Best Known As: The jazz pianist who wrote the music for Charlie Brown
Vince Guaraldi described himself as "a reformed boogie-woogie piano player," but he is better known as the composer of cheery jazz music for the Charlie Brown television specials of the 1960s and 1970s. Guaraldi came up through the beatnik-era San Francisco music scene of the 1950s, eventually forming a succession of jazz trios. His 1962 recording "Cast Your Fate To the Wind" was a surprise hit on national pop music charts. He recorded with Cal Tjader and Bola Sete among many others. Despite his successes in pure jazz, Guaraldi is remembered for his scores for the "Peanuts" animated TV specials, beginning with A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965.
Guaraldi's trio filled in for the Stanford Band at halftime of the 1963 Stanford-Oregon football game.
Representative Albums: "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "A Boy Named Charlie Brown," "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus"
Representative Songs: "Christmas Time Is Here," "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," "Linus and Lucy"
Biography
Vince Guaraldi, the widely acclaimed jazz pianist best known for his cheerful, uplifting work with Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang, got his start in the music biz with a record entitled Blues Groove by Woody Herman in 1956. It is here that his piano playing is clearly heard only on the final three tracks. Then, in November, he gained more valuable creative playing experience with Gus Mancuso, recording in San Francisco. Perhaps his first recorded performance that merits as stellar piano music and recommended listening is the composition "A Hatful of Dandruff."
Guaraldi ended 1956 by making a guest appearance on a poorer quality record headlined by Nina Simone. In January of 1957, Guaraldi made a great stride career wise, sitting in with the Cal Tjader Quartet, playing beautiful melodies like "Thinking of You," another original composition, showing his ever-increasing potential and promise. At the end of the '50s, Guaraldi laid down some witty and intimate piano work with the likes of recording stars Frank Rosolino and Conte Candoli. Though Guaraldi received a wonderful chance to record with Stan Getz in February of 1958 with Cal Tjader and his sextet, his playing abilities were lost in the shuffle of Getz's Latin grooves and the sextet's swinging sound. In December of 1959, Guaraldi crossed paths with percussionist Mongo Santamaria, but did not perform anything that was deemed magical. The pianist took more recording opportunities with Cal Tjader, including the album Black Orchid, which received somewhat of a warm welcome among jazz audiences. Finally, with his shining work on 1959's West Coast Jazz in Hi Fi, Guaraldi got more opportunities and more playing time, contributing an important role to the record with fervent and passionate piano phrasing. A rare and charming performance recorded in January of 1962 with Jimmy Witherspoon was perhaps the only dubbed song that featured Guaraldi playing along with a lead vocalist. Entitled Jazz Casual: Jimmy Witherspoon/Jimmy Rushing, it is here that listeners can feel the deep creativity and percussive brilliance of his trio bandmates Monty Budwig on bass and Colin Bailey on drums.
During the late '50s and early '60s, Guaraldi spent countless gigs shaping and honing his craft, showing deep affection of his talents under the apprenticeship of Cal Tjader and Woody Herman. As a featured performer, Guaraldi's first solo work appeared on the album, Modern Music from San Francisco, with help from his quartet: Jerry Dodgion on alto sax, Eugene Wright on bass, and John Markham on drums. Recorded in 1955, the record expresses his personality through style and form, with originals called "Dr. Funk" and "Ginza." An April 1957 recording of A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing is a good chunk of some of the best of Guaraldi's early work. With breathtaking meter and rhythm, Guaraldi and friends play classics such as "Autumn Leaves," "Yesterdays," and "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing." These three songs are featured on his 1964 breakthrough recording, Jazz Impressions. The reflective and witty recording Jazz Impression of Black Orpheus is a perfect recording where each song is performed with the highest sense of musical quality. It was his artistic and commercial breakthrough, featuring captivating, crafty material such as "Samba de Orpheus," "O Nosso Amor," "Générique," and "Manha de Carnaval." Each of these four songs were part of the score for the smash hit French/Portuguese film Black Orpheus, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.
The success was perfect timing for Guaraldi and a crop of fine jazz musicians who were making the most of the recent Latin and bossa nova craze to hit America in the mid-'60s. Original hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" went on to win a gold record award at the 1963 Grammy Awards for Best Instrumental Jazz Composition. Guaraldi put together charming renditions of "On Green Dolphin Street" and "Jitterbug Waltz" for his 1962 release, In Person. A scintillating performance with guest saxophonist Paul Winter and guitarist Bola Sete put the piano composer into some candid company in early 1963 with his record Jazz Casual. In the following years, though the recording dates are unknown, Guaraldi brought with him his talents and playing experience to record a special tribute to the armed forces, this time on a well-praised record entitled The Navy Swings. The record's title reflects a weekly 15-minute public radio broadcast that gave jazz musicians an opportunity to get their music heard in the 1960s. Made during the height of Guaraldi's sessions with Sete, the time spent over the radio waves was splendid and magical to say the least.
