The Vince Guaraldi Trio - Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus (1962)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1990 reissue.

Description from the CD's back insert:

That description is slightly misleading. As the album title implies, these aren't really bossa nova versions of the songs. Rather, the trio take the original Jobim bossa tunes from the movie score, mix in some West Coast jazz, and make it all swing. And I dig every track. If someone were looking for an entry point to '60s jazz records, this album would certainly be a good suggestion.

The star of the album, however, isn't the Jobim tunes but the Guaraldi original, Cast Your Fate To The Wind which peaked at #22 on Billboard's pop chart and won Guaraldi a Grammy award in the short-lived category of Best Original Jazz Composition. These days, of course, it's considered a standard and rightfully so. Another favorite is the cover of Since I Fell For You.

Original liner notes by music critic Ralph J. Gleason.

Guaraldi - piano
Monty Budwig - bass
Colin Bailey - drums

Reviews/ratings:

• Music Vendor: "a cleverly swinging, inventively saleable jazz product"
• CashBox: "Once in a great while a jazz version of a film has exceptional merit in its own right."
• Billboard: "a superior outing for the group and its vastly underrated leader."
• DownBeat (★★★½): "Guaraldi is a talented musician with more than one emotional face."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #24

Tracks: see above

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973/2023)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
From All Sides (1965)

The Vince Guaraldi Quintet - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973/2023)

Originally recorded for the 1973 CBS special of the same name, this soundtrack didn't receive an official release until 2023. The show itself is quite bizarre when viewed through an adult lens but I certainly enjoyed watching it every year as a child. Plus, the show won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children’s Programming. Sadly, it left broadcast television after its 2019 airing on ABC and is currently streaming exclusively on Apple TV+. Now on to the music presented in this "50th Anniversary Special Edition" package.

Don't come around looking for A Charlie Brown Christmas Part 2. This offering adds a horn section, Fender Rhodes electric piano, and a Clavinet to Guaraldi's traditional piano trio instrumentation. The difference is a 'modernizing' of the Peanuts sound. The music is definitely of its time and that's fine with me. The only downside is that, to fill out the album, the label chose to include all the alternate takes, brief cues, and other studio shenanigans. Nevertheless, the album is worth the price, especially the first half.

Liner notes written by Sean Mendelson, son of Lee Mendelson, the executive producer of many of the Peanuts animated specials.

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Kids: #1
• Billboard Traditional Jazz: #6
• Billboard Jazz: #6
• Billboard Tastemakers: #13 (since rebranded as "Indie Store Album Sales")
• Billboard Soundtrack: #19
• Billboard Top Album Sales:#34 (pure album sales)
• Billboard Top Current Album Sales: #26 (same chart as Top Album Sales, with catalog titles removed)

Tracks:

I just love the Thanksgiving Theme, a fantastic jazz waltz plus the electric piano adds a nice touch. Track 4, Peppermint Patty, starts off nice enough, but it really takes off at about the 1:45 mark with a different groove and flute solo. It seems as if Guaraldi was asked to write a modern pop tune for as a theme for the Woodstock character and he listened to a few Blood, Sweat & Tears records before coming up with Little Birdie, another highlight of the album. Finally, the take on the Linus & Lucy theme is fantastic, updating the familiar tune with some syncopated rhythms, new harmonies, and adding horns (including a tasty trumpet solo) to the arrangement.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None with this particular CD, but I always liked watching a Charlie Brown TV special during the Guaraldi years (1965-1976) because that was one of the few times jazz music was heard on broadcast TV, especially in children's programming. Tragically, 47-year-old Guaraldi died suddenly of a heart attack on February 6, 1976, several hours after completing the soundtrack for the 15th Peanuts TV special, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.

Maybe I need to host my own Friendsgiving meal this week and soundtrack it with this CD. The menu? Popcorn, pretzels, jellybeans, and toast, of course. And now I'm craving Zingers for some reason.

Previously revisited for the blog:
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
From All Sides (1965)

Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete - From All Sides (1965)

Blurb from the back insert of this 1998 CD reissue:

An innocuous but enjoyable bossa nova recording - stands up to active listening but very well suited for cocktail party background music. As mentioned in the reviews below, Sete often steals the show (you might do well to ignore that nonsense in the Billboard review). This album was my introduction to Sete but you can be sure I'll be on the lookout for his name now. It's not quite in the same league, but this album pairs well with albums such as Getz/Gilberto, Jazz Samba, or Wave.

Original liner notes by Ralph J. Gleason.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "The two work so well together that it's often difficult to distinguish the piano from the guitar sounds."
• CashBox: "The set is an unusual and extremely brilliant one"
• Downbeat (★★★½): "Guaraldi does all right but Sete does even better, and the listener gets the benefit of a rising parlay."
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz (5th ed., 2000): ★★½
• The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985): ★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: Bossa versions of everything from Mozart's 40th symphony (Choro) to the most famous bossa tune (The Girl From Ipanema) to a pop standard of the mid-'60s (A Taste Of Honey) to some Guaraldi retreads (Ginza Samba & Menino Pequeno Da Bateria) plus some originals. My favorite of the originals is track 6, Ballad Of Pancho Villa. A fine mix.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Perfect.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #23

Tracks: The jazzed-up carols (O Tannenbaum, What Child Is This, The Christmas Song) and Peanuts originals (Christmas Time Is Here, Skating, and the classic Linus and Lucy) create a joyous and festive meditation for the season. Heck, even listening to the kids belting out Hark, The Herald Angels Sing or "Schroeder" playing an excerpt from Beethoven's Für Elise reminds me of the TV special and puts me in a good mood. If this isn't my favorite Christmas album, it's certainly in the discussion. In this house, this CD is required listening every year.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Cold winter nights in West Texas in the late '60s/early '70s, eagerly waiting for the one night each year when A Charlie Brown Christmas was broadcast on CBS. I know I can buy it on Blu-Ray now, but it's just not the same, is it?

Exclusive CD longbox photo courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

A quick shout out to my best friend from childhood, Charlie Brown. That's me on the left and Charlie on the right, 1972.

George Winston - Linus & Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi (1996)

This solo piano CD is a tribute from one great pianist to another. It does a great job capturing the musical essence of both men. While I was familiar with Guaraldi's work from the Peanuts cartoons, this CD introduced me to more his compositions. Guaraldi usually performed with a trio (piano, bass, drums), so these solo piano recordings sometimes seem like they're missing a little something, but Winston's style and virtuosic playing often makes up for it. Every now and then, I'll notice Winston throwing in some embellishment or passing tones and it always works; it sounds like it's always been there. Winston, however, never sacrifices Guaraldi's characteristic piano voicing. Classic. Winston recorded and released a second volume of Guaraldi tunes in 2010, entitled Love Will Come, but I haven't heard any of that music yet.

Billboard, October 12, 1996

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #55
• CashBox Jazz: #1

Tracks: Linus & Lucy is classic, of course, as is any of the music from the 16(!) Peanuts cartoons that Guaraldi scored before his death in 1976. The CD starts off with one of my fav Guaraldi compositions, Cast Your Fate to the Wind, which I think you would probably recognize even though it was never in a Charlie Brown cartoon.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In the late '90s, my friend Scott introduced me to this CD, which he couldn't praise enough. When I finally picked up a used copy, I was upset that I hadn't purchased it earlier.