Noe Pro and the Semi-tones, 1964 from left: Jesse Salinas, Noe Pro, Gonzalo Gonzales, Alfonso Saenz, Gregorio Reyes and David Garcia
Jesse Salinas, rhythm guitarist for Noe Pro & the Semi-tones writes about his time with Noe’s band and his later group, the Staffs:
I joined Noe Pro’s band in 1963. Original members started with inexpensive instruments mostly Sears Silvertone, Harmony or Alamo guitars and amps. Guitars, bass and microphone were plugged into one Silvertone amplifier. What started out with mostly high school musicians, Noe turned into “Noe Pro and the Semi-tones”.
“I’m Gonna Leave This Town” excellent soul-funk number
The band recorded several 45s on the Pharaoh label in McAllen, Texas in 1963, ’64, ’65 and ’66 at a small two or four track studio owned by Jimmy Nicholls. English record “Yesterday’s Dream” and flipside “Come Along My Baby” was the first recording for the Semitones, picked up by the Mercury label. The band also recorded the single “I Know” and its flipside “Reina De Mi Vida” and “I Know What’s Been Going On” and flipside “I Love You My Darling” at the Pharaoh Studio. All records had some local success.Noe Pro and the Semi-tones recorded most of the Spanish 45s at Ideal Records Studios in San Benito, Texas. I recall recording engineer and owner of Ideal, John Phillips had Baldemar Huerta (Freddy Fender) working the recording equipment. We spent numerous nights at the Ideal studios recording until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. The LP was done at Falcon Studios.
Semitones, L-R, front: Gabriel (Gaby) Garza (sax), Gilbert Colunga (trumpet), Bobby Vill (bass); back: Jesse Salinas (guitar), Noe Pro (singer, drummer) and Carlos Cantu (sax)
Noe was also a great guitar and bass player, he could play numerous instruments, he arranged all the melodies for our horn section. Noe was known as the singing drummer which was unique for that time. Everyone loved to hear Noe sing and could dance to the music we played in English and Spanish.
In 1965 Noe was picked up by an orchestra service agency in Dallas that arranged for him to tour. They used their musicians. Some of us were either still in school or were not hired. Noe Pro’s band had new beginnings, and his music played on. Noe’s roots are in the Rio Grande Valley where he continues to record, and entertain his fans with tejano, country, rock, blues and big band music. Though it’s been over 40 years, this is some of what I recall about the early years of Noe Pro and the Semi-tones.
I played bass guitar with another school band The Staffs. By the middle of 1966, most of us were drafted into military service. It seems everyone left Brownsville, Texas.
Sadly, we have lost two of the early years Semi-tones, Gregorio (Goyo) Reyes: trumpet and Guadalupe (Lupio) Hernandez: lead guitar.
I ask anyone with knowledge of the band to submit photos, stories or any information about Noe Pro’s band “The Semi-tones”.
Jesse Salinas
Q. Were you part of the Blue Valiants with Noe? “I Know (You Don’t Love Me Anymore)” / “Reina de Mi Vida” is credited to Noe Pro and the Blue Valiants.
Jesse: I was never with the Valiants. Noe joined the Valiants as a drummer. The Blue Valiants did record for Jimmy Nicholls at Pharaoh when he was with them. Later Noe formed his own band the Semitones and we recorded “Yesterday’s Dream” and its flip at Pharaoh, it was the first recording for the Semitones. Noe tells me that “I Know” and its flip was actually the second recording. We all noticed the error on the label at the time we got copies but it was too late to change.
