Born on July 16, 1925, Cal Tjader lived a show business childhood, traveling across the United States with his parents. After the Tjader family settled in San Mateo, California in 1932, his father trained him to tap dance while his mother taught him piano. He soon was a Bay Area sensation, performing tap dance shows; he even performed with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson in the movie The White of the Dark Cloud of Joy. In his teen years, Tjader moved onto the drums, playing in a variety of Bay Area settings. When Tjader was 18, he spent 3 years in the Army, and then he entered San Jose State University as an education major. He soon transferred to San Francisco State University, adding a music minor onto his schedule. Resultantly, he met a variety of young jazz musicians, including Dave Brubreck and Paul Desmond. The musicians formed an adventurous octet that gained little live performance work, but over a series of sessions recorded an album, The Dave Brubeck Octet. Hoping to find more work, Brubeck and Tjader formed a trio and began performing around San Francisco. The group worked extensively, until a diving accident forced Tjader to quit the group.

After recovering, Tjader, now playing both drums and vibraphone, worked with his own trio, before joining George Shearing’s group in 1953. Shearing was exploring a combination of traditional jazz and Latin rhythms at the time, and Tjader’s interest was peaked. Shearing’s bass player, Al McKibbon was well versed in Cuban rhythms, having played with Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo. When the band traveled to New York, Tjader heard Tito Puente and Machito performing, and started to build a relationship with Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo. This experience planted the seeds for Tjader’s further explorations in Latin Jazz.

In 1954, Tjader left Shearing’s group and began recording a long series of albums for the Fantasy label. The Cal Tjader Modern Mambo Quintet included several Bay Area Latin music veterans including Carlos and Manuel Duran, Benny Valarde, and Edgard Rosales. The Quintet recorded a series of albums, including Latin Kick and Mambo with Tjader. At the same time, Tjader recorded several straight-ahead jazz albums including musicians such as pianist Vince Guaraldi, bassist Eugene Wright, and guitarist Eddie Duran. Some of the albums he recorded with this band include Tjader Plays Tjazz, Jazz at the Blackhawk and Cal Tjader Quartet. In the late fifties, Mongo Santamaria and Willie Bobo joined Tjader’s group, bringing an East Coast flavor to the band. They recorded several Tjader classics, including Cal Tjader’s Latin Concert, and Monterey Concerts. Throughout his time with Fantasy, Tjader left a huge amount of classic recorded work.

In the early 1960s, Tjader began a new recording contract with the Verve label. His early albums explored new territory – on Cal Tjader Plays the Contemporary Music of Mexico & Brazil, Tjader examined Mexican and Brazilian music, while Several Shades Of Jade and Breeze From The East attempted to incorporate Asian melodies into jazz. He created his biggest hit during this time, Soul Sauce, which included his classic reworking of the Gillespie/Pozo composition “Guachi Guaro.” The album sold well over 100,000 copies and landed Tjader in the Billboard charts. In 1966, Tjader teamed with pianist Eddie Palmieri to record El Sonido Nuevo, an instant classic that paired Tjader’s fluid vibes work with Palmieri’s explosive piano style. The duo recorded another musically successful album entitled Bamboleate, this time for Palmieri’s label, Tico.

In the late 1960s through the 1970s, Tjader began altering his sound in order to reach an audience moving towards rock. He recorded a few albums for the short-lived Skye label utilizing electric instruments and rock beats, including the 1968 release Solar Heat as well as the 1969 albums Plugs In and Sounds Out Burt Bacharach. Tjader then returned to Fantasy Records, continuing his use of funky and electronic albums. In 1975, he collaborated with Brazilian musicians Airto, Hermeto Pascoal, and Egberto Gismonti, as well as synthesizer player George Duke to record Amazonas. He soon returned to a combination of Latin and traditional jazz, recording the Grace Cathedral Concert. Tjader then began to assemble a new band to recapture his original musical vision.

By 1979, Tjader had migrated once more, this time to the new division of Concord Records, Concord Picante. He brought a new band, including Roger Glenn on flute, Mark Levine on piano, Robb Fisher on bass, and Poncho Sanchez on congas. This group’s first release, La Onda Va Bien, reconfirmed Tjader’s status as a Latin Jazz icon and won a Grammy award. He released several more albums over the next few years, including Gozame! Pero Ya, Fuego Vivo, and the straight-ahead jazz recording The Shining Sea. The band toured extensively, and while in Manila, Tjader suffered a heart attack. He died soon after on May 2, 1982, leaving a Latin Jazz legacy.

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