Cal Cal Tjader

Mary Stallings was just 22 at the time this album, her first, was cut in 1961. Fortunately, she was teamed up with a group of top professionals led by vibist Cal Tjader. She also sticks with mostly tried and true material, with Duke Ellington's songs getting a big play. Tjader is not a virtuoso on the vibes, but has made a name for himself because of his attachment to Latin rhythms. With no such music on this album, Tjader's playing seems somewhat stiff at times, particularly on ballads and slow blues. However, alternating pianists Lonnie Hewitt and Clare Fischer get with the program to give Stallings the backing she needs. The vibes player also loosens up on up-tempo tunes like "It Ain't Necessarily So." The singer has a powerful voice with a straight from the shoulder, no holds barred delivery…

Avid Jazz continues with its Four Classic Album series with a re-mastered 2CD set release from Cal Tjader, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details. “Tjader Plays Tjazz”; “San Francisco Moods”; “Concert By The Sea Volumes 1 & 2.”
There is a very small and very elite list of classic vibes players and Cal Tjader is certainly high up on that list. Primarily known as a Latin jazz musician, Cal was however a fine straight ahead cool jazz musician as our four fine selections will show. Take a listen to Tjader Plays Tjazz where the great man switches from vibes to drums on a cooled out straight ahead jazz set. For more cool, fun sounds try San Francisco Moods where Cal and gang capture the special atmosphere of his adopted city, San Francisco on an excellent, mostly Tjader composed set…

El Sonido Nuevo is a popular collaboration between vibraphonist Cal Tjader and pianist Eddie Palmieri (who provided the arrangements). Despite the claims of greatness expressed in the liners ("a landmark in the history of Latin jazz"), much of the music is actually quite lightweight although enjoyable enough, and the easy listening melodies and accessible rhythms hold one's interest. Despite the changing personnel, Tjader is generally the lead voice, and he is in fine form even if the overall results are not all that memorable or unique.

Vibraphonist Cal Tjader took a brief vacation from playing Afro-Cuban jazz to record this fine straight-ahead bop set. The 1956 LP matches Tjader with the underrated but always swinging pianist Gerald Wiggins, bassist Eugene Wright (shortly before he joined the Dave Brubeck Quartet), and drummer Bill Douglass. They perform four basic originals (two apiece by Wiggins and Wright) and five standards, including a swinging "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Our Love Is Here to Stay." On this date, more than almost any other one, Tjader displays his debt to Milt Jackson's style.

This two-LP set is the definitive early Cal Tjader album and one of the high points of his career. For a Monterey concert that was considered a preview concert for the 1959 Monterey Jazz Festival, Tjader was teamed up with flutist and altoist Paul Horn, pianist Lonnie Hewitt, bassist Al McKibbon, Willie Bobo (on drums and timbales), and percussionist Mongo Santamaria. Their renditions of Latinized jazz tunes along with a few Latin originals practically define the idiom. Highlights include "Doxy," one of the earliest versions of Santamaria's "Afro Blue" (pre-dating John Coltrane's famous rendition by four years), "Love Me or Leave Me," and "A Night in Tunisia." Essential music for everyone's Latin jazz collection.

Vibraphonist Cal Tjader is in typically fine form on this live set from 1968. His quintet at the time featured Armand Perazza on congas and pianist Joe Kloess and his repertoire ranged from Afro-Cuban jazz to occasional straightahead tunes. Six of the eight selections on this date are originals by band members or Gary McFarland. Although Tjader had been playing this style of music for 15 years by this time, he still was quite creative and enthusiastic, and is heard throughout in excellent form.

Vibraphonist Cal Tjader is in typically fine form on this live set from 1968. His quintet at the time featured Armand Perazza on congas and pianist Joe Kloess and his repertoire ranged from Afro-Cuban jazz to occasional straightahead tunes. Six of the eight selections on this date are originals by band members or Gary McFarland. Although Tjader had been playing this style of music for 15 years by this time, he still was quite creative and enthusiastic, and is heard throughout in excellent form.

In the vein of many a smooth West Coast jazz outing, this 1958 disc finds original cool stylist Getz paired with vibraphonist Cal Tjader on a very enjoyable selection of jazz standards and Tjader originals. The lineup includes pianist Vince Guaraldi, guitarist Eddie Duran, bassist Scott La Faro, and drummer Billy Higgins (this was one of the earliest record dates for either La Faro or Higgins, both of whom were playing with Getz at San Francisco's Black Hawk in between recording sessions). Guaraldi's spry "Ginza Samba" kicks thing off with nimble and imaginative statements by all the soloists. Tjader's swinging originals "Crow's Nest" and "Big Bear" provide prime solo vehicles as well, while his lovely waltz number "Liz-Anne" adds some nice contrast to the set, eliciting one of Getz's best solos in the process…

One of the most successful, most recorded and most influential jazz players of his time, Cal Tjader is these days a largely overlooked figure in the music’s history. Part of the cause of his lack of recognition is present in the reasons he was so successful. Tjader made no great leaps forward harmonically or rhythmically, but instead showed how jazz and Afro-Cuban music could blend together with the vibraphone as the lead instrument, its percussiveness working very well in that musical context. In doing so, he was followed by many others, his commercial success affording him the opportunity to record a great number of albums.