Noe Pro’s 1960s record releases
45s:
Noe Pro and the Semitones:
Mercury 72341 – “Yesterday’s Dream” / “Come Along My Baby (and Dance with Me)” (1964)
Pharaoh 118 – “I Know (You Don’t Love Me Anymore)” / “Reina de mi Vida” (credited to Noe Pro and the Blue Valiants) Pharaoh 124 – “I Know What’s Been Going On” / “I Love You My Darling”
“Para Ti” for the Bego label, a wild adaption of the Animals “I’m Crying”
Bego BG-167 – “Para Ti” / (as Noe Pro y Los Semitones)
Benja 103 – “Oh Darling” / “What Shall I Do” (both written by Benny C. Mendez and credited to Noe and the Semitoness)
Norco 110 – “If You Would See Me Tomorrow” / “I’m Gonna Leave This Town”
Ideal 2163 – “En Que Pierde una Mujer” / “Gracias” Ideal 2285 – “Usted” / “Quizas, Quizas, Quizas” Ideal 2370 – “Gorda” / “Mi Baby” Ideal 2372 – “Extraños en la Noche” Ideal 2382 – “El Destgastado” / “El Soltero”
Falcon 1656 – “Yo Te Daria Mas” / “Llora”
Album:
Falcon FLP-2055 – La Voz Internacional de Noe Pro
songlist: Llora, Mi Razon, Sin Verte, Incomprendida, Humo en los Ojos, Yo Te Suplico, Yo Te Daria Mas, Yo Soy Aguel, Aunque Me Hagas Llorar, Ya No Me Quieres, Cuando Comienza Elamor, Que Injusticia
Thank you to Jesse Salinas for the photos and scans in this article, and to Chad Burnett for the scan of the Bego 45 “Para Ti”.
top row from left: Beto Perez (bass), Oscar Garza (drums) and Rolando Tanguma (guitar and keyboard) bottom row from left: A. Charles (sax) Simon Reyes (lead guitar and vocals) and ? Garcia (sax)
The Pharaoh label is famous for some great Texas garage 45s by the Cavaliers, the Headstones, the Playboys of Edinburgh, and Christopher & the Souls. Owning none of those pricey records at this time, I’m choosing to feature another side of Pharaoh: Simon Reyes.
His first Pharoah 45 is bluesy pop number with a female backing group and an extended electric piano solo “My Baby Hurts Me”, with a ballad, “Mistake Number Three” on the flip. Simon Reyes wrote both songs and is backed by the Outerlimits.
I haven’t heard his second Pharaoh 45, “Broken Hearted Fool” / “What Now My Love” but I expect it covers similar ground to this one.
There’s not much info out there on Reyes, but he had at least a couple records on Huey Meaux’s various labels, including a very good version of “I’m a Hog (For You)” on Rival, and both English and Spanish versions of “Mama, Mama” on Tear Drop.
Simon’s brother Noe Reyes reports that Simon died in November, 1973.
Jimmy Nicholls owned the Pharaoh label and also a studio in McAllen, TX where many bands recorded, including the Zakary Thaks and Bad Seeds for their early singles. Simon Reyes wasn’t the only Mexican-American crossover artist on Pharaoh, there was also The Cruisers featuring E.J. and Bobby Ledesma.
See the list of releases of Pharaoh Records on this site for more info on the label.
Special thanks to Noe for providing the photos.
Simon and the Gypsies in New Orleans, Simon on the left.Simon Reyes
from left: F.G. Renaud, Bobby Ledesma, E.J. Ledesma (inside the car), Manny Carmona & Rafael Saldana. Thank you to Gloria for providing the names in her comment below.
The Cruisers came from Harlingen, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, like Noe Pro and Simon Reyes.
The Cruisers released at least eight singles on local south Texas labels. I didn’t know the lineup of the band until Gloria commented (see below) that the members on the sleeve above were:
E.J. Ledesma – lead vocals & guitar Rafael “Kai” Saldana – lead guitar Manny Carmona – sax Bobby Ledesma – bass F.G. Renaud – drums Arnold Cano – trumpet, keyboards
Other members may have included Joe Rodriguez. More info on the band would be appreciated.
They had five 45s on the Pharaoh label from nearby McAllen, Texas, some of which are very pop oriented. The third 45 on Pharaoh, “My Place” fetched a lot of money when it sold recently, but I have no idea as to its quality.
Arnold Cano wrote to me with information about his time in the Cruisers:
The Cruisers were the first band I played with. The person most directly responsible for me joining my first professional band was Carlos (Charlie) Ledesma. He is EJ Ledesma’s younger brother and was in the Harlingen Coakley Band when I met him. Carlos is the one I will thank for the rest of my life for getting me involved in music.
I came to Coakley halfway through 8th grade from a private school in Brownsville. Lived in Harlingen and wanted to play in the school band. Ended up playing French horn and sat next to Carlos, who played saxophone. He was the one that told me that the band (Cruisers) needed a trumpet player and asked me if I thought I might be able to fill that spot. Even though I had just started playing the French horn that year I decided to give it a try. Asked my parents if they would help me monetarily with purchasing a trumpet and they did. Went to Bledsoe’s Music and bought one, to this day I still thank them for the support they gave me all through the years in music.
