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My first exposure to Cal Tjader's music left me wanting more, and I've been a huge Stan Getz fan since first hearing Getz Au Go-Go. I've collected albums (and open-reel tapes) from both Stan Getz and Cal Tjader so this CD was a natural buy for me. It hasn't disappointed.
I agree with the positive comments about the playing and the compositions, however you just ought to be aware, if you are in any way an audiophile, that this is not a great sounding recording. I don't know about the original master recording but I don't think that this cd does it justice. It is just an older cd, back from when the "Perfect Sound." wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I don't know if it has been remastered more recently, but if you care it would be worth looking into.
What a happy, optimistic period this was in music.Fun and high energy from beginning to end. I have had this album in my (more or less) Complete Works of Stan Getz for more than a decade but it hadn't occupied a postion of prominence. Melodic, relaxed and swinging. But I went back the other day and relistened and I really like it.There are less of Getz wonderful ballads than one often finds in this period but the music is spirited and happy and Getz does a great job of call-and-response to passages Tjader plays first on vibes, for example "Ginza Samba". Sounds bounce back and forth from vibes to sax and back again. Should be more popular. Quite fifties Latin music - Seems to presage Getz Bossa Nova albums, in a vague sense.Well recorded, for it's period.(NOt that it's anyone's business, but I bought this CD before Amazon existed)
This extremely pleasant and ellegant album uses latin rhythms, as one would expect, but it is a genuine jazz record, with some nice take on the gentle standards that Getz played so soulfully and cleverly,with Tjader's swinging unit providing the added value of feelgood, bouncy rhythmical spice.I like jazz. I like Stan Getz. I like this album.
Eddie Duran is a wonder on guitar. Sure, it's only 43 minutes long, but what a CD. Getz and Tjader had long tried to work together and when they finally did record, their styles melded perfectly. Scott LaFaro, who would later play bass for Bill Evans' most formiable line up, and whose life was tragically cut short, shows that even early in his career, he could hold his own with anyone. Great music and an important piece to each of these artist's careers.
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