Alma Doce: Brasilian Sweet Soul Mix

You can download the whole mix at 320 kbps here.

Tracklist:
1. Baby - Quinteto Ternura
2. Vida Antiga - Erasmo Carlos
3. Gostava Tanto de Voce - Tim Maia
4. Primavera - Trio Esperanca
5. O Vale - Cassiano
6. Nem Quero, Nem Saber - Claudia (cover of English song "I Don't Care" by Tim Maia)
7. Salve Linda Cancao Sem Esperanca - Luiz Melodia
8. Shadows Dark and Blue - Terry Winter
9. California Soul - Tamba 4 (promo only)
10. Sentimento - Tim Maia (his first single from '68)
11. Viu, Menina - Tony e Frankye
12. Estrela D'Alva - Socrates
13. Na Rua, Na Chuva, Na Fazenda - Golden Boys
14. Como? - Paulo Diniz
15. Depois Da Queda (Tema De Flor) - Roberto Menescal (edit)
16. Baby de Tal - Ronnie Von
17. Azul da Cor do Mar - Tim Maia
18. Quando Vejo o Sol - Os Incriveis
19. As Dores do Mundo - Hyldon
20. Feel Like Making Love - Anna Mazotti
21. Just For You - Gerson King Combo
22. Linha do Horizonte - Azimuth

Kicking Funk Loops from Here to Cal Tjader

They don't make 'em like Cal Tjader any more. As a band leader he had a very straight forward vision: make interesting music that audiences could relate to. He did this for more than three straight decades, releasing dozens of albums on many record labels. He worked with many different bands with members such as Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Vince Guaraldi, Al McKibbon, Pete Escovedo, Coke Escovedo, Clare Fischer, Poncho Sanchez, Lonnie Hewitt, Armando Peraza, Tito Puente, Stan Getz, Carmen McCrae, Airto, Joao Donato, Lalo Schifrin, George Duke, Charlie Byrd, Eddie Palmieri and many more. Paraphrasing Cal's biographer (book due out in a couple years), musicians liked to play with Cal because he would give great sidemen the spotlight to shine, something that Cal's East Coast colleague Tito Puente would never do and resultingly Mongo and Willie jumped ship for Cal's cool latin band in the late 50s.

Cal's an unlikely source for hip-hop samples with his white-bread collegiate look and chunky glasses, but a quick survey of hip-hop classics will show you that Tjader had a knack from creating interesting sounds that made for great moody samples (Midnight Marauders interlude music, for instance). Just ask Pete Rock:

“It’s coming soon, so chill and don’t stress the creator/ I’ll kick funk loops from here to Cal Tjader…" (from the Pete Rock and CL Smooth song “In the Flesh,” from their “Main Ingredient” album).

This blog has a great two-part mix with Tjader originals interspersed with songs that sampled him, many of them rare instrumental versions.

I've been working on my Tjader collection since moving to the Bay Area and have nearly completed the 1965-1975 era, which is probably my favorite as it sees Tjader trying to stay hip and relevant and doing a pretty damn good job. The early sixties saw him switch from the Bay Area-founded Fantasy Records to the more nationally-focused Verve Records where he scored his biggest hit, "Soul Sauce". His mid-sixties Verve albums range from soft ballads to funky latin fusion and are all excellent listens. In the late 60s he founded Skye records with like-minded musical oddballs: Gabor Szabo and Gary McFarland and released three albums: Solar Heat, Sounds Out Burt Bacharach and Plus In. A recently released session from those years "Latin + Jazz = Cal Tjader" is particularly revelatory in that it represented, according to Tjader's biographer, Cal's preferred live repertoire: a couple ballads mixed in with some mid-tempo Latin-Jazz numbers.

