
At the end of 1998 Ron did a few gigs with Rudy Ramirez. In passing Rudy mentioned about finding a bassist that could play more latin flavored than the other Rock and Jazz bassists that their band was going through. Ron said he used to play in the latin style and Rudy invited him to come jam. The jam turned out to be with several members of Mambo Street.