AMG Review of Monterey Concerts

Scott Yanow
All Music Guide

This CD (which reissues all of the music from the two LPs Concert by the Sea and Vol. 2) is the definitive early Cal Tjader album and one of the high points of his career. For a Carmel concert that was considered a preview concert for the ~1959 Monterey Jazz Festival, Tjader was teamed up with flutist and altoist Paul Horn, pianist Lonnie Hewitt, bassist Al McKibbon, Willie Bobo (on drums and timbales), and percussionist Mongo Santamaria. Their renditions of Latinized jazz tunes along with a few Latin originals practically define the idiom. Highlights include "Doxy," one of the earliest versions of Santamaria's "Afro Blue" (predating John Coltrane's famous rendition by four years), "Love Me or Leave Me," and "A Night in Tunisia." Essential music for everyone's Latin jazz collection.