When Skype folded after a couple years Cal went back to Fantasy and put out his funikiest and hardest-hitting Latin albums, in my opinion: Agua Dulce (1971), Tjader (1971), Last Bolero in Berkeley (1973) and Primo (1973). The seventies also saw him focus a lot on recording live, with great results, on Live at the Funky Quarters (1972), Puttin' It Together (1974), At Grace Cathedral (1975) and Here (1977). As you can see from the tracklist below, some of the best versions of his most loved songs can be found on these live albums. All in all, I don't think Cal ever made a bad album, nor did he fully sell-out in a commercial sense - there's no such thing as a Cal Tjader disco album and you can't say that for most jazz musicians that survived the 70s. I've assembled some of my favorite "Tjader Tjams" from the period 1964-1974 for your enjoyment. Eventually, I hope to get around to putting together the ying to this yang, "Tjader Tjems", the mellow companion to this Latin groovathon. Tjam On!



















The Ambassador Presents Cal Tjader - Tjader Tjams
1. Moneypenny Goes for Broke, from: Sounds Out Burt Bacharach
2. Souled Out, from: The Prophet
3. Armando's Guajira (live), from: Latin + Jazz = Cal Tjader (CD only)
4. Soul Sauce (Guachi Guaro), from: Soul Sauce
5. Cubano Chant (live), from: Live at the Funky Quarters
6. Fried Bananas, from: Solar Heat
7. La Murga Pana Mena, from: Primo
8. Amazonas (live), from: Puttin' It Together
9. Agua Dulce (Cool-Ade), from: Agua Dulce
10. Mambero, from: Tjader
11. Ran Kan Kan, from: Agua Dulce
12. Solar Heat, from: Solar Heat
13. Leyte (live), from: Live at the Funky Quarters
14. Gimme Shelter, from: Agua Dulce
15. I Showed Them, from: Tjader
16. Walk on By, from: Sounds Out Burt Bacharach
17. Never My Love, from: Solar Heat
18. Never Can Say Goodbye, from: Last Bolero in Berkeley
19. Morning, from: Agua Dulce
20. Curtain Call, from: Last Bolero in Berkeley

Gostosa Mix on P-R-O-P-S.com Radio

A brand-new mix from yours truly and my partner in crime at Gostosa, Guillermo, doing 10 songs each for P-R-O-P-S.com Radio.

Come on by Gostosa Thursday night for the "Rio Deal"

Gostosa (normally, every 2nd Wednesday)
Casanova - 527 Valencia @ 16th Street
9pm-2am

Digging in Brazil, Part 2: Samba da Preguiça Mix

The Ambassador - Samba da Preguiça Mix, January 2010
New mix from The Ambassador. All selections original and recently acquired by yours truly on my most recent trip to Brazil. Of particular note are the live-in-studio spots from Vinicius & Erasmo at the beginning and Paulinho da Viola at the end. This one and the Zeca do Trombone e Roberto Sax are the only records with more than one track featured. Enjoy!

The Count's California Count-Down - Side A & B

UPDATE: Now both sides of the mix are up for your listening pleasure!

Happy Monday, Soul Spectators!

This quick little post is part one two of a mix I made this weekend for some friends who are about to embark on a West Coast Tour. Chris and Dan are gonna be escorting the Taiwanese indie-rock/pop band Won Fu on their first US tour. I was trying to imagine them bopping along the I-5 to some groovy tunes and that was my inspiration. I also wanted to use some of the great interludes from this Sesame Street record I recently copped. Keep in mind that all of the interludes used were put together with David Axelrod's help. Sure, they are not mind-blowing like his normal output, but they're pretty sweet nonetheless.

The Ambassador - The Count's California Count-Down - Side A
The Ambassador - The Count's California Count-Down - Side B

A Trip Around Brasil - A New Brasil Mix

O Embaixador - Viagem Pelo Brasil
Just made this mix last night and it's far from perfect, but I think you might enjoy it. I started out with a few songs I was planning on including, but then it just kinda became a stream of consciousness style mix. Notable on this mix is the three-in-a-row Brasilian tunes by way of A&M records including some promo only Tamba Trio and Sergio Mendes. We also have some funky northeastern tunes, before delivering a dose of samba and then some Brasilian boogie before coming back home to samba. I might be convinced to create a track-list if enough people wanna know what's what. I hope you dig it.

