There has never been a CAL TJADER thread on ILM before! Classic / Dud? — SEARCH & DESTROY

Inspired by my recent reacquisition of his live at the Lighthouse set from 1969, called Cal Tjader Plugs In, I feel like the time is right for him to have a dedicated thread.

Plugs In is a fine record. A lot funkier than I remembered. Lovely combination and interesting conversation between Cal's vibes and the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Like a dreamy wash of funk.

I used to have a good 90% of his catalogue, but for some surely idiotic reason, I purged them all years back in a fit of trading stuff at Amoeba. For some reason, I don't see his records in the used shops as often as I used to about a decade or so ago when I purged everything. Because of that, it's been a slow move to get everything back, but a steadfast one.

My mind changes pretty frequently on what my one definitive favorite is, but the one I usually end up going back to is one of his earlier ones on Verve, Cal Tjader Plays the Contemporary Music of Mexico and Brazil. A very interesting mesh of Latin rhythms and loungey vibes, but with really competent soloing. His whole run at Verve was pretty great, but I definitely love how funked up his repertoire had become by the late 60s and early 70s. That stuff is kind of a lost treasure trove of sorts.

So, anyway: come one, come all. . . let's dig into some dreamy west coast Latin-esque jams.

I've never even seen Plugs In! Skye stuff isn't the most common anyway but that ones never turned up.

I think the only ones I have are the two Ritmo Caliente releases, which are lovely if super brief (IIRC) and one or two of the mid 60s records. It's the kind of stuff I don't ruminate on but love to put on when I'm in the mood.

I'm curious about his 1970s releases... like did he do some interesting stuff or sort of flail around? If anyone knows.

Cal Tjader & Stan Getz Sextet

Classic!

Haven’t dug into his work with any depth at all but am definitely interested in doing so. Wasn’t Clare Fischer part of this is well?

Long time fan of El Sonido Nuevo and Bamboléate. Just recently got into the amazing Monterey Concerts and the Stan Getz Sextet one, which gets more uptempo than expected (especially on the first track, "Ginza Samba")

Oh, the record with Stan Getz is so great! Always a pleasure to hear Scott LaFaro as well.

I'm not that well-versed in the 70s stuff as a whole, but the records I have heard from the early and mid 70s have been really mellow Latin-esque funk. Of the ones I know, the Grace Cathedral album is probably my favorite.

+ Gets is great

but the records I have heard from the early and mid 70s have been really mellow Latin-esque funk

i only have this compilation, but it made for a perfect sunny sunday soundtrack earlier today.

https://www.discogs.com/Cal-Tjader-Talkin-Verve-Roots-Of-Acid-Jazz/release/808386

That's all Verve stuff, so it's mid 60s. Still, that's arguably his best period. You could pick a different set of 16 songs from those albums and come up with another compilation that's just as good as that one.

ta for the clarification as I filed the cd away years ago so had no idea as to which era the recordings are from.
really wonderful stuff.

He did an album with Charlie Byrd in 1974 called Tambu, which is worth seeking out.
It has more teeth than you'd expect.

Just found a copy of Along Comes Cal, and it's definitely hitting the spot -- it falls somewhere on the continuum between Gary McFarland's The In Sound and Sergio Mendes first album with Brazil 66.

Also, I love the dissonance of the cover: apparently someone at Verve wondered what it would look like if you took one of those psychedelic Fillmore West posters and stuck a picture of Vince Lombardi in the middle.

https://youtu.be/3OUnOG_15B4

Wow, that's gotta be one of the more rare Verve albums. I don't recall ever seeing that one before!

Feel like I should participate here but I have no idea what the fuck is going on. Oy

Ahh man, just some mellow loungey Latin-esque jazz jams. Dig it.

Yeah enoch, that's a damn good jam you linked.

Ahh man, just some mellow loungey Latin-esque jazz jams. Dig it.

Haha, have fun!

Digging in with some 70s Cal the past few days.

Amazonas (1976) is probably the funkiest CT album I've yet heard. George Duke and Airto Moriera are at the helm, arranging and producing. Tons of synths, electric pianos, and phasers everywhere and a general descriptor would be that it's like a cross between a late 60s Tjader session and one of Duke's MPS albums. I'm sure purists hated it at the time, but it's exceptional smooth jazz at this point. Very singular vibe throughout and plenty of simmering grooves. Cool cover, as well!

Last Night When We Were Young is one of his all ballads sets, with arrangements by Claus Ogerman. Never been too enamoured with Ogerman, but this one works. Maybe a bit schmaltzy, but it never dips into the "Holiday for Strings" syrup and relies more on the vibes/electric piano washes, so I'm okay with it. I always like a lush, resounding, consonant cadence and this album was built around them, so I love it a lot. But it is definitely on the lighter side of the smooth jazz spectrum, so I've been playing it as I drift off to sleep at night. Still very lovely music and a reminder that Cal could really belt out those affecting ballads as good as anybody.

