Vince Guaraldi

Vince Guaraldi was a well-respected jazz pianist whose greatest success came from avenues usually closed to contemporary jazz artists: he enjoyed a hit single at a time when jazz had largely been exiled from the pop charts, and he scored a series of very successful animated television specials, a medium where cookie-cutter pop music was traditionally the order of the day. Vincent Anthony Guaraldi was born in San Francisco, California on July 17, 1928. A loyal son of the Bay Area, Guaraldi graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in the city's Sunset District, and after serving in the military during the Korean War, he returned home and enrolled at San Francisco State University. While attending college, Guaraldi developed a passion for the piano, sparked by the blues and boogie-woogie sounds of Jimmy Yancy, Albert Ammons, and Pete Johnson. When Guaraldi began following their example on the keyboard, he took a detour into jazz, exploring the work of Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans, as well as guitarist Tal Farlow (Guaraldi dabbled on the six-string as well), and he became a frequent visitor at San Francisco jazz clubs such as Jackson's Nook and The Black Hawk, occasionally sitting in with local acts such as Sonny Criss, Bill Harris, and Chubby Jackson. One of Guaraldi's first notable gigs was an intimidating booking, playing during intermissions at The Black Hawk during a residency by the legendary Art Tatum; Guaraldi pulled it off, and in 1951, he joined the trio of vibraphonist Cal Tjader, appearing on Tjader's first album for the prestigious San Francisco jazz imprint Fantasy Records. While Guaraldi soon left Tjader's group, he'd rejoin them in 1955 and was a frequent guest on Tjader's recording sessions, appearing on over a dozen albums with the vibraphonist, and performed with the group for their legendary late-night appearance at the 1958 Monterey Jazz Festival. In 1955, Guaraldi began performing with his own combo and appeared with his quartet on an album called Modern Music from San Francisco, which also featured the Ron Crotty Trio (Guaraldi accompanied Crotty on these sessions), and the Jerry Dodgion Quartet. Though Guaraldi made time for his own music, he also continued to accompany other acts, touring with Woody Herman's Thundering Herd and recording and playing out with Brew Moore, Conte Candoli, and Frank Rosolino, among others. Guaraldi's first full album with his own group, simply titled The Vince Guaraldi Trio, was issued by Fantasy in 1956, and featured the pianist with guitarist Eddie Duran and bassist Dean Reilly. Guaraldi's first big break came in 1962; with his new trio (Monty Budwig on bass and Colin Bailey on drums), he recorded an album called Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, in which the combo interpreted selections from Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luiz Bonfá's score for Marcel Camus' classic film. To fill out the album, Guaraldi included an original tune he'd written called "Cast Your Fate to the Wind." "Samba de Orpheus" was released as a single, with "Cast Your Fate" as the B-side; "Samba de Orpheus" attracted little notice, but a DJ at Sacramento radio station KROY heard "Cast Your Fate" and liked it enough to put it in regular rotation. Other stations followed suit and "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" became a hit, rising to the Top 20 of the pop charts and earning Guaraldi a gold record as well as a Grammy for Best Original Jazz Composition. (The single's unlikely success even prompted a television special on San Francisco's public television outlet KQED, entitled Anatomy of a Hit.) Following the success of "Cast Your Fate," Guaraldi recorded a handful of albums with guitarist Bola Sete and composed an unusual song cycle in which he and his trio accompanied the choir of San Francisco's Grace Cathedral for what Rev. Charles Gompertz called "a modern setting for the choral Eucharist."

But it was in 1964 that Guaraldi took his first step toward the music that would make him most famous. Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, a pair of television writers and producers, were working on a documentary about Charles Schulz, the creator of the popular comic strip Peanuts, and they approached Guaraldi to compose the score. The documentary never aired, but when Mendelson and Melendez teamed up with Schulz in 1965 to create an animated Christmas special featuring the Peanuts characters, they wanted a score with a different flavor than most Saturday morning cartoons, and once again asked Guaraldi to collaborate. A Charlie Brown Christmas was an immediate hit with audiences and critics alike, and has become a Yuletide perennial, broadcast every December, and Guaraldi's score -- by turns full of contemplative beauty and brimming with high-spirited joy -- was cited by many as one of the best things about the show. When Mendelson, Melendez, and Schulz began work on a second Peanuts special, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Guaraldi was again invited to write the music. He became an integral part of the production team behind the specials (generally at least one was produced each year), and also wrote music for the Peanuts-themed feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Guaraldi's work on the Peanuts projects kept him busy enough that he would release only six more albums during the rest of his recording career (including two albums for Warner Bros. that found him experimenting with electric instruments), though he kept up a schedule of live performances in addition to his television commitments. On February 6, 1976, Vince Guaraldi died of a heart attack in a hotel room in Menlo Park, California; he had completed recording of his score for It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown earlier in the day, and was resting between shows during a nightclub engagement when he collapsed and never woke up.