New All-45 Mix: $20 Worth of Soul

The idea behind this mix is to demonstrate what can be accomplished with $20, some patience, record cleaning solution and some elbow grease. Two weekends ago I went down the street for my regular dig at the Alemany Flea Market. I ended up getting records from two different vendors, neither of which specialize in vinyl. I convinced the vendor at the first spot to sell me a stack of 25 sleeveless and dusty 45s and one Stacy Lattislaw LP for $20. The mix you are listening to was constructed from 18 of these 25 45s a day or two after I got'em. You'll notice that there's a bit of surface noise on some of the cuts, but (speaking for myself here) the mix is pretty darn listenable.

A lot of these tracks are songs I have on album, but I was psyched to find them on 45, like the Faze-O, the Johhny "Guitar" Watson and the Rufus cuts. The scores as far as I'm concerned are the Fred Wesley jam and the Jay Dee tune. Not a bad way to spend $20 I would say. I hope you get some value out of it too.

The Ambassador - $20 Worth of Soul
1. Johnny Nash - You Got Soul
2. Gene Chandler - A Song Called Soul
3. The Joneses - Hey Girl, Part 1
4. Jay Dee - Strange Funky Games and Things
5. The Isley Brothers - Work To Do
6. Rufus - You Got the Love
7. Earth, Wind & Fire - Evil
8. Suede - Everybody Must Pay
9. Sly & the Family Stone - Loose Booty
10. Muscle Shoals Horns - Born To Get Down
11. Jimmy "Bo" Horne - Gimme Some
12. Shirley & Company - Shame, Shame, Shame
13. Slave - Just a Touch of Love
14. Fred Wesley - House Party
15. Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Superman Lover
16. Faze-O - Riding High
17. Rance Allen Group - Ain't No Need of Crying
18. Garnet Mimms - A Quiet Place

Brazilian Funk Explosion!

Apologies for my absence. As you may have read in the past, I'm getting married later this summer and that's been keeping me plenty busy. Add to that the work that needed to get done for the upcoming Wax Poetics issue, which will be all about Brazilian music, of which yours truly contributed four unique journalistic morsels (one big one on the late, great Tim Maia). With that theme in mind I present to you a super dope mix from my main man DJ Cliffy whose Black Rio 2 I very favorably reviewed for said forthcoming issue of WP and which you should be able to buy now or very soon.

The downloadable mix features a tight selection of cuts from the generous comp. You can get it here on zShare or here on mediafire.

Or, you can just stream it here.
DJ Cliffy - Black Rio 2 Mix

I'll be back sometime soon with some more Brazilian goodies, some MJ rarities and more. Also, if you haven't heard the new Mayer Hawthorne joint, you should. Yes, it's a cover, but for my two cents Mr. Hawthorne one-upped the original.

Azymix Re-upped @ Mojo Knights

Sir Mojo Knight asked me to share my "Azymix" mix over at Mojo Knights and happily obliged. This time we've added a track list, which should be posted shortly. Check it out here.

Boogie Brasiliero

DJ Set: the ambassador - Boogie Brasileiro

This is my first trepadatious divulgence of my Disc Jockey skills . . . I got this really cool little device awhile back called iKey, which processes an analog signal into a digital recording which goes on a USB flash drive. You can use it to record just about anything and I use it to also record my records at home. I had some failed attempts at recording previous DJ sets, but for whatever reason it worked really well the other night at my friend Yasha's (aka Eleonore) farewell party. She loves her some Brazilian music and I was happy to oblige, so herein you have a 80 minute mix of Brazilian soul, funk, samba, pop and whatever else I brought in my gig bag.


The recording is far from perfect, but its very listenable and there are no embarrassing mixes or transitions. There ARE however the occasional tunrtable bump from an overly enthusiastic dancer and some general rumbles here and there from some serious dancefloor vibrations!

Enjoy and no, a track list will not be provided, but I imagine many of these songs will find their way onto the site before too long.

allen aka the ambassador