In apparent response to the sampling of old Latin jazz records by hip-hop artists, Verve raided its
Cal Tjader archive to come up with this fiercely grooving collection drawn from nine of his Verve albums. For all of producer
Creed Taylor's '60s penchant for fashioning two- to four-minute cuts aimed at airplay, he allowed
Tjader's groups considerable room to stretch out on several of the tracks included here, particularly on the live "Los Bandidos" and the hypnotic collaboration with pianist
Eddie Palmieri, "Picadillo." More importantly,
Tjader's records with
Taylor were more varied in texture than his earlier discs, venturing now and then from his solid Afro-Cuban base into Brazilian rhythms, soul, big-band backings, and '60s pop touches. Among the best cuts included here are "Sambo Do Suenho" -- which has a killer bossa/Afro-Cuban rhythm stoked by
Grady Tate,
Armando Peraza and
Ray Barretto working in terrific symmetry --
Peraza's fast, hard-swinging "Maramoor Mambo," and
Horace Silver's "Tokyo Blues," as spearheaded by
Lalo Schifrin's driving big band. ~ Richard S. Ginell