Live! From Oxnard : Estrada Brothers’ music overcomes troubles in performance recording.

Live recordings can be inspired occasions, where spontaneity and real-time warmth can be captured on tape. They can also be invitations for trouble: Things that can go wrong, do.

At the Carnegie Art Museum last Sunday, where the Estrada Brothers arranged to make their first live recording--and the first recording in the Carnegie--trouble came knocking before the music officially began.

An Oxnard police officer showed up with a complaint from the residents of apartments across C Street, apparently irked by the sounds of warming up.

Suzanne Bellah, the museum director, deflected the officer gently, firmly, explaining that every precaution had been taken to keep the sound under control and inside, and made the point that outdoor music can be frequently heard rumbling in the neighboring park.

“Besides,” she reasoned, “it’s jazz.” That seemed to work. “Oh, it’s jazz. That’s OK, then,” said the patrolman.

In fact, the hitches were minimal and the spirits high once the music began.

The band, a settled and cohesive lineup for a dozen years now, is led by siblings Ruben and Henry Estrada, and includes Ruben’s son Cougar on drums, who, this year, has been working with the Latin Playboys and Los Lobos, artful heavyweights in the Latino rock orbit. Bassist Malcom Ian Peters, pianist Joe Rotondi Jr. and Raul Rico Jr. complete the ensemble, which projects a tight, lived-in band sound by now.

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At the Carnegie on Sunday, before a friendly audience, the band stretched out, cautiously (aware, no doubt, of the red light on the tape machines). The set included an inventive arrangement of the great Brubeck ballad “In Your Own Sweet Way,” played in their own sweet Latin way.

Their version of “All the Things You Are,” recast as a mambo, stopped in its tracks after an introduction with a hint of hesitation: In live recording, there are second beginnings.

It’s part of the process, and the charm. With good live albums, you can sense the space and the feeling behind, and around, the performance.

It was a fitting matchup of site and sound.

The Estrada Brothers, the widely respected Latin jazz group whose history can be traced to the ‘50s, are deserving of civic pride as native sons of Oxnard’s music scene. That they would choose Oxnard’s primary cultural venue for their first live recording amounts to a kind of poetic justice.

With this live project, scheduled for an October release if all goes well, the band’s discography grows. Their last album, “Get Out of My Way” in 1996, came out on the noted jazz Milestone label, home of Sonny Rollins.

The new one, though, is back in their own court, to be released on their own Rumba Jazz label (https://www.rumbajazz.com). The label is coordinated by the band’s general-purpose runner, manager and percussionist Rico. You hear Rico spinning Latin jazz on KCLU (88.3 FM), with the programs “Jazz Latino” on Thursday nights and “Saturday Night Salsa!” on Saturday nights.

The Estradas continue to show up around the area and beyond.

They’ll return to the big beachside stage of the Santa Barbara Jazz Festival at Leadbetter Beach on Sept. 25. They belong there, the theme of the day being Latin jazz, with Tito Puente as headliner and a lineup that includes percussionist legend Francisco Aquabella, Lalo Schifrin and Cuban Eliades Ochoa of “Buena Vista Social Club” fame.

Latin jazz is alive and well in the area, and the Estrada name plays an important role in stoking the flames. Watch for their “Live at the Carnegie” project, coming soon to a music outlet near you.

Simi Jazz Alert: Jazz continues to rumble in the margins in Simi Valley, where a summer concert series ends Sunday with the Josh Nelson Group. Nelson, a Simi native, is now based in Los Angeles, but is making a homecoming gig.

DETAILS

Josh Nelson Group, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Ave. Tickets are $15-$8. 581-2714.

Thousand Oaks Classical: In terms of young, local classical music talent, violist Victor de Almeida will give a special solo concert at the Thousand Oaks Community Gallery on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., sponsored by the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley.

Almeida, one of the winners of the New West Symphony’s “Discovery Artist” competition last year, will perform, among other things, Benjamin Britten’s “Elegy,” and music by Hollywood-cum-”serious” composer Miklos Rozsa.

DETAILS

Victor de Almeida, solo viola recital, 2 p.m. Sunday, Thousand Oaks Community Gallery, Borchard Road at Michael Drive (adjacent to the Newbury Park Branch Library). Free admission. 498-4390.

Josef Woodard, who writes about art and music, can be reached by e-mail at joeinfo@aol.com.