While presently overlooked amongst the a reflection of vibes giants of the past, but at one time Cal Tjader was one of the most important bopping vibes men, particularly on the West Coast. At a time when jazz was getting lost in abstraction and navel gazing, Tjader kept it simple, focusing on accessible rhythms of bop and snappy Latin material.
These recordings find him at Seattle’s Penthouse Club from 1963-1967 with a variety of different bands, including pianists Clare Fischer, Lonnie Hewitt and Al Zulaica, bassists Fred Schreiber, Terry Hilliard, Monk Montgomery and Stan Gilbert, drummers Johnny Rae or Carl Burnet and conga/bongo players Bill Fitch or Armando Pereza. Tjader is a bopper at heart, doing some rapid runs on “Take The ‘A’ Train” and bouncing on “Sunset Boulevard” while creating shades of blue for a gliding “Bags’ Groove”. Rae adds timbales to the samba “Davito” and brings out a dark Afro Cuban “Patano” wile going picante on “Insight”, percolating with Peraza on Maramoor Mambo. Burnett and Peraza give an earthy Cuban feel to the pop hit “Along Comes Mary” with Gilbert digging in for “O Morro Nao Tem Vez”. While Zulaica gets gorgeous and lyrical for “ Lush Life”, most of the time all five members create a giant mass of percussion as on the avalanche of “Fuji” or “Cuban Fantasy”. Tjader creates ricocheting rhythms of wonder throughout.
There’s an accompanying booklet that features reminiscences by Poncho Sanchez, Eddie Tjader, Gary Burton and Carl Burnett along with some vintage photos. This music has aged wonderfully, and in fact still sounds forward thinking. Check it out.