• Home
  • About
    • Doug Ramsey
    • Rifftides
    • Contact
  • Purchase Doug’s Books
    • Poodie James
    • Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond
    • Jazz Matters
    • Other Works
  • AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal
  • rss

Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Other Places: Cerra On Reid On Tjader

The latest post on Steve Cerra’s Jazz Profiles blog is about S. Duncan Reid’s biography of Cal Tjader (1925-1982). The subtitle of Reid’s book identifies Tjader as “The Man Who Revolutionized Latin Jazz.” There may be those who Reid Tjader bioassert that Dizzy Gillespie, Machito and Tito Puente should get at least equal credit as revolutionaries in the field, but there is no question that Tjader’sCAL TJADER Profile pioneering attracted huge attention to Latin idioms. He was as successful in mainstream as in Latin jazz. Among the major sidemen he attracted were Eugene Wright, Clare Fischer, Vince Guaraldi Al McKibbon, Paul Horn, Willie Bobo, Mongo Santamaria and the brilliant young bassist Freddie Schreiber. In the course of his career, he managed to gain the respect of his peers in Latin music, sell large numbers of records, and fill clubs, concert halls and jazz festivals.

Without being a spoiler, Cerra summarizes the book by quoting from it and from Tjader admirers including Hank Jones, Scott Hamilton and critic Ted Gioia. He incorporates two well-chosen videos of Tjader in performance. I don’t wish to be a spoiler either, so here’s Tjader in a different video, as a guest with Gillespie. Whoever posted this on YouTube gave no information about when and where the performance was taped, but I am reasonably certain that the voice at the end is that of Jimmy Lyons, the impresario of the Monterey Jazz Festival. He mentions flutist Roger Glenn, and Mickey Roker on drums. The guitarist looks like Al Gafa, the electric bassist like Earl May. That indicates the early 1970s. I am unable to identify the conga drummer and the miscellaneous percussionist. Perhaps you can.

Full disclosure: I wrote the foreword to the Duncan Reid book, and I approve this plug.

Related

Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, … [MORE]

Subscribe to RiffTides by Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

Recent Comments

  • Rob D on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • W. Royal Stokes on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • Larry on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • Lucille Dolab on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside
  • Donna Birchard on We’re Back: Pianist Denny Zeitlin’s New Trio Album for Sunnyside