Carlos and I were considered younger brothers to the guys and we looked up to them as such. I was 15 and in the 9th grade when I recorded “Oh Sweetness” with the guys, I luckily wrote the month and year on the 45 back then or else there would be no way I would remember now.
I eventually moved on to playing keyboard, again asking my parents for the help. They never hesitated and soon I was playing keyboards with the band. What I don’t remember are the circumstances of leaving the band.
I also played with Noe Pro for a bit … Ray and The Carousels (formerly The Belaires), Los Hermanos Ramos, La Justicia, Tequila Sunrise, Kaos (this was at The Helipad), The AllNighter’s, Tequila Mockingbird and then moved to San Antonio with my AT&T job and played with a Texano band there. I transferred to the Dallas area to follow my telephone job and met an old musician friend I had played with in the valley (Henry Lee). Played in his band, Slick, for a couple of years and then got a call from another friend (Kevin Martin) that I had played with in Kaos Band back in the valley. He was going to contract event gigs and already had a couple of agents. I jumped at the opportunity to get away from the nightly club gigging. Started playing with his band (HitSquad) in Houston. It is a drive but we just do corporate and better paying events. I’ve played many years and still love the music.
E.J. Ledesma, who has had a long career in Tejano music wrote many of their songs including “My Place”, “Another Lonely Night”, “Please Let Me Be (The One for You)” and “Oh! Sweetness”. If anyone has scans or mp3s of the other Pharaoh records, please let me know.
The Cruisers had two releases on the ARV International label, also from McAllen, “Just Having Fun” and “Movin’ Man” were written, arranged and produced by Bobby Ledesma. The b-sides to each are lighter, with “Lucky Man” featuring horns.
List of 45 releases:
Pharaoh 125 – An Angel Like You / The Lonely (1964) Pharaoh 128 – Another Lonely Night / Please Let Me Be (The One For You) Pharaoh 139 – My Place / Walkin’ and a Ridin’ (1965) Pharaoh 148 – The Fire’s Gone / Oh! Sweetness (Aug. 1966) Pharaoh 155 – Celina / Baby Doll (February 1967) ARV 5004 – Just Having Fun / Lucky Man (May 1967) ARV 5010 – Movin’ Man / Children Playing In The Sun Impacto IM-178 – Down By the River / I Can’t Believe It (1968)
For more on the Pharaoh label see the article on this site.
Thank you to Fred Hoyt for the scans of “Another Lonely Night” / “Please Let Me Be” and the sleeve, to Westex and Max Waller for additions to the discography, and to Danny and Gloria for the info on the band in their comments, below. Thank you to Arnold Cano for his story on the group.
This site is a work in progress on 1960s garage rock bands. All entries can be updated, corrected and expanded. If you have information on a band featured here, please let me know and I will update the site and credit you accordingly.
I am dedicated to making this site a center for research about '60s music scenes. Please consider donating archival materials such as photos, records, news clippings, scrapbooks or other material from the '60s. Please contact me at rchrisbishop@gmail.com if you can loan or donate original materials
Jesse Salinas, rhythm guitarist for Noe Pro & the Semi-tones writes about his time with Noe’s band and his later group, the Staffs:Noe was also a great guitar and bass player, he could play numerous instruments, he arranged all the melodies for our horn section. Noe was known as the singing drummer which was unique for that time. Everyone loved to hear Noe sing and could dance to the music we played in English and Spanish.
In 1965 Noe was picked up by an orchestra service agency in Dallas that arranged for him to tour. They used their musicians. Some of us were either still in school or were not hired. Noe Pro’s band had new beginnings, and his music played on. Noe’s roots are in the Rio Grande Valley where he continues to record, and entertain his fans with tejano, country, rock, blues and big band music. Though it’s been over 40 years, this is some of what I recall about the early years of Noe Pro and the Semi-tones.
Q. Were you part of the Blue Valiants with Noe? “I Know (You Don’t Love Me Anymore)” / “Reina de Mi Vida” is credited to Noe Pro and the Blue Valiants.
Noe Pro’s 1960s record releases
