Yesterday, I posted on a terrific new third volume of the Ahmad Jamal Trio live at Seattle's Penthouse club. Today, I want to tell you about another spectacular find by producer Zev Feldman released on his Jazz Detective label: Cal Tjader: Catch the Groove, Live at the Penthouse, 1963-1967. The 25 songs are all previously unreleased, and the music is clear, cool and in the pocket. The three-LP release will hit record stores on Friday, November 24 as part of Record Store Day. The CD and other digital formats will be released on December 1. [Photo above of Cal Tjader by (c)Delia Seligo, Fred Seligo Archives/CTSImages]
Tjader was part of the exciting San Francisco jazz scene to emerge in the late 1940s. Bay Area artists included pianist Dave Brubeck, bassist Ron Crotty, clarinetist Bill Smith, saxophonist Dave Van Kriedt and alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, among others. Tjader started out playing drums in Brubeck's trio of 1949 and 1950, and then was at the drums in Brubeck's octet in the summer of that year. Tjader shifted to the vibes full time after recording with the George Shearing Quintet in 1953, when he began pioneering jazz mambo and other forms of Latin jazz, even though his last name was Swedish, not Latin.
This vast new Tjader release spans a five-year period in the 1960s when the vibraphonist led groups that included pianists Clare Fischer, Lonnie Hewitt and Al Zulaica; and bassists Terry Hilliard and Monk Montgomery. The swingers and ballads on the live album are as hip as can be and stand out for their seductive quality. Like Dave Brubeck's piano and Paul Desmond's alto saxophone, Cal Tjader's vibes stop me in my tracks. The sound is pure and hypnotic, and the Latin pieces knock me out. [Photo above of Cal Tjader by (c)Ray Avery/CTSImages]
There's no point noting standout songs because after listening to the entire release five times, I find they all are standouts and need to be heard from beginning to end. Especially delicious are the samba Davito, On Green Dolphin Street (there are two!), a slinky Bags' Groove, Mambo Inn, a sultry I Can't Get Started, Soul Burst, Lush Life and a Latin cover of the Association's Along Comes Mary. [Photo above of Cal Tjader on vibes, Stan Gilbert on bass and Armando Peraza on congas in 1967, by (c)Ray Avery/CTSImages]
The music here is extraordinary and a glorious entry point for anyone who wants a cross-section of Tjader's approach and why he was such a popular and prolific jazz artist. Kudos to Zev for his tireless efforts sifting through vaults and working global contacts in search of jazz gold. This Tjader set is the mother lode.
Cal Tjader died in 1982.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Cal Tjader: Catch the Groove, Live at the Penthouse, 1963-1967 (Jazz Detective) here.
JazzWax clips: Here's On Green Dolphin Street from June 16, 1966, with Tjader (vib), Al Zulaica (p), Monk Montgomery (b), Carl Burnett (dr,timb) and Armando Peraza (cga,bgo)...
Here's Tjader's Davito from May 6, 1965, with Tjader (vib), Lonnie Hewitt (p), Terry Hilliard (b), Johnny Rae (dr,timb) and Armando Peraza (cga,bgo)...
