walking upstream…
Javier Bátiz
Tijuana's Javier Bátiz, known as "El Brujo," founded Los TJ's in 1957 as a teenager and spent the following decades translating American blues and R&B into Mexico's first homegrown rock scene, mentoring a young Carlos Santana along the way. He relocated to Mexico City in the 1960s, played the era's biggest stages — reportedly including an 18,000-strong outdoor show in 1969 — and kept recording blues-rock albums into his final years. He died in Tijuana in December 2024, remembered as a father figure of Mexican rock.
the sound in question
1998
Si Estuvieras AquíJavier Bátiz
walk the tributaries ↓
T-Bone Walker1940s · Jump blues / Electric blues / West Coast blues
Wikipedia's account of Bátiz's formative years names T-Bone Walker directly among the blues guitarists he absorbed while founding Los TJ's in border-city Tijuana.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia (ES) — Javier Bátiz (names T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Chuck Berry as influences; Santana mentorship) ↗
1947
Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)T-Bone Walker
MéxicoJavier Bátiz
listen forThe single-string, horn-like guitar phrasing Walker pioneered on "Call It Stormy Monday" is the same vocabulary Bátiz reaches for on his own blues-rock tracks.
B.B. King1960s–70s · Blues / Electric blues
B.B. King is cited alongside Walker and Muddy Waters as a foundational influence on Bátiz's guitar style during his Tijuana teens.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia (ES) — Javier Bátiz (names T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Chuck Berry as influences; Santana mentorship) ↗
1951
3 O'Clock BluesB.B. King
1998
Si Estuvieras AquíJavier Bátiz
listen forThe vibrato-heavy, vocal-like string bends on King's "3 O'Clock Blues" show up throughout Bátiz's lead-guitar lines, even on more romantic, less overtly blues-based material.
Muddy Waters1950s · Chicago blues / Electric blues
Muddy Waters' electrified Chicago blues is named as a direct influence on the sound Bátiz brought back to Tijuana and later to Mexico City's rock scene.
listen: upstream & heresource: Wikipedia (ES) — Javier Bátiz (names T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Chuck Berry as influences; Santana mentorship) ↗
1954
(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie ManMuddy Waters
Mi Chorro de VozJavier Bátiz
listen forThe raw, amplifier-forward guitar attack on "Mi Chorro de Voz" traces back to the same electric-blues vocabulary Waters popularized on "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man."