Los Ritmos Calientes - The Cal Tjader Forum

[T.D.]

8 hours ago, JSngry said:

I said it backwards, sorry. I meant that he probably had MORE respect for real players like Tjader than he would have had for the likes of  Fogerty.

Thanks for correcting that. I read your original and (having dim memories of the John Fogarty brouhaha) thought I was losing my mind. 🤪

[JSngry]

Yeah, Fogarty had a hot string of radio hits, his band left him, and he had exactly one hit after. I get that he feels like he got screwed, but objectively, he got stuck with the deal he made and he was kinda over before he had leverage to redo terms.

Welcome to the record business. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last.

Besides, CCR...good to hear on the oldies radio, but geez, who still listens to that? Ever?

Take me out coach, I'm not ready to play.

[T.D.]

2 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Yeah, Fogarty had a hot string of radio hits, his band left him, and he had exactly one hit after. I get that he feels like he got screwed, but objectively, he got stuck with the deal he made and he was kinda over before he had leverage to redo terms.

Welcome to the record business. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last.

Besides, CCR...good to hear on the oldies radio, but geez, who still listens to that? Ever?

Take me out coach, I'm not ready to play.

I like CCR when I hear them on the oldies radio. But (like a lot of the stuff that comes off well on radio) one tune at a time is kind of the limit...a whole album or even LP side gets monotonous.

[GA Russell]

I lived in DC in 1970 and 1971.  Cal's Skye records were everywhere.  CCR's records were everywhere.  So it surprises me that I didn't see Cal's Fantasy issues in the stores along with the CCRs.

[felser]

IIRC,Zaentz sued Fogerty for supposedly plagiarizing himself The Old Man Down The Road, from Run Through The Jungle) as Fantasy held the publishing on the old CCR songs Fogerty wrote.  Fogerty successfully defended himself in court, playing music live in the courtroom and giving lessons on what constituted a musician's style, which would cross over individual compositions.  Fogerty countersued for damages, and won - that case went to the supreme court. I still listen to CCR sometimes, but generally the longer deep cuts rather than the hits.  His later albums were good, but his era had passed.

Edited Tuesday at 04:02 PM by felser

[mikeweil]

Back to topic, next are Cal Tjader's final years with releases on Concord and Concord Picante. His association with Fantasy had ended in 1977. Gigs were less frequent than before, as a consequence guitarist Bob Redfield, who never had been a regular member, left, and drummer Pete Riso, too. the gap was filled by an unexpected session:

- - Huracán (1978)

In March 1978 Tjader recorded a 45 rpm direct-to-disc LP with four tracks for the audiophile Crystal Clear label. Clare Fischer wrote arrangements for a band with five horns added to an expanded rhythm section: Besides Fischer, Poncho Sanchez, and bassist Rob Fisher there was a guitarist on two tracks, drummer Pete Riso was replaced by guests Willie Bobo on timbales and Victor Pantoja on bongos. Since this was a limited edition, sales were small, this was for audiophiles. It was later reissued on a German label with two more tracks without the horns; in 2024 all were on a new LP and CD on the Liberation Hall label.

 

Carl Jefferson's offer to take Cal Tjader into his Concord artist roster was very welcome at that time. He even created the Picante sublabel to have an appropriate outlet for Latin Jazz (more artists like Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, and Tania Maria, were to follow). New to the band was pianist Mark Levine, who had subbed a few times before and was recommended by Robb Fisher, and drummer Vince Lateano. Flutist Roger Glenn had sat in with the band the evening before the session in July 1979 and was invited by Tjader to take part in it, and to stay on. But Tjader had his first heart attack the day after the session weekened and had to take a rest for a few months, had to reduce his heavy drinking and take a whole bunch of pills until his death. 

1 - La Onda Va Bien (1980)

This saw reissues on CD and even SACD, and won Tjader his only Grammy.

 

2 - Gozame! Pero Ya (1980)

it was a year later, June 1980, when the band recorded their next studio album, with guitarist Mundell Lowe guesting on three tracks.  This was reissued on CD, as all the Tjader Concord albums first released on LP.

 

3 - The Shining Sea (1981)

Next was a mainsteam studio session featuring the music of Johnny Mandel, and featuring young tenor sax Scott Hamilton, who based his style on pre-bop musicians - the album was a major boost to his carrer. Tjader had much confidence in him, and let him direct the session alone, overdubbing his part later on, as Hamilton confessed to Duncan Reid. This was on a single CD, and also on a double set together with the preceding album, Both Sides of the Coin.

 

4 - A Fuego Vivo (1982)

Next was a live album with the working band. Poncho Sanchez' buddy Ramon Banda now was with the band off and on. 

This was on CD as well, and was coupled on a double CD with the next Latin Jazz release, Cool Fire. Gary Foster was with the band, whenever he was available, and played excellent solos.

 

5 - Good Vibes (1984)

This was a posthumous release comlied from two live recordings of the Latin Jazz band with Gary Foster.

 

6 - Cal Tjader & Carmen McRae - Heat Wave (1982)

Tjader's last recording sessions took place in January, 1982, the only one as a co-leader was the one with Carmen McRae. Tjader's concentration had suffered after his heart attack, thus he opted for overdubbing his parts later, which got him heavy accusations from McRae, who questioned his professionalism. This album usde Tjader's band, half each was arranged by MacRae's pianist Marshall Otwell and Tjader's Mark Levine. McRae sound good in this context. This also was on CD, of course.

