mikeweil

Since we're mentioning so many of his Verve albums, a word of praise and a heartfelt recommendation for this recent issue is due: These excerpts from six live dates at the Penthouse in Seattle show how different Tjader's live gigs were from his studio albums. He had not changed his basic attitude of starting with straightahead jazz and adding the conguero later for the Latin numbers, and lost none of his jazz chops. The bands were tight, the sound identitly clear, even with sidemen that stepped in for only a few weeks or months. The joy of playing is evident, as is the good spirit and interaction within the band. The concepts of the studio albums were dominated much more by Creed Taylor than I previously thought. To save on airplane fares, and because it was his preference, he used New York studio professionals, which had its pros and cons. Here's an overview of the Verve albums, with year of issue: 1 - In A Latin Bag - 1961 - basically his regular band with Paul Horn and Armando Peraza added. Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo had left, replaced by Wilfredo Vicente and Johnny Rae. Lonnie Hewitt played piano. Very elegant, very professional production, less casual than with Fantasy, but recorded in LA. 2 - Saturday Night / Sunday Night At The Blackhawk, San Francisco - 1961 A straightahead quartet live recording at one of all jazz musicians' favourite venues in California, with Lonnie Hewitt, Fred Schreiber, and Johnny Rae. It was to remain his only live album for Verve, Creed Taylor rarely was saitified with the sound and all. But this shows Tjader was up to par with any vibist of his generation, and perhaps had the most beautiful sound on the instrument. Both of these were coupled on a British reissue in perfect sound, Universal never bothered to consider them. https://www.discogs.com/release/14772484-Cal-Tjader-In-A-Latin-Bag 3 - Anita O'Day & Cal Tjader - Time For 2 - 1962 Both were Verve artists at the time, the combination works fine, they used used Tjader's band with O'Day's pianist Bon Corwin steping in on several tracks. Since drummer Johnny Rae was an accomplished vibist as well, Tjader played drums on some tracks, the instrument that he started on and kept playing on a few recording sessions. This was reissued by Verve on CD. 4 - Cal Tjader Plays The Contemporary Music Of Mexico And Brazil - 1962 The bossa nova craze had not yet started when Tjader went for Clare Fischer's idea of combining the beautiful melodies of Mexican composer Mario Ruiz Armengol with a rather unusual selection of modern Brazilian tunes. Tjader never went for the Jobim/Gilberto repertoire that everybody played. This, too, was reissued by Verve. I recommend programming the player for either the Armengol or the Brazilian tunes. Tjader's vibes sound is exceptionally beautiful here. 5 - Soña Libré - 1963 Recorded with Tjader's working band of the time with Clare Fischer on organ as well as piano, this remains one of my favourites. A tight band, well chosen repertoire. There is one set with this personnel in the Penthouse set. Believe it or not, this was among the first fifty CDs reissued on CD from the Verve catalog - but it is long out of print. 6 - Several Shades of Jade - 1963 This may be an attempt to profit on some type of exoctica fashion, but Lalo Shifrin's great arrangements make this a winner. New York studio guys play their asses off for a perfect backdrop for Tjader to solo on - this is as much a Schifrin as a Tjader album. 7 - Breeze From The East - 1964 In an interview, Tjader confessed that he vomitted when he left the sudio after a mixing session. This may be exaggerated, but it definitely is the un-jazziest album he ever made. The number of preliminary sessions and outtakes tells the story of how ill-conceived this mismatch of producer/arranger Stan Applebaum and Tjader was. In my ears, it fails even as an exotica album. Not nearly as Japanese as the cover suggests. The last two albums were thrown together by Verve for a CD reissue. https://www.discogs.com/release/994955-Cal-Tjader-Several-Shades-Of-Jade-Breeze-From-The-East 8 - Warm Wave - 1964 One of Tjader's greatest wishes was to record an all ballad album with some of the great New York studio pros, like Hank Jones. What he got was was this album where an overbearing string orchestra was arranged on top of the basic tracks. Claus Ogerman was one of Creed Taylor's favourites. If they had mixed the strings, flutes, and voices at lower volume this would sound much more elegant. It is good, but .... Never got a single CD reissue, not even in Japan, only a few tracks pop up on compilations. 9 - Soul Sauce - 1965 Undoubtedly Tjader's best selling Verve album. Taylor had booked an all-star band with Donald Byrd, Jimmy Heath, Kenny Burrell, Armando Peraza etc. and wanted some popular tunes from Tjader's book and some standards, but somehow it did not take off. So they flew in Tjader's band from California who laid down a series of first takes in one session. The title is a new name for one of the warhorses of the Dizzy Gillespie band with Chano Pozo, Guarachi Gurao, which hardly anyone was able to pronounce correctly. After Willie Bobo had overdubbed his vocal comments the following day and remarked this version was spicier than the original, Taylor came up with the title Soul Sauce, branding a whole style of music - salsa! Only Afro Blue from the all-star sessions made it to the album. This was on CD several times in the US and Japan, but only the 1994 CD reissue has the two bonus tracks that presumably were arranged by Gary McFarland. 10 - Soul Bird; Whiffenpoof - 1965 Trying to follow up a hit record with another one often fails. Neither this nor the next became as popular as Soul Sauce, despite the inclusion of another Gillespie/Pozo number, Tin Tin Deo, and one titled Soul Motion. Taylor had leaned his lesson and kept Tjader's band for the session. This was on CD in the US LP replica series. 11 - Soul Burst - 1966 Another attempt to follow up Soul Sauce - this time Manteca was included. Oliver Nelson was the arranger here for four tracks, of an all star band of New York pros including a young Chick Corea, but a comparison with the Penthouse live sets of that year shows that his working band played much livelier. This too was on US CD. --------------------------------- The remaining five will come tomorrow.

