This is an album I've been looking forward to writing about from the moment I created this blog. The product of Playboy Magazine's first jazz poll, Hugh Hefner decided to create an album to honor the winners of the poll. By releasing such a project, Hefner and the folks at Playboy provided a snapshot of [...]
Yesterday, the Raggy Waltz staff brought to my attention that it was Cal Tjader's birthday. Today, the Raggy Waltz staff have alerted me to the fact that it's the birthday of another famous Northern Californian jazz musician. Born 90 years ago on July 17, 1928, pianist Vince Guaraldi was not only a contemporary of Cal [...]
Say what you want about social media and its terrible effect on culture, but today it proved its worth. Scrolling through Twitter this morning, I was informed through a tweet that it was Cal Tjader's birthday. Born 93 years ago on this date, July 16, 1925 in St. Louis, Missouri, Tjader's family relocated to the [...]
Full disclosure. This post was completely inspired by the World Cup, specifically the winners of the World Cup. If you weren't happy with the outcome of the game/series, don't get mad at me. I've been looking for an excuse to profile this album, and the World Cup gave me that excuse. I'll try not to [...]
Following up on Mr. Lodge's excellent analysis of Paul Desmond's solo on a live performance of "Someday My Prince Will Come" dating from the 1970's, here's another post with another look at another live performance of "Someday My Prince Will Come". This performance stems from an early 1960's appearance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet at [...]
Whenever I travel, I like to find the local record store and see what's what. You never know what you'll find. On a recent trip to San Francisco, not only did I want to check out a local record store- I wanted to find records by San Francisco's native jazz sons. I succeeded, in more [...]
Taking a (momentary) break from Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, here's another college concert album, this time recorded on the Best Coast in California. Following the example of his one-time leader Dave Brubeck (told you it was momentary), Cal Tjader took his good vibes directly to the students via college appearances. Luckily, Fantasy had a [...]
The appearance of an original Blue Note record has caused a stir in the Raggy Waltz office. The excitement coupled with the all-around greatness of the album made a write-up necessary. To the music we go! The Music The Tune: Scrapple From The Apple Recorded: 23 May, 1963 in Paris, France Personnel: Dexter Gordon- Tenor [...]
Starting and maintaining a blog can be a rewarding, enriching, frustrating, and fulfilling experience. Running this blog, I have experienced all of the above and then some. One of the absolute best results of starting this blog has been meeting and corresponding with readers from all over the world, some as close as the American [...]
No, this is not deja vu. Well, it is but it isn't. This may technically be the same album as the one I just wrote about, but there's a two-inch difference that is rather significant. Does size matter? To the music! The Music The Tune: "The Way You Look Tonight" Recorded: 2 March, 1953 at [...]