With the creation of the much-heralded A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Vince Guaraldi got his first chance to dive into the genius mind of Charles Schultz, composing music with great charm and grace. Although the special was not aired on network television, Guaraldi used his time to begin his magical quest to score some of his greatest music, all boosting Schultz's Peanuts gang to greater fame. It was the 1964's "Linus and Lucy" theme that propelled the pianist and cartoon artist into the stratosphere, later being released on future Peanuts collections, including the warm and reflective masterpiece A Charlie Brown Christmas, released and first broadcast to a national television audience on December 9, 1965. Peanuts fans and American's alike were hooked to the insatiable and delightful tunes of Guaraldi. A Charlie Brown Christmas would go on to be respected as the most requested and the most heralded of all holiday jazz albums. With Fred Marshall on bass and Jerry Granelli on drums, the album unfolds in magical and radiant fashion. The trio prances through delightful gems such as "Skating," a tune that captures the essence of falling snow with flair, and the energetic "Christmas Is Coming." Thrown in for good measure are the uniquely paced "Greensleeves" and the soothing "Christmas Song."
Though much of his fame has been centered on his musical exposure with the Peanuts gang, Guaraldi continued to create breathtaking music on the ebony and ivory keys well into the mid-'70s. An eclectic and beautifully arranged record, Alma-Ville was perhaps one of Guaraldi's finest achievements as a pianist and composer. Given a five-star rating by critics and audiences alike, the Warner Bros. album was a strange and rare find, though the playing is deemed marvelous, with the artist's ever-growing talent and shining potential ever so apparent. Along with some featured uptempo pieces and fast sambas, the cut "The Masked Marvel" is a must-listen. With such tremendous grace and majestic prowess, Vince Guaraldi will always live in the minds and hearts of jazz and music fans of all ages who dare to open their ears to such gracefully played music.
He died on February 6, 1976, leaving behind his work in 15 Peanuts television specials and one full-length feature film. Despite his popularity during the time of the '60s, it is known that Guaraldi didn't release any records for a long while after 1969, giving listeners only three records to taste his life and his music. In 1998, Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits was released on the Fantasy label, which gives the listener a great palette of Guaraldi's original compositions, a cheerful jazz treat. ~ Shawn M. Haney, All Music Guide
His first recording was made in November 1953 with Cal Tjader and came out early in 1954. The early 10 inch LP was called The Cal Tjader Trio, included "Chopsticks Mambo," "Vibra-Tharpe," and "Lullaby of the Leaves." By 1955, Guaraldi had his own trio with Eddie Duran and Dean Reilly. He then reunited with Cal Tjader in June, 1956 and was an integral part of two great bands that the vibraphonist assembled. The first band played mainly straight jazz and included Al Torre (drums), Eugene Wright (bass) and Luis Kant (congas and bongos). The second band was formed in the spring of 1958 and included Al McKibbon (bass), Mongo Santamaria (congas and bongos) and Willie Bobo (drums and timbales). Reed men Paul Horn and Jose ‘Chombo’ Silva were also added to the group for certain live performances and recordings. He made a big splash with his performance with Tjader at the 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival.
Guaraldi left the group early in 1959 to pursue his own projects full time. He probably would have remained a well-respected but minor jazz figure had he not written an original number to fill out his covers of Antonio Carlos Jobim/Luis Bonfá tunes on his 1962 album, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, inspired by the French/Brazilian film Black Orpheus, which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Fantasy released "Samba de Orpheus" as a single, trying to catch the building bossa nova wave, but it was destined to sink without a trace when radio DJs began flipping it over and playing the B-side, Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind." A gentle, likeable tune, it stood out from everything else on the airwaves, and became a grass-roots hit. It also won the Best Original Jazz Composition. While "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" by Guaraldi achieved modest chart success as a single in 1963, a cover version two years later by British group Sounds Orchestral cracked the Billboard top 10 (in the spring of 1965). Unlike many songwriters who grow weary of their biggest hits, Guaraldi never minded taking requests to play it when he appeared live. "It's like signing the back of a check," he once remarked.
