The Cal Tjader Thread

Finally, an affordable copy (i.e. below $20: one of those "best offer" deals -- and the seller went with it). I've had a slot waiting for this one for about 3 months on...😀

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Congratulations you scored a great one Enjoy
 
Yes, Rudy, it's the DCC Jazz issue (1994). Going to spin it later tonight. I've only heard one selection from the album to date, so, like Soul Bird, it will be new territory for me.
 
It certainly has a bit of a "Tjader has joined the late 60s" style to it. 😁 Not an essential album but interesting to have for the collection. The Bacharach album on Skye is kind of a dud, but if you can find a copy of Plugs In at the Lighthouse (another Skye album) it's a good live gig.

Did you ever get The Prophet? I have to admit it has grown on me, especially with Joao Donato's participation.
 
Here's the last Tjader playlist I made. This one covers the Concord Picante era. I have the same playlist on Qobuz, but the YouTube has two bonus tracks. When Tjader was with Concord, Carl Jefferson (Concord's founder) liked to have various artists on his label contribute to their labelmates' recordings. Tjader appeared on albums by Rosemary Clooney (released in the US), and there were also two Japan releases with clarinetist Eiji Kitamura (Seven Stars) and vocalist Anli Sugano (Love Sketch). These two are the "bonus" tracks in the playlist, and Sugano's album was Tjader's final recording session.

 
Agreed on the Bacharach -- it's filed with the pop CDs (along with Breeze From the Men's Room, which if it wasn't part of a two-fer, I'd probably file in my "Unclassified" section).

As for The Prophet -- my lack of reporting is all the indication you need...but here's sob story (insert violin music): after placing the order, there was no further contact -- aside from the auto-generated "thanks for the order, sucker" e-mail (insert Jack Benny violin music): after 7 days of no further response, I fired off an inquiry...their response was the usual, "we'll look into it...", which is code for "we don't have it, but I'm gonna stall just because I don't want to process the refund". Be that as it may, I actually found a VG+ in Japan for $44 out the door two days ago -- I figure I'm probably not gonna do any better than that; so we'll see. Once it shows up, I'll proudly offer up a nifty photo!
 
I was happy enough to buy it as a download, as it saved me doing a needle drop from the record (which is a nice sounding cut, if there are any clean copies left out there). Sure the download isn't a physical copy, but I figure for something (or anything, really) that rare, I'll at least have the music if I can't get a physical copy.

I wish the folks at Cherry Red would do more of the Tjader Verve albums, but their last one was I think in 2015 with the In A Latin Bag/Saturday Night, Sunday Night at the Blackhawk (which I'm glad I snared recently). The handful that were never released unfortunately might get buried in musical history.
 
As I've mentioned elsewhere I understand Tjader's Bacharach album is not everyone's cup of tea however to me it holds a special place to me for one the song "Money penny Goes for broke" got some airplay on of all places part of a mix of songs used by a local PBS station as sign on music as they were showing their test patterns and at the time I was 11 unaware of Casino royale it was the first version of the song I heard and for me it became the Definitive version. And it was very hard to get any info on these things in the late 70s but thanks to my mom having a Buddah issued compilation titled " TJADER ADE" which was a sample of songs from his 3 Skye LPS I figured I was on the right path but I wouldn't be able to get any of those Skye albums ( especially the Bacharach one) until the late 90s early 2000s on CD but Hey Better late than Never.
 
Congratulations you scored a great one Enjoy
It's good and I'm glad I finally have it. I see Gary BAH-BAH-bah, BAH-BAH-bah McFarland guided the processings; but, man, clocking in at only 28min, Skye Records sure was chintzy (and I thought Creed Taylor was cheap with his 32min LPs).
 
I think back then, the mentality was more about the number of songs on a record vs. the total running time.

Honestly, a turnoff of recent CDs (since the 90s, perhaps?) is that many of them seem to ramble on for too long. I'd rather hear a new, tidy collection of maybe eight to twelve tracks (or four to six on jazz albums), but going beyond that is taxing my patience.
 