In May 1982 Tjader suffered a series of heart attacks while on tour in Manila.  He was only 56 years old. 

There is a number of albums on Concord on which he sat in for a few tracks, all in a mainstream style. He felt more relaxed now with familiar material. I will list these in my next post.

Edited Tuesday at 11:04 PM by mikeweil

[mikeweil]

For non-completists, there were two Tajder compilatins of the Concord material:

This is a double CD:

[mikeweil]

Sorry for the typos - my keyboard sometimes doesn't accept my light attacks. 

Tjader had put the focus on Latin Jazz in his performances during those years, for commercial reasons - that's what most audiences expected. Vince Lateano complained for a more varied repertoire. BTW- like all drummers before him, he learned Latin drum styles and timbales from Tjader and the respective conga drummers, Willie Bobo and Johnny Rae being the exceptions.

Tjader played his beloved straightahead jazz on the following albums, two to four tracks each; see my discography for details.

The latter was his last session, the only jazz outing by Japanese pop singer Anli Sugano. She has a nice voice and fares surprisingly well in this context. It was recorded in California, but released only in Japan.

One more interesting item is Tjader's paricipation in an all star tour through Japan for the Aurex Jazz Festival in 1980. Tjader was not very fond of cutting contests which ended up in virtuosic technical display, so it is surprising and somewhat admirable how he managed to turn the performances of fast tunes to his taste by playing shimmering cascades of vibes chords and the like. These were only on LP in Japan, compiled from several concerts. There should be some unreleased material, but I doubt we will ever hear this.

Edited Wednesday at 04:37 PM by mikeweil

[mikeweil]

The most difficult part of Tjader's discography is the first, his early sideman dates (most importantly with Dave Brubeck and George Shearing) and his first tenure with Galaxy and Fantasy labels. The problem lies in the rapid changes of disc formats between the 1940's and 1960's. First there were only 78 rpm 10" shellac dics with close to 3 minutes maximum playing time (the 12" discs were reserved for classical music), but the desire for discs with longer playing time led to the invention of the LP played at 33 rpm, which was a 10" disc at first, too. The term "album" was initially used for a compilation of several discs, the LP replicated that playing time. 3 to 4 sides of shellac discs were on one side of a 10" LP. Recordings of longer tracks were now possible. There were re-issues of older material as well as new recordings conceived with the longer playing time in mind. But the advent of the 12" LP necessitated reissues and caused new compilations, adding previously unreleased material or omitting tracks when there was too much - independent jazz labels had there problems during those years - take a look at Blue Note, Prestige or Riverside and how they handled repackaging the music originally released on 10" Lp to 12" LP.

Fantasy had a little less problems: The main business of Max and Sol Weiss was a manufacturing plant for custom made plastic parts, part of which soon was a vinyl record pressing plant, the Circle Record Co. So when they finaliy realized their idea of their own record labels, which they named Galaxy and Fantasy (they were fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy magazines) they had all formats at their discposal. All the issues of Cal Tjader's music are a perfect illustration of how to handle this - or how you shouldn't but nevertheless did. 

For details, please have a look at my discography: https://jazzdiscography.com/Artists/cal-tjader/cal-tjader-discography-part1.php

It started with the Dave Brubeck Trio's four sides for Coronet, which the Circle Company had manufactured. Brubeck had baught them back and approached the Weiss brothers, who agreed to reissue them but wanted new recordings first, which led to the release of singles, at first 10" 78 rpm shellac discs, then 7" 45 rpm vinyl, and later 10" LPs. They kept the new sessions intact but added two Coronet tracks. So if you talk about "original LPs" of the Brubeck Trio, mention the ten inchers first:

Fantasy LP 3-1, 3-2 and 3-4 - Distinctive Rhythm Instrumentals (1951-52)

Tjader was the Jack of all trades here, playing drumset, bongos, or vibes, which he had just bought - he was entirely self taught on that instrument! His mother's piano lessons were a good base, of course. The discs pictured above had three tracks on each side, but then were reissued as a double 10" with four track per side. Furthermore, Frantasy reissued the same takes on single releases as the Coronet 78's but used two alternates for the 10" LPs - a fact the label never noticed, or so it seems. Next step were 12" LPs and CDs with all 24 tracks as released on the 10" LPs, but missing the two original takes and some radio material a board member recently discovered. Pleas consult my disco - it is complicated. These are the later issues:

The Fantasy CD reissues this, as well as several European public domain issues:

The latter displays later Fantasy LP issues. None of these includes the two origianlly issued takes of Laura and Tea For Two from the Coronet 78's.

[GA Russell]

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

The term "album" was initially used for a compilation of several discs, the LP replicated that playing time. 

Mike, it is my recollection that the term "album" was originally used to refer to a package of 78s.  It resembled a photograph album.  The front and back covers were thick cardboard, and inside were sleeves, each containing one 78.

This was similar to the Miles metal spine box sets released in the '90s.

[mikeweil]

On 7/24/2025 at 4:14 AM, GA Russell said:

Mike, it is my recollection that the term "album" was originally used to refer to a package of 78s.  It resembled a photograph album.  The front and back covers were thick cardboard, and inside were sleeves, each containing one 78.

That is what I wanted to say. Sorry if my description was not correct.

[JSngry]

What was the rock-and-roll movie that Thader performed in?