La Chazz was formed in 1978 by guitarist Toty Ramos. It began as an 11 piece salsa band that featured original compositions as well as renditions of many of the famous Latin bands of the time, including New York’s Fania All-Stars and Cuba’s Irakere. The band was chosen to open for the great Puerto Rican singer Celia Cruz, and the band was on the map. However, it would be Toty’s original compositions that began to define the band’s identity.

Toty decided to concentrate on original instrumental Latin-jazz works to showcase the band members’ improvisational skills and to differentiate La Chazz from traditional salsa bands. The level of musicianship in the band is high, and being a member of La Chazz requires that any of the nine members are able to improvise or be featured for an entire tune. The band has been a regular feature at two of Milwaukee’s illustrious jazz clubs, The Jazz Gallery and The Jazz Estate.

La Chazz has performed at many regional festivals such as Jazz in The Park, Bastille Days, SummerFest, Lakefront Festival of the Arts, Rainbow Summer, Madison’s Jubilee Jazz Festival and Racine’s Harbor Fest. In 1993 the band won a Wisconsin Area Music Award, or WAMI for best Ethnic Group-Artist of the Year. La Chazz has also been named "One of Milwaukee’s 100 Great Music-makers" by OnWisconsin.com.