Latin music in Toronto once meant Herb Alperts annual visit to town in the 60s, playing Lonely Bull with his Tijuana Brass.

The distance travelled since then can be found in the Latin Boardwalk Stage at the Beaches International Jazz Festival, Thursday to Sunday, with its wide range of salsa, mambo, Cubano jazz, all-round rhythmic madness and butt waggling.

Tapping into the sexy machismo drive of the HeavyMambo band and the sophisticated charts of The Latin Jazz Ensemble, festival artistic director Bill King brings to the 24th edition of the annual festival an attitude of physicality. Jazz is getting back its dance groove. Funk, soul, R&B, reggae and a variety of Afro-beats are to be found throughout the festival stretching some two kilometres along Queen St. E.

Rick Lazar didnt start this although his band, Samba Squad, occupies a prominent position at the fest, playing nightly at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. at the southeast corner of Woodbine Ave. and Queen St. E. But without the 64-year-old percussionists presence in the city over the years, this festival wouldnt likely have the breadth of resources it draws on to shape its Latin identity.

After studying percussion at the powerhouse Indiana School of Music, Lazar did what any serious, classically trained artist would do: he hooked up with Barry White to tour with the singers Love Unlimited Orchestra. Lazars arrival back in Toronto in the 70s coincided with the early blossoming of a local Latin presence with heavily political videos from Central America being shown in art spaces, and art from South America and from Cuban refugees appearing in galleries.

Lazar grew ever closer to the citys Latin heart while performing with the Toronto jazz-fusion band Manteca in the early 80s.

Its all about the drum, he said. Im a Canadian with a Middle Eastern background. But as a kid I got into James Brown and when you get into that you get into Afro-music, then the Brazilian thing. It is very addictive.

Following Manteca, Lazar founded Coconut Groove, prominent in the citys dance scene in the late 80s. Samba Squad itself appears in more than just one iteration around town. The more percussion-centre version is the street version of the thing, says Lazar. Theres also a club version.

Purists arent happy with the squads Brazilian credentials; some places wont book the band, and Lazar understands. I dont sell Samba Squad as a Brazilian thing, he explains. My dream was never to copy Brazilian music. . . . But if you want to have a show, if you want to dance and lots of rhythm, well be OK then.

More information at beachesjazz.com

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Beaches Jazz Festival finds prominent place for Samba Squad’s leader