Cal Tjader Music

Cal Tjader had made his name as a friend of musica Latina, it is well documented.
(Most recent aplicado discipulo is Pancho Sanchez, currently enjoying his top dog status as the anointed "el Rey", he cut his teeth in Tjader's bands).

Here Mr "T" made tribute to Brasil, and the cd aggrgation contains no less than the creme of Brasilian musicians, notably Hermeto Pascoal, Egberto Gismonti, Raulzinho, Airto (and David Amaro from Airto's fabulous "Fingers" grupo).

George Duke makes his appearance with his pseudonym he used during his Frank Zappa years, "Dawilli Gonga".

The result, Cal T. made a recording where he graciously takes a back seat, almost a guest soloista in a session that is heavy indebted to Airto's recordings , "Fingers" and "Identity" (both excellent) the sound , the 70s Brasil-jazz fusion, with emfasis more on the Brasil and Jazz than "fusion".
The soloists are backed by the great Robertinho Silva and Luis Alves!

Cal is featured on vibrafone and marimba, and solos from ALL are incredible "tasty".

A nice uptempo read of Joao Donato's "Amazonas" and a sweet "Xibaba"(from Airto's recently re-issued solo recording)get the recording off to a roaring start, which never lets up.

Hermeto solos exclusively on flute, and is otherworldly as usual. George Duke , you can tell his frases from the first few bars of his solos.

For those who never heard, or never appreciated Mr Tjader's musics, this recording should open your heart a bit!

and cannot beat the "supersaver" price!

Viva Cal Tjader!

Hi, Just got this CD and it is all that I hoped for and more. CT makes a deep plunge in Brazil with this one with the help of mostly brazilian musicians. CT is not the only star here. George Duke was one of the reasons I bougt this CD and he does not disappoint and you can hear strong influences on the music from his excellent keyboard playing. The songs are strong and a lot happens within them. A lot of great soloing and musical turns and twists. This is not "elevator" fusion!
Highly recommended to CT and GD fans.

Pionner of da sort they deliver us some of da best of latin jazz
in di earlies...
terrific duo...

I bought this album causally in Paris and i will never regret about it. Vampi Soul wanted to join for the first time ever Eddie Palmieri's piano and Tjader's vibes in a unique fusion. They asked Verve's permission to borrow Cal Tjader for the recording sessions. Verve accepted if Vampi did the same lending Palmieri. The result: two marvellous albums. "El sonido nuevo" for Verve and "Bamboleate" for Vampi Soul.
The first theme, Bamboleate, has a hot rythm that could fit perfectly at any latin disco club.
The best one is Samba do Suenho. If just vibraphones had been discovered in Rio de Janeiro in the 50's or 60's one would never imagine where Samba style would have reached. Special attention at the sax solo at the end of the song: suave suave.
Guajira Candela completes my hat trick of the album.

I bought this album causally in Paris and i will never regret about it. Vampi Soul wanted to join for the first time ever Eddie Palmieri's piano and Tjader's vibes in a unique fusion. They asked Verve's permission to borrow Cal Tjader for the recording sessions. Verve accepted if Vampi did the same lending Palmieri. The result: two marvellous albums. "El sonido nuevo" for Verve and "Bamboleate" for Vampi Soul.
The first theme, Bamboleate, has a hot rythm that could fit perfectly at any latin disco club.
The best one is Samba do Suenho. If just vibraphones had been discovered in Rio de Janeiro in the 50's or 60's one would never imagine where Samba style would have reached. Special attention at the sax solo at the end of the song: suave suave.
Guajira Candela completes my hat trick of the album.

I bought this album causally in Paris and i will never regret about it. Vampi Soul wanted to join for the first time ever Eddie Palmieri's piano and Tjader's vibes in a unique fusion. They asked Verve's permission to borrow Cal Tjader for the recording sessions. Verve accepted if Vampi did the same lending Palmieri. The result: two marvellous albums. "El sonido nuevo" for Verve and "Bamboleate" for Vampi Soul.
The first theme, Bamboleate, has a hot rythm that could fit perfectly at any latin disco club.
The best one is Samba do Suenho. If just vibraphones had been discovered in Rio de Janeiro in the 50's or 60's one would never imagine where Samba style would have reached. Special attention at the sax solo at the end of the song: suave suave.
Guajira Candela completes my hat trick of the album.

