Funky16Corners

Funky16Corners Halloween: Cal Tjader – Spooky

By Larry, October 30, 2012 1:32 pm

Not Cal Tjader

~~Listen/Download Cal Tjader – Spooky~~

Greetings all and welcome to the middle of another week here at the Corners du Funk.

We here on the coast are in the middle of a ass-kicker of a storm, and while that’s probablyscary enough for most (myself included) Halloween is at hand, and so it behooved me to whip something a little scary onto the blog.

Now – unless you find the combination of thick glasses and groovy vibes frightening…someone probably does – Cal Tjader, though scary talented, was not known for inducing fear in his listeners.

However, he did find the time to record and extra smooth and tasty version of that old Hallows Eve perennial, ‘Spooky’.

Originally recorded by Mike Sharpe, and then the Classics IV – who had a huge hit with it in 1968 – ‘Spooky’ is one of those great “fits nicely in Halloween” tunes that doesn’t involve screaming, Frankenstein grunts or any other novelty hoo-hah.

Mr. Tjader recorded the tune on his ‘Cal Tjader Plugs In: Live at the Lighthouse’ LP in 1969, with a great band that included Armando Peraza on percussion and Al Zulaica on electric piano (who adds a lot of flavor to the track).

The band gets a nice groove going here, and Tjaders is – as always – in top form.

His Skye stuff isn’t easy to find, but always worth it when you can.

I hope you all survive the storm, have yourselves a sweet and groovy Halloween, and (assuming I’m not washed away in the storm) I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

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