‘Afro-Blue’, by Cal Tjader
There is a small chance you might slip into a Post-Holiday Depression, so here is a little happy, summery song to at least help you get through the first Monday of 2011. It’s a jazz standard written by Mongo Santamaría, probably best known for the version by John Coltrane, but the first recording of the song ‘Afro-Blue’ is by Cal Tjader, in 1959.
Born in St. Louis in 1925, Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean and Latin America, he never abandoned it, and performed it until his death in 1982.
The album ‘Soul Sauce’ from 1964 is one of the highlights from Tjader’s catalog with its appealing mixture of mambo, samba and bolero styles.
Cal Tjader - Vibraphone
Lonnie Hewitt - Piano
Bob Bushnell - Bass
Jimmy Heath - Tenor Saxophone
Kenny Burrell - Guitar
Donald Byrd - Trumpet
Willie Bobo - Percussion
Armanda Peraza - Percussion
Grady Tate - Drums
