Cal Tjader is considered the most successful non-Latino Latin musician in jazz. Born in St. Louis, Missouri to touring Swedish American vaudevillians, Tjader's parents settled in California, and opened a dance studio. His mother instructed him in classical piano and his father taught him to tap dance. He performed around the Bay Area as "Tjader Junior," a tap-dancing wunderkind. But Cal wanted to play the drums. After coming out of the Navy, he went to San Francisco State College where he met Da