Voting Station

Cal Tjader

Please vote to return to collections.

Musician

The Resume

    (July 16, 1925-May 5, 1982)
    Born in St. Louis, Missouri
    Played vibraphone, drums, percussion, and piano
    Sideman for Dave Brubeck and George Shearing
    Recorded the albums ‘The Cal Tjader Trio’ (1951), ‘Tjader Plays Mambo’ (1954), ‘Latin for Lovers with Strings’ (1958), ‘West Side Story’ (1961), ‘In a Latin Bag’ (1961), ‘Soul Sauce’ (1964), ‘Soul Burst’ (1966), ‘El Sonido Neuvo’ (with Eddie Palmieri, 1966), ‘Plugs In’ (1969), ‘Amazonas’ (1975), ‘Breathe Easy’ (1977), ‘La Onda Va Bien’ (1979), and ‘Heat Wave’ (with Carmen McRae, 1982)
    Last name pronounced ‘CHAY-der’

Why he might be annoying:

    He began as a four-year-old tap dancer dubbed ‘Mr. Talent.’
    Attempts to broaden his sound by incorporating Asian music were dismissed as hopping on the ‘exotica’ bandwagon.
    The San Francisco Chronicle called him ‘a classic case of the taken-for-granted jazz musician. He has played for 20 years in the shadow of Milt Jackson, and, more recently, been out-avant-garded by the likes of Gary Burton and Bobby Hutcherson.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was a medical corpsman in the Pacific Theater during World War II.
    ’Peanuts’ composer Vince Guaraldi started in his band.
    His band opened the second Monterey Jazz Festival (1959).
    He won a Grammy for Best Latin Recording for ‘La Onda Va Bien.’
    He died of a heart attack while in Manilla on tour.
    He was called the most successful non-Latino Latin jazz musician.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying