Customer Reviews

Grace Cathedral Concert

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Simply a great, great album! The Black Orpheus Medley won't allow you to do anything else for 20 minutes! If you weren't a fan of Braziliian music and Cal Tjader before, you will be!

Okay, I admit it . . I came here just to see if one of my favorite LP's made the leap to lightspeed and was transformed to a CD.

This album, even though my vinyl is perfect, is an incredible performance. Cal ended up filling in to do the concert at the last moment and it remains one of the most inspired sessions I've ever heard.

Now, can someone tell me why Dave Loggins' "Apprentice in a Musical Workshop" was lost in time and never became a CD?

Court Canfield
New York City

Many may not know this anymore, but Grace Cathedral, an Anglican(Episcopal) Cathdral, like its sister the National Cathdral, saw many jazz artists perform some of their best live gigs in the sacred chambers.
Vince Guaraldi did a sacred Mass performance that was to become a thematic
goldmine for many of his later classics in the very cathedral heard here. Bishop James Pike, who I had met, endorsed these great series of jazz efforts.
"I Showed Them" is always a good starting point for any Tjader collection of tunes, and his group, featuring Pancho Sanchez does not dissapoint.
"The Black Orpheus" tribute to Guaraldi is well noted by Cal's statement over the soft intro by Lonnie Hewitt(p) and Rob Fisher(b).
What makes this disc so unique is the "built in" reverb a huge cathedral affords an artist. Second is the inspiration, spiritual or emotional, that makes this performance quite exceptional. Tjader was at his best, live. This proves it!

You get the best of both worlds with this Tjader album....the Latin style and a strong jazz representation for which I think he was underrated. It starts off with a dynamite version of Cal's own composition "I Showed Them", and includes Milt Jackson's "Bluesology" and a terrific rendition of the standard, "Body and Soul". If that wasn't enough, the Black Orpheus medley dedicated to Vince Guarldi is worth the price alone. Cal had a knack for ending a selection; listen to the notes of the Black Orpheus theme first played by the vibes , then the piano as a plaintive and quiet ending of the celebration.

The keyboards by Lonnie Hewitt are characteristic for that period....fine with me as I always enjoyed the sound.....I guess when the novelty wore off the artists decided the "88" was more versatile.

My cd recording is taken from one of my original LPs which I always kept in good shape. The acoustics on my recording are great so I can only believe the cd from the master must certainly be exceptional.

This is an excellent choice for anyone's library especially if your interest is in small group jazz, Latin jazz, vibes,or Cal Tjader in particular. Outstanding!!