Finally, after an eight-week wait.

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...but it'll probably be another 3 weeks until I can get to hear it...
 
I'm quite educated and intrigued by reading about Cal's Verve period I should consider getting as much of those that still remain excepting the Soul sauce and the Mexico Brazil cds I already have
 
@Bobberman, here's a list of all the Verve albums, plus the Eddie Palmieri album on the Tico label. Verve is the only label that didn't release all of Tjader's albums digitally, although going through the list, there are only three that haven't been released digitally at this point. I only recently discovered that the In a Latin Bag/Saturday Night, Sunday Night at the Blackhawk two-fer was released in limited number in 2015. And the two albums Several Shades of Jade/Breeze from the Men's Room East were also released as a two-fer many years ago. Soña Libre was the first Tjader album on CD in the mid 80s. The Prophet was the only Verve album available only as an import, although it's available as a download in a few places. CD/digital releases have an asterisk in the list below. These are roughly in chronological order.

  • *In a Latin Bag
  • *Time for Two
  • *Saturday Night, Sunday Night at the Blackhawk
  • *Plays the Contemporary Music of Mexico and Brazil
  • *Several Shades of Jade
  • *Soña Libre
  • Warm Wave
  • *Breeze from the East
  • *Soul Sauce
  • *Soul Bird: Whiffenpoof
  • *El Sonido Nuevo (The New Soul Sound)
  • *Soul Burst
  • Along Comes Cal
  • *Eddie Palmieri/Cal Tjader - Bamboleate
  • Hip Vibrations
  • *The Prophet
 
I see quite a few Verve Tjader albums available on Amazon what's weird is I heard the Samples from the much Hated " Breeze from the east" and I actually like it so I'm in a minority the arrangements are more Pop and MOR like his Bacharach album Which I also like I also checked out the samples for Several shades of jade and the Prophet and I like what I heard I'm planning to add those to my digital collection as soon as finances allow I understand not everybody likes some of the aforementioned albums but being raised on Muzak and MOR music growing up for some reason I always enjoy different things than most people are accustomed to
 
I agree that not all of Breeze from the Men's Room is bad--there are still some good tunes on that album. A couple are Tjader's group without the orchestrations--the remake of "Black Orchid" is top notch. But there are a couple that are wince-inducing. Where Several Shades of Jade hinted at and borrowed some Asian musical concepts, there were a couple on Breeze that hit you over the head with the Oriental/Chinese theme.

What attracted me more and more to The Prophet was the songwriting (solely Tjader and Joao Donato) and the arrangements were not over the top. If anything, there's more than a hint of the A&M/CTi sound on The Prophet. Especially with Hubert Laws adding his flute to a couple of tunes. Funny, I never warmed to the album after I bought it many years ago, but while working on a series of articles about Tjader, I listened to it more and it really grew on me.
 
Finally spun The Prophet. Definitely has the A&M/CTi feel...actually, it was a good way to part company with Verve (early '68). It has a feel, from time-to-time of Jade, but it's really its own thing. Glad I have it. All that's missing for me is Hip Vibrations and Along Comes Cal.
 
With Tjader's music it Grows on you over time my Dear Mother's two Cal Tjader Lps were firmly etched in my being from my earliest memories of childhood and Today it keeps me feeling younger and Better yet I Enjoy it even more than ever those Latin Rhythms and Melodies are unforgettable
 
Rudy was right when he said... "I agree that not all of Breeze from the Men's Room is bad--there are still some good tunes on that album." For me, the 2 excellent tunes are "Sake & Greens" and "Leyte". There are 4 more that are just listenable... "China Nights", "Fuji", "Black Orchid" and "Poinciana." But for the most part, "Breeze From The Men's Room" is a terrible lp and is probably Stan Applebaum's worst effort as an arranger. If you want an outstanding eastern sounding lp from Tjader, stick with "Several Shades Of Jade."
 
I only manage to play selected tracks from that album myself these days. I think once every five or so years, I'll play the entire thing to see if it's really that bad...and it always is. 😁
 
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