Remembering Vince Guaraldi in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.
Originally released in 1962 by the Fantasy label, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus was the third LP by the Vince Guaraldi Trio and the first by the lineup responsible for the pianist’s highest profile work, which was just around the corner. But the album, recently reissued as a 3LP/2CD set as part of Craft Recordings’ Small Batch series (and disappearing fast), is a considerable achievement that’s distinguished by a true rarity: a bona fide instrumental jazz hit single in “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” There’s more on this commercial triumph and other aspects of this multifaceted record directly below.
Vince Guaraldi was a solid West Coast guy, having played in bands of Woody Herman (the Third Herd) and Cal Tjader. As vibraphonist Tjader (early on, primarily a drummer-percussionist) was a good fit with pianist Dave Brubeck, the same was true for Guaraldi as a participant in Tjader’s bands, though don’t go thinking that Guaraldi was a specialist in odd time signatures (in fact, neither was Brubeck pre-Time Out). Instead, Guaraldi’s forte (and an eventual nickname) is reflected in the title of an early composition: “Calling Dr. Funk.”
In short, Vince Guaraldi’s playing was as dynamic as it was attractive, possessing a certain energy that could move a crowd (at a party on a record or in performance on the bandstand) but was laced with enough beauty movement to connect with those in a stay-at-home frame of mind. Again, this is all very (but not exclusively) West Coast, as Guaraldi’s musical temperament is well-suited to the “jazz interpretation” subcategory that flourished in the 1950s-’60s and to which Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus belongs.
Jazzing up My Fair Lady (West Coast drummer Shelley Manne), Exodus (saxophonist Eddie Harris), Golden Boy (Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers), Porgy and Bess (Miles Davis), and The Sound of Music (John Coltrane); an impressive and incomplete list, but there can still be a cloud of crass commercialism hovering above these sorts of endeavors, or perhaps better said, there’s a sense of record labels striving to tap into a lucrative crossover market.
Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus did cross over, doing so mainly through the terrific slice of melodic piano trio action that is “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” that cut something of an antecedent to the major chart breakthroughs of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, though Guaraldi’s tune is more contemplative, with its tonal shifts a major part of its appeal.
It’s also Guaraldi’s tune all the way, one of two original compositions on an album many would assume was given over entirely to the music of Marcel Camus’ breakthrough classic of international cinema. No, but there are four songs from the film, two by Luiz Bonfá and Antônio Maria, “Samba De Orfeu” and “Manhã De Carnaval,” and two by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius De Moraes, “O Nosso Amor” and “Felicidade.”
They fill the entirety of side one and deliver an exquisite hunk of Latin-tinged piano trio jazz, as it takes a minute for Guaraldi to even show up in opener “Samba De Orfeu.” Once he does arrive, the group, with Monte Budwig on bass and Colin Bailey on drums, really takes flight. Like any worthy piano trio, they are adept at balladry, e.g. “Manhã De Carnaval” and a version of Mancini’s “Moon River” on side two, but the group shines brightest while exploring livelier tempos, which is often.
This is the exact personnel that would record Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, the 1964 soundtrack to an unreleased documentary about animator Charles Schulz and his Peanuts characters. The music was released and exploded in popularity, especially after “Linus and Lucy” was carried over for the animated TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas the following year.
The Peanuts themed work is what Guaraldi is most celebrated for today, but it’s directly related to Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (the connection borne out by the similar album titles) as TV producer Lee Mendelson was struck upon hearing “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” and felt Guaraldi was just the person to score that unreleased documentary.
While the Black Orpheus-related material here is strong, the highlights are really Guaraldi’s two originals, with the rollicking “Alma-ville” the other, the piece landing in the zone between Ramsey Lewis and the melodicism that essentially defined Guaraldi’s Peanuts output, which continued until his death in 1976 (it’s also worth noting that the pianist persevered with non-Peanuts context, as his final album was titled Alma-ville).
Craft Recordings’ extended release includes a slew of alternate takes, all added after the proper album and in the same order as the record’s sequence, and closes with three takes of Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz.” Guaraldi’s playing is magnificent throughout, accessible without an inkling of the watered-down as Bailey and Budwig’s interaction is top-flight. This might not be the easiest, most economical point of entry to the pianist’s non-Peanuts work, but anybody who owns numerous Charlie Brown-themed Guaraldi albums should slide into the contents of Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus just fine.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
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