Vince Guaraldi Trio
1. Django
2. Fenwyck’s Farfel
3. Never Never Land
4. Chelsea Bridge
5. Fascinating Rhythm
6. The Lady’s In Love With You
7. Sweet And Lovely
8. Ossobucco
9. Three Coins In The Fountain
10. It’s De-Lovely
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing
1. A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing
2. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise
3. Yesterdays
4. Like A Mighty Rose ( aka Room At The Bottom)
5. Looking For A Boy
6. Autumn Leaves
7. Lonely Girl
8. Willow Weep For Me
Vince Guaraldi - Piano
Eddie Duran - Guitar
Dean Reilly - Bass
In music as well as in life, sometimes good luck is better than good management. For Vince Guaraldi, it may have been good luck times two. In 1960, a movie
called Black Orpheus won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film. In 1962, Guaraldi recorded an album of music from the film entitled Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus which included one of his own tunes Cast Your Fate To The Wind in order to fill out the album. This
number was later released as a single and generated some airplay on popular music stations. Coincidentally, a producer of a forthcoming TV special based on
the characters from the Peanuts comic strip was looking for a composer to write the music for the programme. The producer approached Guaraldi who
undertook the assignment, and with the release of A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, his future was assured.
Vince Guaraldi recorded the two albums contained in this release in 1956 and 1957. While he was a musician of some renown on the West Coast, he had yet to
establish a broader reputation. At the time in California, there was a surfeit of similarly styled pianists such as Russ Freeman, Hampton Hawes, Lou Levy
and Claude Williamson: all strong single-note players cut from the same Bud Powell cloth. The trio format employed by Guaraldi with piano, bass, and guitar
was a familiar iteration to jazz fans as both Oscar Peterson and Ahmad Jamal early in their careers, were adherents to the style.
The Vince Guaraldi Trio sessions were, for the most part, easy-listening ballads that showcased Guaraldi’s light touch. The cover of John Lewis’ Django is done with a nicely swinging slower tempo, aided by some nifty acoustic guitar work from Eddie Duran. Betty Comden-Adolph Green-Jule
Styne wrote Never Never Land for the Broadway musical Peter Pan, and here Guaraldi does a lovely solo turn on the composition. Billy
Strayhorn's Chelsea Bridge is offered in attractive fashion and clearly Guaraldi is in tune with the composer’s intent. Fascinating Rhythm is a hard-charging, up-tempo take on the number, and shows that Guaraldi can command the full keyboard when the spirit moves
him. That same infectiousness is evident on the closing selection of this set which is Cole Porter’s It’s De-Lovely. Guaraldi is
more percussive on the keys than on some of the other numbers, and Duran runs the guitar’s fretboard with ease.
A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing
is somewhat of a continuation of the prior album, in that the material is popular romantic ballads structured around the theme of trees, flowers, and time.
Composer Billy Strayhorn reappears with the lovely title track A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing. Guaraldi with his soft touch gives it a polished
treatment. Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Sigmund Romberg for the operetta The New Moon swings along
with gusto, which in addition to Guaraldi’s spiffy solo, gives guitarist Duran a chance to flex his chops. Guaraldi penned the composition Like A Mighty Rose (aka Room At The Bottom). It has a classical feel with some Chopinesque note structure, before segueing into a more standard
jazz form. Nothing weighty here, but it is a pleasant offering.
Bobby Troup wrote Lonely Girl which has an interesting theme, upon which Guaraldi and the trio move into a swinging groove. It features some tight
interplay, with bassist Reilly and guitarist Duran at the forefront. The closing offering is Willow Weep For Me which has a slow bluesy rhythm, on
which Guaraldi demonstrates that he is a musician of subtlety and sensitivity.
Pierre Giroux
CD Reviews
Poll Winners Records 