I'm not surprised, as Wergo is the label of his publisher, Schott. All, really all of his works were published by Schott. A lot of works were issued on Wergo in reference recordings. I happen to be friends with two people working there, and one of them once invited me to a tour through their cabinets with autographs, memorabilia and the like - very nice.

Exactly.

Rare stuff, not listed in Lord. The Revelation LP pctured above was his last release as a leader, a first originally unreleased album from 1960 was issued by Fresh Sound. https://www.discogs.com/release/7028074-Carmell-Jones-Quartet-Previously-Unreleased-Los-Angeles-Session

The Best of Cal Tjader was released before the last two Verve LPs, Hip Vibrations and The Prophet, and does not cover all of his Verve labums.

Just listened to this one: The last of his Verve LPs to be release, although it was the next-to-last recording. A basic quartet with Tjader, Joao Donato on a Farfisa organ, Red Mitchell, and Ed Thigpen recorded the basic tracks in California, Don Sebesky was sent the tapes and lead sheets and had strings, voices, and fluegelhorn and flute overdubbed a few months later. His arangements are tasteful, but I would love to hear the quartet without them. Donata on organ was a perfect match for Tjader. Some perfect summer evening music. Sounds easy, but play music like this on such a tasteful, professional level before downplaying it as lounge music. One of my favourites. On CD only in Japan, btw.

https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/joe-alexander-albums/5689-blue-jubilee.html

I just checked in The Lord Disco what recordings of "This Is Always" were made before Pleasure's version, and was able to listen to them all on YouTube, but none fits. The mistery remains. Maybe he had some test pressing or the like.

An underrated album, I think. The sound and production ares flawless, thanks to Gary McFarland's impeccable taste and knowledge, the sidemen are first choice. Tjader plays even the blandest pop tunes with his great melodic taste and feeling. Can be used for easy listening but serious attention reveals many tasteful details. https://www.discogs.com/release/3063573-Cal-Tjader-Solar-Heat

Today - July 16 - Cal Tjader would have turned 100! Let's celebrate the Cal Tjader Centennial and spin some of his music!

Just compared the two versions. totally different. And the Parker/Coleman would have been untypical with short solos for bass, alto sax, and piano. The phrasing of the vocal solo sounds like a Moody solo, for sure. The search conrinues .....

Me too, but it soon stopped functioning.

Can you please link your source for this great information? Thanks in advance.

Since Saturday, a sip of this every evening: Vinosia Orus Primitivo Primitivo IGT 2014

I think so, too. And the closest to outside playing in his discography. This afternoon, I played two of my favourite Mongo albums, in my own CDR compilation, as they were recorded at the same series of sessions: