Cal Tjader (1925–1982), son of a concert pianist and a vaudevillian, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and was a signal figure of Latin jazz as a vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer. Early work Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, and George Shearing informed his emergence as a bandleader whose collaborations with Stan Getz, Vince Guaraldi, Mongo Santamaria, Armando Peraza, Eddie Palmieri, and Willie Bobo would catalyze the classic laid-back Latin soul sound.
Milt “Bags” Jackson (1923–1999) was among the most consequential vibraphonists and pianists of 20th-century jazz. Like so many Detroit artists, he was schooled in the music of the church, and moved easily between gospel and jazz settings. Early work with major figures including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk inspired his formation of the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ), and the rest is sonic history.
Bobby Hutcherson (1941–2016) grew up in a musical family in Los Angeles and moved in high school circles with Dexter Gordon and Eric Dolphy. His four-mallet approach revolutionized the role of the vibraphone in jazz, extending its sonic scope as Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson had done before him. Starting as a sideman for Curtis Amy and Charles Lloyd, he went on to collaborate with the likes of Eric Dolphy, Grant Green, Herbie Hancock, Andrew Hill, Freddie Hubbard, Harold Land, Hank Mobley, Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur III, Woody Shaw, and Archie Shepp. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Fellow in 2010.
Gary Burton (1943– ), born in Indiana, is a vibraphonist, composer, and educator best known for his innovative four-mallet wizardry on vibes, his collaboration with Chick Corea, Chet Atkins, Stan Getz, Quincy Jones, and Pat Metheny, and his sustained teaching and administrative association with the Berklee College of Music. He was named a 2016 NEA Jazz Master, and retired from performing in 2017.
Mulatu Astatke (1946– ) is an Ethiopian vibist, percussionist, and composer who trained in Ethiopia and studied in London. There he engaged with a range of African and Caribbean artists before going to study in Boston (vibraphone and percussion at Berklee) and New York. Known for an idiosyncratic blend of Ethiopian traditions with jazz instrumentation and improvisation, he returned to Addis Ababa in 1969 and was a special guest with the Duke Ellington Ensemble during its 1973 tour. He later studied Afro-Cuban music in Havana. Astatke has enjoyed a prolific international recording, touring, and artist residency career, with accomplishments too many to enumerate here. He is still on the road today.
Joe Chambers (1942– ), born in Virginia and raised in Pennsylvania, studied at the Philadelphia Conservatory for a year before moving in 1960 to Washington, DC, where Freddie Hubbard persuaded him to move to New York. There he played with Hubbard, Chick Corea, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Giuffre, Andrew Hill, Blue Mitchell, and Tony Williams before joining Max Roach’s M’Boom percussion ensemble. Over a 50+ year recording and performing career, continuing today, he has collaborated with countless standout artists. He also was an instructor at the New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
Title | Artist | Album | Composer | Label
Agua Dulce | Cal Tjader | Agua Dulce | Johnny Otis; Preston Love; Shuggie Otis | Fantasy
Sunflower | Milt Jackson | Sunflower | Freddie Hubbard | CTI
Yuyo | Bobby Hutcherson | Montara | Bobby Hutcherson | Blue Note
Mindoro | Cal Tjader | Amazonas | Cal Tjader; Hermeto Pascoal | Fantasy
Serengeti | Cal Tjader | La Onda Va Bien | Mark Levine | Concord Jazz Picante
Mambo Mindoro | Cal Tjader | La Onda Va Bien | Cal Tjader | Concord Jazz Picante
Reunion | Gary Burton | Reunion | Mitchel Forman | GRP
Wise One | Bobby Hutcherson | Wise One | John Coltrane | Kind of Blue
Boogaloo | Mulatu Astatke | Steps Ahead | Mulatu Astatke | Strut
Visions | Joe Chambers | Samba de Maracatu | Bobby Hutcherson | Blue Note