Probably going to venture into the late 70s studio stuff the next few days. I've never heard any of it and I want to know if he ever attempted disco.

He never did attempt disco!

And as I listened to his last few albums, it became clear that he was following the overall trend for jazz elder statesmen in the late 70s and becoming more of a traditionalist as he got older. In fact Amazonas was probably his most "commercial" sounding album since the album of Burt Bacharach songs he did. I really like the warm melting pot of synths and sounds on albums like Guarabe and Here — it's definitely smooth jazz, but it's coming from a guy who was pretty interested in having fun while pleasing his audience, so it's all very pleasant and grounded in tradition. And whenever he hits those ballads, you just know somebody's solo is going to be a dreamy wash of gorgeous harmonic colors and I'll be playing that song again as soon as it ends, tyvm.

Here's a classic from Guarabe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRMduSv6FsI

"This Masquerade" (1977)

The Huracán 12" is the CJ that I most often return to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmUM3AahqXM

Wow, that sounds just like the stuff I'm really into right now and I've never even heard of it — Clare Fisher on piano! Thanks for posting!

Jeez, Fischer. I know how it's spelled, gosh darnit!

This one has been on my turntable a lot lately. I love the fact that the Fantasy label was putting out colored vinyl in 1959 (my copy is translucent red):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJVakC6rygw

(I think this is actually the first recording of Afro Blue)

Yeah the early colored vinyl! I've seen blue, red, and green - all translucent. Heard once that labels did colors for different genres. No idea if it's true!

Love Concert by the Sea. I've mainly talked about the later 70s Fantasy stuff in here and that's not very representative, as he basically helped build Fantasy Records in the 50s. He made so much classic material throughout his career, but even among that lot, Concert by the Sea is remarkable. His catalogue was so thoroughly consistent, it's easy to focus on one period and forget about how great everything else (also) is.

Don't know about about the chronology of "Afro Blue." Wouldn't be surprised if it was the first, or at least one of the earliest. Mongo Santamaria was in the band, so y'know.

Here's some more early stuff. A famous sample cut and an alltimer in my house:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daETJVRpWdY

"Cubano Chant" (1955)

Back to 1973 this afternoon with Primo and oh hell yeah, this is some hot schitt! He's basically the featured soloist out front of a big band that contains none of his working band members of the time. Tito Puente and Charlie Palmieri on the arrangements and recorded on the east coast by Rudy van Gelder. This is a front-to-back simmering Afro-Cuban record; and a damn good one. Check out the Palmieri-Puente tune "Gringo City":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfD8CpAfFrk

Also what's up with that perspective on the cover? Either they badly green-screened him onto a photo or he was like nine feet tall.☺

The buildings in that cover photo are also curved. Maybe it's some kind of stage backdrop?

Great stuff in this thread. That Hurracan 12" is one of my faves too. Funny story, for the first 6 months or so after I got it I thought it was meant to be played at 33rpm instead of 45. I grew particularly fond of that track "Funquiado" at that pace, and thats still my preferred version of it today - slowed down, it becomes an 8+ minute funky lowrider jam.

I happened to score a cheap copy of 1962's "Latino Con Cal Tjader" this weekend on beautiful red vinyl - Vince Guaraldi features on a sweet version of "A Night in Tunisia"!

Yeah, I love threads like this when I have a passing interest in the artist but not much familiarity with their catalog.

Have been checking out the recommendations above and so far my favorite is Plays the Contemporary Music of Mexico and Brazil, which is lovely easy listening/lounge/exotica.

My suggestion is Several Shades of Jade, which I discovered via the inclusion of the track "The Fakir" on Thievery Corporation's Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi mix. Unlike the laid-back bossa rhythms of Plays the Contemporary..., this is arranged by Lalo Schifrin in a cinematic, 60s spy movie style, alternately driving and dreamy, and incorporating plenty of faux-Asian elements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LbK4H5GLxQ

revive partly to say YES! to dan— that material is outstanding. very kitsch/camp, but like you said, nothing else in his catalogue sounds like it at all. my intro was this two-fer in the late 90s. breeze from the east puts stan applebaum in schifrin's role with similar results. check out this version of "leyte." big sigh. so good.—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcjxfUdr-Hw
"leyte" (1963)

also wanted to up to mention that huracan (1978) has made it to spotify. so hey, if you're experiencing warmer weather this weekend, maybe a good time to jam it?