I bought this album causally in Paris and i will never regret about it. Vampi Soul wanted to join for the first time ever Eddie Palmieri's piano and Tjader's vibes in a unique fusion. They asked Verve's permission to borrow Cal Tjader for the recording sessions. Verve accepted if Vampi did the same lending Palmieri. The result: two marvellous albums. "El sonido nuevo" for Verve and "Bamboleate" for Vampi Soul.
The first theme, Bamboleate, has a hot rythm that could fit perfectly at any latin disco club.
The best one is Samba do Suenho. If just vibraphones had been discovered in Rio de Janeiro in the 50's or 60's one would never imagine where Samba style would have reached. Special attention at the sax solo at the end of the song: suave suave.
Guajira Candela completes my hat trick of the album.

For years this was on my cd want-list, waiting for it to be re-issued. For years, I'd listened to it on LP. tracks 4 (Novios) and 6 (Bachi) were not on the original direct-to-disc Lp, so a great bonus! If you enjoy this, you'll also enjoy "Montara" by Bobby Hutcherson. On "Huracan" the incredible personal, aside from Cal, is:
Willie Bobo - timbales
Clare Fischer - electric piano
Rob Fisher - bass
Gary Foster - alto sax and flute
Ronald King - trumpet
Kurt McGettrick - baritone sax
Victor Pantoja - bongos & cowbell
Alex Rodriguez - trumpet
Frank Rosolino - trombone
Poncho Sanchez - congas
Rick Zunigar - guitar
recorded direct-to-disc on March 22 & 23 1978 at Filmways-Heider Recording studios, Hollywood, CA

This is a hip, mellow and soothing CD being sold at a bargain-basement price. The great vibraphonist Cal Tjader, who started off a more tradional jazzman (playing alongside the likes of George Shearing and Dave Brubeck), later devoted himself to Latin Jazz. Also, quite taken with the Orient, he also tried some Asian/Jazz fusion. While this Cd falls back into the Latin Jazz genre, it still retains a hint of exotica.

This was a differnt Cal Tjader recording in that he utilized a large group to create a latin jazz orchestral piece of music. Since the smaller setting of some of his other recordings was not utilized the result is a free form flowing disc that is full of improvisation. The emphasis is not just on Cal's vibes work but rather on the whole ensemble. Eleven musicians were used but unfortunately none are given credit in the liner notes. Undoubtedly many of the big names in latin jazz were probably playing on this disc. Cal Tjader does solo entensively but he is part of the whole here rather than the whole show. The disc is a subdued piece of music that results from Cals's excellent vibe work but it has moments of fiery uptempo latin jazz sounds. This is especially evident in the title track "Huracan"(Hurricane) where the vibraphones meet the brass for some interesting interplay as the percussion keeps a steady latin groove. Likewise the same uptempo latin jazz flavor fills the song entitled "Ritmo Latino"(Latin Rhythm)where their is a frenzied piercing guitar solo that sounds an awful lot like Gabor Szabo.The Cal Tjader signature vibes work is featured throughout the disc but in smaller portions. Not exactly a great place to begin listening to Cal Tjader from but for latin jazz fans this is good roots music. If you are new to Cal Tjader, who recorded over fifty albums, I would recommend starting your Cal listening journey with "Soul Sauce." This is a good disc but there are many others that are better;in any event you can't go wrong with Cal Tjader when it comes to mellow vibes.

This is a bargain basement gem on LaserLight. I would give this excellently recorded CD a five except nothing is quite as superb as Tjader's sensational 60's Verve recordings. Arrangements are by Clare Fisher, and he composed and probably is the pianist-reason to own this right now! Tjader and Fisher is always a treat.