This is our website dedicated to the late Latin jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader. Since there is currently no website completely devoted to Cal Tjader, we’ve launched this site to be the internet’s #1 resource for Tjader’s musical career. Currently, the only active areas of the site are this home page, our Cal Tjader shop, and our Discussion Forum.
Reminder: we’re looking for volunteers to help with the data entry, or provide scans of albums (especially some of those early Fantasy albums that may have had more than one jacket). If you can provide us with good scans of Tjader’s album covers, or are willing to help with data entry, contact “Rudy” via our forum.
Our focus here at the site will be as follows:
An online discography database, which will include track listings and sidemen.
An active forum in which all visitors can freely discuss Tjader, the man and his music.
A biography of Cal Tjader and his life in music.
A gallery of Tjader items, whether they be scanned articles, photographs, reminiscences by associates and visitors, or other items that would interest fans of his music.
A possible encyclopedia (or at least a comprehensive listing) of Tjader’s many sidemen over the years…which would read like a who’s who of Latin and jazz music.
Our collection of Cal Tjader recordings has grown substantially, thanks to a donation from the widow of Cal Tjader enthusiast Joe Cruz. If you have more information you’d like to contribute to this site, please be sure to leave a message in our Cal Tjader Forum. Note: we have little information on earlier pre-Fantasy recordings of Cal Tjader, including dates with Dave Brubeck and George Shearing. Help with this area would be much appreciated! We won’t have full discographies of these albums on which Cal Tjader was a sideman, but will attempt to have a comprehensive lists of the albums and the tracks he played on.
Trying to locate Cal Tjader recordings for purchase? Use our Amazon link above to search for and buy Cal Tjader recordings on CD. Out of print, and on LP? Try our GEMM search below. Remember, your purchases help support the Cal Tjader website!
Rudy, don’t know what happened here. You kept us in the dark for a very long time on help and assistance. You responded once and never followed up. There were a few offers of assistance to you and you did not respond. I underestand, this is your website. But now you took motivation to completely change the site without even a poll of approval or suggestions. So without being too negative or personal I suggest this:
This site is much worse than the original although there may have been a monetary variable involved in choice. There is absolutely too much white on the site, not enough division lines, and an over abundance of light pastel colors. My eyes hurt already. I said previously on the other site what a privilege to be involved. Now it looks like a less than average site. I am sorry, I’m out.
BruceW
Rudy…..
Glad to have the site back on line.;)
A while agao I had sent you scans of many(not all, but many) of the Tjader album covers. I believe it was about 90-100 different covers. I hope that there is some way for these covers to be incorporated onto the revised site.
Hey all,
I’ve had a couple of paying jobs percolating over the past few weeks (about time, too!), so I have not gotten as far as I’ve wanted to with the theme for the site. But, I’ve gotten a site header up, and am putting the pieces together. I’m looking at a warm color theme (as many of Cal’s album covers or titles had a heat/fire aspect to them, such as A Fuego Vivo, Solar Heat, etc.).
I do have the CD of album covers, so those will help quite a bit!
With the way the new system is set up now on WordPress, it is far easier for me to ask for help. As I had planned it in the past, I was looking to develop a database to store the information in, but it would have required far more work on my end! This may not be 100% ideal, but it’s easy to use, it is searchable, visitors can access it on the desktop or via mobile, and will (hopefully) be easy to read and navigate!
I will have more details for everyone shortly, and will still be wielding the paintbrush around these parts. The forum will also match the main part of the site once I’m through with it, or as close as I can get it.
Rudy….
Glad to have you back!:D
I’ve been around…just overly busy! I took a semester off from school to get caught up on trying to get more work and/or find a good position somewhere, not to mention having a lot of chores I’d put off for months. Even a 32 hour day would not be enough!
I’m still getting used to this new forum system. Can’t wait to give it some color. The theme itself may also change, so don’t panic if things don’t quite look right for a bit. I promise not to *totally* break it though!
BTW, did you see the new header I made for the front page? http://www.caltjader.com . Not quite happy with it yet (I still may tweak it slightly), but I needed something low key so the wording shows out against it. Mainly I’d like to find a better picture of Cal…I’m betting there were a few promotional photos taken over the years. There was a nice album cover from an import version of “Sounds Out Burt Bacharach” that I liked, where he was holding mallets, but the left side of the photos is cut off by the album cover art.
At least the header I have now gives some identity to the site…
Rudy…
I hope Mike Weill chimes in. He is one of the best for a Discography of Cal’s works. If you would like, send me a private e-mail, with the info you need for for the Tjader Discography, and I can get you started.
By the way, I’m sure that Liz Tjader will be thrilled to see the new and improved look of the Tjader site, as a tribute to her Dad. I’m sure she’ll pass the great info on to her brother, Rob.:)
I did drop a note to Liz a couple of days ago, so I’m sure she’ll stop in shortly. The nice thing is, WordPress is easy enough that if she or Rob wanted to contribute any memories or stories, it’s simple to add.
On the main site, I’ve started to put in a couple of placeholder pages for the discography, so I can have an idea of what the menus are going to look like. I am going to divide it up into the different labels/eras so it is easier to manage. I am still considering how I want to lay out each album page. I am also figuring out how to put some shopping links at the bottom so visitors can easily find these recordings. Many can be found on Amazon, but there are others that are out of print and not so easy to find. (I am thinking GEMM and MusicStack would be helpful there.)
I’m lucky to have all of Cal’s albums here for reference, but information such as recording and release dates is always sketchy. So, whatever information that can be contributed would be very helpful. Also, the way Fantasy cut up some of those albums to fit them on CD is rather difficult to figure out–I am debating if I want to put those into each Fantasy section, or if I should create a separate category for them. I am also deciding if I should put the Verve compilations in a separate category or not.
I’m going to have a Contributors page so I can give credit to anyone who helps out here, no matter how small.
Seems like the way to go is a Discography by actual records, 78′s and 33′s.
Many CD’s are actually just compilations.
That is why I’m thinking I may have separate pages for some of those CD releases. Someone searching the site may be looking for “Guarabe” on CD, but not realize that the tracks are part of the “Here & There” CD.
Yes…
That is why you have to list them records.
Maybe a CD section to show the compilations?
I’ve been thinking about how to do it…my usual method is to list only the original albums, then list availability on formats underneath. (Such as, if a recording appeared on LP, reel tape, 8-track, cassette, and later on CD and other formats.) For albums like Guarabe and Here, I will probably note on each one that the album is included on the CD Here And There (also noting if a track is omitted). For these two-fer CDs where the name has changed, I may put up a separate page to list those discs, but refer back to the original album pages for the full story.
CD compilations will probably need their own page. Verve has had at least four I can think of: Compact Jazz, Jazz Masters 39, Jazz ‘Round Midnight and Talkin’ Verve.
The only album I can’t really nail down is that “Latin + Jazz = Tjader” which appeared on CD and SACD. It is from the Skye era, and a live recording, but it is not a reissue of “Plugs In.” The CD and SACD are sort of on the same label: DCC released the CD, and Audio Fidelity is owned by the same person (Marshall Blonstein) who owned DCC.
And…where do I put the direct-to-disc album “Huracan”? I will probably need a “miscellaneous” page for that one, and any other strays out there (including his appearances on albums such as “Bambeolate” with Eddie Palmieri).