Quetzal Music Group

Like most employees caught in a change of management, longtime DJ Jos? Rizo worried about his future when a new boss took over earlier this year at L.A.'s only full-time jazz station, KJZZ-FM (88.1). What would it mean for his 17-year run as host of "Jazz on the Latin Side," a weekly show spotlighting the best in Latin jazz from across the world? Rizo, 50, worried that his program might lose its prime Friday night slot. Then he took a call from the station's new general manager, Saul Levine.

For some bands, there are worse fates than being booed off stage. Being ignored can prolong the agony of rejection, as members of Quetzal discovered during a national tour last summer. The veteran East L.A. ensemble had been booked to play some Midwest shows with unruly arena-rock acts Aerosmith and Kid Rock. It was an oil-and-water billing for a band that plays sweet and thoughtful Afro-Chicano fusion music inspired by Zapatista rebel politics.