In addition to having horn sections and Latin and African percussion, they included synthesizers, creating music in a "pan-fusion" style, essentially jazz improvisation drawing from salsa, samba, funk and tribal influences.

The band began playing in Toronto in 1979, and by 1987 were touring annually in Canada.

After a hiatus, Manteca released a new album, Onward in 2007, and resumed touring.

Guest composers for this album are Gord Sheard and Doug Wilde.

Other members of the band have included keyboardist Aaron Davis, saxophonist John Johnson, Gordon Sheard, Wayne Baker, Herb Koffman, Rick Tait, Steve McDade, Kirk MacDonald, Ralph Bowen, Gary Boigon, Phil Dwyer, Earl Leader, Norman Jones, Art Avalos, Mike Sloski, David James and Charlie Cooley.