Heat Wave (Cal Tjader and Carmen McRae album)

Heat Wave is a 1982 studio album by vibraphonist Cal Tjader and jazz singer Carmen McRae. Tjader died four months after the completion of Heat Wave, it was his final recording.[1]

Heat Wave
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 1982
RecordedCoast Recorders, San Francisco, California, US
GenreLatin jazz, vocal jazz
Length40:50
LabelConcord Jazz
CJ-189 (12" LP)
CCD-4189-2 (CD)
ProducerCarl Jefferson
Cal Tjader chronology
A fuego vivo
(1981)
Heat Wave
(1982)
Good Vibes
(1984)
Carmen McRae chronology
Recorded Live at Bubba's
(1981)
Heat Wave
(1982)
You're Looking at Me
(1984)

The album was arranged by pianists Mark Levine and Marshall Otwell. McRae and Tjader did not get on well during the recording, and Tjader later overdubbed his parts without McRae present. McRae chose to sing "Besame Mucho" in its original Spanish language lyrics, and Willie Bobo helped her with the pronunciation.[2]

Heat Wave peaked at 25 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart.[1]

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings    [4]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide     [3]

AllMusic awarded the album four stars and reviewer Scott Yanow said that "the potentially exciting combination does not really come off that well...The musicians had little to do. McRae sounds OK in the Latin setting, but does not uplift the diverse material...and the effort overall is somewhat forgettable and disappointing".[1]

Track listing

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  1. "Heat Wave" (Irving Berlin) – 3:07
  2. "All in Love Is Fair" (Stevie Wonder) – 4:27
  3. "Besame Mucho" (Sunny Skylar, Consuelo Velázquez) – 5:26
  4. "Evil Ways" (Sonny Henry) – 5:15
  5. "Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell) – 3:12
  6. "Love" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:06
  7. "Upside Down (Flor de Lis)" (Djavan, Regina Wernech) – 4:33
  8. "The Visit" (Ivan Lins, Vítor Martins, Wernech) – 4:13
  9. "Speak Low" (Ogden Nash, Kurt Weill) – 4:51
  10. "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" (Wonder) – 3:42

Personnel

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Performance
Production

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Heat Wave". AllMusic. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  2. ^ S. Duncan Reid (23 August 2013). Cal Tjader: The Life and Recordings of the Man Who Revolutionized Latin Jazz. McFarland. pp. 233–. ISBN 978-0-7864-3535-7.
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 138. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 987. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.