East Wind, a Blast from the Past

By Roy Kinji, Marketing Director

In the 70's music went from R&B to "Funk" and bands started adding horn sections and percussion. East Wind was one of those bands. In the early 70's, they performed a lot in South Sac and the Bay Area. If you went to Kennedy, McClatchy, Sac High or Burbank they probably played your homecoming dance or prom.

The band played music from Tower of Power, Earth, Wind & Fire, War and more. The band was also different, as most of the members were Asian, hence the name "East Wind". The band went through many changes finally calling it quits in 1977 at the beginning of disco. Through the years, core members stayed friends and kept in touch. After a 25 year reunion a few years back, they said "hey, let's quit talking and get back together to play music".

Here they are back in the day.


Original members: Martin Leong - bass guitar
Glen Wada - guitar
Dave Karacozoff - keyboards
Selwyn Jones - percussion
Baldwin Wong - trumpet
Roy Arimoto - sound

Joining them are Lester Chinn on Sax, Tim Ragan on Trumpet, vocalist Buddy Davis, Darryl Joe on drums and Barbara Long on vocals.

Interesting note: Buddy Davis has been a long time friend of the band. He returned to Sacramento from Las Vegas a few years back, needing a double organ transplant. After successful surgery, he's back to singing. Barbara and Darryl are married and have been in music together for many years. They perform every Sunday at Bayside Church of South Sacramento. Barbara was formerly with Hiroshima, the smooth jazz group that incorporated Japanese instrumentation into smooth jazz.

East Wind are playing at the Zoo on Twilight Thursday, July 15th from 5:30 to 8:00 pm. When you come out to see these guys, they are the real deal. They played these songs when they first hit the charts in the 70's. Now, they do it for fun!