Nevertheless, his most recognized tune is "Linus and Lucy" from A Charlie Brown Christmas, a song which is known by fans worldwide as the musical signature of the Peanuts franchise.
Compositions for Charles Schulz's Peanuts
While searching for just the right music to accompany a planned Peanuts television documentary, Lee Mendelson (the producer of the special) heard a single version of "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Vince Guaraldi's trio on the radio while traveling in a taxicab on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. Mendelson contacted Ralph J. Gleason, jazz columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and was put in touch with Guaraldi. He proposed that Guaraldi score the upcoming Peanuts Christmas special and Guaraldi enthusiastically took the job, performing a version of what became "Linus and Lucy" over the phone two weeks later. The soundtrack was recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, whose other members were Puzzy Firth standing in bassist for band member Fred Marshall, who was ill at the time, and drummer Jerry Granelli. Guaraldi went on to compose scores for sixteen Peanuts television specials, plus the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown as well as the unaired television program of the same name.
Death
Guaraldi died of a heart attack at age 47 on February 6, 1976. He was found in a room at the Red Cottage Inn, where he had been relaxing between sets at Butterfield's nightclub in Menlo Park, California. Guaraldi had just finished recording the soundtrack for It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown earlier that afternoon.
Guaraldi's untimely passing was a blow to his colleagues. "It was totally unexpected," said Peanutsexecutive producerLee Mendelson. "The day of his funeral, they played the Charlie Brown music over the sound system in the church. It was not an easy day; he was so young. It was one of the saddest days of my life. He was up to my house the night before [his death], and said he had not been feeling well, and didn't know what it was." Peanuts animator Bill Meléndez added, "He was a real good guy and we miss him."[1]
After Guaraldi's death, the music for the Peanuts series was composed first by San Francisco film and television composer Ed Bogas, who scored several Peanuts TV specials and motion pictures up to the early 1990s, along with Bogas' future wife Desirée Goyette, and occasionally, Judy Munsen. A few times, Bogas did his own arrangements of Guaraldi's "Linus And Lucy" theme as a nod to the musician (most notably in It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown and What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown!).
Noted jazz musician David Benoit has often credited Guaraldi and the original Peanuts Christmas special music for his interest in jazz. In 1985, Benoit recorded a cover of Guaraldi's "Linus and Lucy" for an album called This Side Up, which enjoyed considerable radio airplay and helped launch the smooth jazz genre.
In 2003, a heretofore unknown live performance of the eight-part "Charlie Brown Suite" was released, restored from tapes in private collection of pianist George Winston.
Discography
Albums as leader or co-leader
1955 Modern Music from San Francisco
1956 Vince Guaraldi Trio
1957 A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing
1962 Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus (also known as "Cast Your Fate to the Wind: Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus")
1963 Vince Guaraldi In Person
1963 Vince Guaraldi, Bola Sete and Friends
1964 The Latin Side Of Vince Guaraldi
1964 Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown
2006 Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues from the Charlie Brown Television Specials (previously unreleased recordings from 1972–1975)
2008 Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues from the Charlie Brown Television Specials: Volume 2
2008 Live on the Air
2009 Essential Standards (Compilation album by Fantasy Records)
2009 The Definitive Vince Guaraldi (Compilation album by Fantasy Records including two previously unreleased tracks)[2]
Notable appearances on other albums
1953 The Cal Tjader Trio (Guaraldi's first recorded session)
1956 Introducing Gus Mancuso (w / Cal Tjader)
1957 Jazz At The Blackhawk (Cal Tjader Quartet)
1957 Cal Tjader (Cal Tjader Quartet)
1957 Conte Candoli Quartet
1958 Mas Ritmo Caliente (Cal Tjader)
1958 Stan Getz/Cal Tjader Sextet (all-star studio session that includes a long version of Guaraldi's piece "Ginza")
1958 Latin Concert (Cal Tjader Quintet)
1959 A Night At The Blackhawk (Cal Tjader Sextet)
1959 Latin For Lovers (Cal Tjader with Strings)
1959 Tjader Goes Latin (Cal Tjader)
1959 West Coast Jazz In Hifi (Richie Kamuca / Bill Holman)
1960 Little Band, Big Jazz (The Conte Candoli All Stars)
1974 Jimmy Witherspoon & Ben Webster – Previously Unissued Recordings (1960s session from Verve Records archive; the Black Orpheus incarnation of Guaraldi's trio supports the two leaders)
Albums showcasing or featuring Vince Guaraldi's music
