Joe Jama, a key figure in San Antonio's West Side soul sound, has died

Singer-bassist Joe Jama, a key figure in San Antonio's Chicano soul sound, died Sunday at age 74, according to details shared online by friends and family. Jama was a late-joining but key member of the Royal Jesters, a group formed in the late 1950s by Lanier High School students. By the time Jama — by then a veteran of local groups the Radiants and the Revells — came into the fold in 1968, the Jesters were shifting away from their fusion of doo-wop and Mexican music into a more contemporary sound reflecting a broader mix of influences.