Mendelson and Melendez continued to produce Peanuts specials after Guaraldi's death, but they acknowledged the pianist was difficult to replace, and in 1992, with It's Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown, they went back to using Guaraldi's themes for the shows, as performed by David Benoit, a jazz pianist who has cited Guaraldi as a major influence. George Winston, Wynton & Ellis Marsalis, and Dave Brubeck have also paid homage to Guaraldi's music for the Peanuts specials, while a number of pop, rock, and hip-hop artists have recorded his pieces, including Danny Gatton, Gary Hoey, Pizzicato Five, and Game Theory.

from Wikipedia:

Vincent Anthony "Vince" Guaraldi (July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an Italian-American jazz musician and pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip. Guaraldi was born in San Francisco, California. He was the nephew of musician, singer, and whistler Muzzy Marcellino. Vince graduated from Lincoln High School, attended San Francisco State University, and served as an Army cook in the Korean War.

Italian American musical family

According to Laura E. Ruberto (2010):

"Vincent Anthony Guaraldi ... was born in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco and raised out in the Avenues, surrounded by an Italian American musical family, especially on his mother’s side. According to the pianist’s son Dave Guaraldi, Vince was adopted by Tony Guaraldi, after Vince’s mother, Cannella Guaraldi, neè Marcellino, split with his biological father, Vince Delaio (sp?). Guaraldi’s maternal grandfather hailed from Sicily and at least some part of his family emigrated first to New York before coming west."And although it was his mother who arranged for his piano lessons as a kid, it was his uncles, Joe, a violinist, and Muzzy, a singer, who introduced him to the world of professional music."

Early career and Grammy Award

Guaraldi's 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, and 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 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 Santamaría (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. Guaraldi 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 Records 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 Grammy for 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.

Guaraldi then recorded an album called Vince Guaraldi, Bola Sete, and Friends with guitarist Bola Sete, Fred Marshall (bass) and Jerry Granelli (drums). This began a period of collaboration between Guaraldi and Sete where Guaraldi began experimenting with bossa nova-influenced music as well as with the electric piano. This led to the recording and release of his album The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi. Shortly after this, Guaraldi undertook the role of composer and pianist for the Eucharist chorus at the San Francisco Grace Cathedral. Utilizing his Latin influences from his bossa nova days with Bola Sete, Guaraldi composed a number of pieces with waltz tempos and jazz standards and later recorded this performance in 1965.

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, with drummer Jerry Granelli, and Puzzy Firth standing in for bassist Fred Marshall, who was ill at the time. Guaraldi went on to compose scores for seventeen 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 at age 47 on February 6, 1976. The evening before, he had dined at Peanuts producer Lee Mendelson's home, and was reportedly not feeling well, complaining of indigestion-like chest discomfort that his doctor had told him was nothing to worry about. The following evening, after concluding the first set at Butterfield's Nightclub in Menlo Park, California with his rousing interpretation of "Eleanor Rigby," Guaraldi and drummer Jim Zimmerman returned to the room they were staying in that weekend at the adjacent Red Cottage Inn, to relax before the next set. Zimmerman commented, "He (Vince) was walking across the room and just collapsed. That was it." His cause of death has been variously described as a heart attack or an aortic aneurysm. 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 Peanuts executive producer Lee 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."

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. Bogas also 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!).

Legacy

The first definitive, book-length biography of Guaraldi is scheduled for release in early 2012. Vince Guaraldi at the Piano, by author and noted Guaraldi archivist Derrick Bang, chronicles Guaraldi's career and role in the Northern California jazz scene, and also will include a complete discography and filmography.

David Benoit

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. He released "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the album Waiting for Spring in 1989.

George Winston

New Age pianist George Winston released a Guaraldi tribute album in 1996 entitled Linus and Lucy – The Music of Vince Guaraldi. Winston performed many Peanuts songs that had not been released by Guaraldi himself. "I love his melodies and his chord progressions", Winston said of Guaraldi. "He has a really personal way of doing voicings." The album was very successful, leading Winston to record a follow-up entitled Love Will Come – The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Volume 2, released in early 2010.

In 2003, a heretofore unknown live performance of the eight-part "Charlie Brown Suite" was released on the album The Charlie Brown Suite & Other Favorites. The performance was culled from tapes in Winston's private collection.