The son of Swedish vaudeville performers, Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. [a.k.a. Cal Tjader] (July 16, 1925–May 5, 1982) was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his death.
Cal Tjader's mother was a concert pianist, his father a vaudeville performer. He grew up with them on the road, tap-dancing his way through early childhood. Later, the family settled down in San Mateo on the San Francisco Peninsula, and his father opened a dancing school. After high school and a stint in the Navy, Cal ended up at San Francisco State College, where he first met up with Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.
