Cal Tjader album haul

A chance call-in at a local Bristol record shop this lunchtime resulted in this lovely haul of 17 Cal Tjader albums. It's unusual to find this many Tjader albums in one shop, so I was curious - the only person I know who had a large quantity of Tjader albums was an old friend, Vince Thomas, who I worked with at BT between '89-'92. Vince was a year or two younger than me and loved his jazz, and through his enthusiasm and knowledge expanded my own enthusiasm for jazz & Latin music greatly. He'd often make mix tapes from his own extensive collection (we're talking thousands of records, as he also DJ'd regularly at Bristol clubs). He was a particular fan of Cal Tjader and had close to 100 of his albums, he once told me, even back then. Sadly, Vince died of cancer a few years after I'd left BT, and whenever I play a Cal Tjader album I always think of him & often thank him for broadening my musical horizons. Anyway, after picking these out and speaking with the shop owner, it turns out that these albums were part a collection that the shop had recently acquired that had belonged to...Vince Thomas. So that was an quite emotional moment and we had a good chat about how they'd come about the collection, what was in it and what I knew of Vince. I wouldn't normally buy so many albums in one go, but I feel very fortunate, pleased and privileged to take into ownership a small part of a much-loved record collection of an old friend. Serendipity indeed!

[Babs]

What a great collection. I hadn't heard of Cal Tjader so googled him. Sounds really interesting. How lovely to have so many albums from your old friend's collection. Must have been quite emotional find

[Cam]

@onewing Yes, a special find that I still can’t quite believe. Vince opened my ears to so much music. Cal Tjader is very much worth listening to for some cool jazz vibes. He plays the vibraphones beautifully.