Wild Thing (1968) is the only disc Cuban percussionist Armando Peraza (1924-2014) released under his own name during his lifetime. It is also the fifth disc released on the short-lived Skye Recordings, the label founded earlier that year by musicians Gary McFarland, Cal Tjader and Gabor Szabo. If it did nothing other than offer a…
Cal Tjader – “The Prophet” (1968)
Verve Records has released the first Cal Tjader (1925-82) record in its 180-gram vinyl Verve Vault series, the 1968 gem The Prophet. The last of a whopping 15 discs the vibraphonist waxed for the Verve label between 1961 and 1968, The Prophet – released just this month – may well be the best of a…
Claus Ogerman on Verve
Some two decades ago, I worked on the four-disc boxset Claus Ogerman: The Man Behind the Music. The esteemed Gene Lees (1928-2010) contributed a typically lovely and well-informed text to the CD while Ogerman (1930-2016) himself chose much of the material and, remarkably, commented on each of the set’s individual tracks. I worked on what…