I enjoyed your appreciation of Vince Guaraldi and his contributions to playing and popularizing piano jazz. My dear departed friend Christopher Shea, who as a child was the voice actor of Linus in the Peanuts animated specials, told me that his favorite part of doing the shows was sitting on the piano bench next to Vince, who was apparently present and played live on set during production.
I'm a big Guaraldi fan. He's really good in the 1958 Stan Getz/Cal Tjader record with Billy Higgins, Scott LaFaro, and Eddie Duran, not to mention the late 50s Monterey Jazz fest stuff with Cal Tjader.
And it's not a great recording, but his trio sounds good with Ben Webster.
And the Grace Cathedral concert. And his work with Bola Sete. There are some concert recordings where Guaraldi plays guitar, and those are truly awful.
My dad loves George Winston and Winston recorded a solo piano album of Vince's tunes called "Linus And Lucy". My dad bought it at HMV or Coconuts or The Wall or some other defunct record store. I know CDs can't be worn out like records - but if they could - I would have worn it flat.
I dig Vince's version of "Samba De Orfeo". It's the first recording of it I'd heard, and it's such a wonderful tune that I'd forever love whichever version I first heard.
Vince was my gateway drug for sure! Him and cheesy simplified band arrangements of "Spain" and "Birdland".
He's inspiring in a way. Jazz apprenticeship is intimidating - we study Bird and Bud and all these other exceptional geniuses. It's encouraging to be reminded that inspiration also strikes the "pretty good" musicians.
Classical's equivalent is the movie "Amadeus"... that soundtrack is still stuck in my head 20 years since my first viewing.
Thanks for writing. Peanuts as a whole is a treasure. Shulz was an insightful man and Schroeder is the best.
I much prefer the version of “Charlie Brown Christmas” recorded by Cyrus Chestnut back in 2000. Cyrus is a very, very good musician whereas Vince was capable but not of the highest order.
I enjoyed your appreciation of Vince Guaraldi and his contributions to playing and popularizing piano jazz. My dear departed friend Christopher Shea, who as a child was the voice actor of Linus in the Peanuts animated specials, told me that his favorite part of doing the shows was sitting on the piano bench next to Vince, who was apparently present and played live on set during production.
amazing comment!
I'm a big Guaraldi fan. He's really good in the 1958 Stan Getz/Cal Tjader record with Billy Higgins, Scott LaFaro, and Eddie Duran, not to mention the late 50s Monterey Jazz fest stuff with Cal Tjader.
And it's not a great recording, but his trio sounds good with Ben Webster.
https://youtu.be/3_X3yxGhgyw?si=PwPAEq7SuLwiHm3J
And the Grace Cathedral concert. And his work with Bola Sete. There are some concert recordings where Guaraldi plays guitar, and those are truly awful.
just my 2 cents
My dad loves George Winston and Winston recorded a solo piano album of Vince's tunes called "Linus And Lucy". My dad bought it at HMV or Coconuts or The Wall or some other defunct record store. I know CDs can't be worn out like records - but if they could - I would have worn it flat.
I dig Vince's version of "Samba De Orfeo". It's the first recording of it I'd heard, and it's such a wonderful tune that I'd forever love whichever version I first heard.
Vince was my gateway drug for sure! Him and cheesy simplified band arrangements of "Spain" and "Birdland".
He's inspiring in a way. Jazz apprenticeship is intimidating - we study Bird and Bud and all these other exceptional geniuses. It's encouraging to be reminded that inspiration also strikes the "pretty good" musicians.
Classical's equivalent is the movie "Amadeus"... that soundtrack is still stuck in my head 20 years since my first viewing.
Thanks for writing. Peanuts as a whole is a treasure. Shulz was an insightful man and Schroeder is the best.
I much prefer the version of “Charlie Brown Christmas” recorded by Cyrus Chestnut back in 2000. Cyrus is a very, very good musician whereas Vince was capable but not of the highest order.