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Very good stuff. I LOVE the Charlie Brown Christmas music. Decided to see what else was available from Vince Guaraldi and got this.
Lucky", and of course the best known of his works outside of Charlie Brown, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind". The CD contains the prerequisite "Linus and Lucy", as well as several standards like "Mr. I bought this CD to have a good reference work for Vince Guaraldi, and it did not disappoint. Although he is world famous for his Charlie Brown specials music, and deservedly so, Vince was also an all-around great jazz musician as well as composer.
Great light jazz. I've had this CD in the player for weeks now. If you don't own any other Guaraldi CDs, this is an absolute. Makes for perfect ambiance music. Even when I change the other CDs, I continue to leave this one in the number one spot. It's impossible to grow tired of it.
Awesome. Lucky" shows how facile Vince Guaraldi was at the piano; and I like the arrangement for the strings and percussion as well.Moreover, "Days Of Wine And Roses" already haunts me with its stunning beauty; the arrangement for guitar couldn't be better and when Vince comes in on the piano "Days Of Wine And Roses" truly takes flight. "Mr. Wow. Vince Guaraldi could play the piano alongside the best of them without ever missing a beat.
We are all better off for Vince sharing his magnificent artistry with us; and hopefully Vince Guaraldi will be fondly remembered for ages to come.Thank you, Vince. This number is a fine ending to this incredible album.The liner notes give us an excellent color photo of Vince on the front; and we get the song credits as well. There is a brief essay by Gene Santoro.Vince Guaraldi never failed to turn in anything except a stellar performance; and he made it sound so easy even though we know it really wasn't. Watch out--this number is so refined, you'll want to jump up and start dancing wherever you are.
"Mr. His genius and creativity lead him to produce some mighty beautiful music at the piano; and this CD easily shows us how he did it.The CD track set begins with "Cast Your Fate To The Wind." Vince plays with sensitivity and he handles subtle tempo and key changes like the pro he always was. "Linus And Lucy" also features some terrific percussion and drums to help the melody shine even brighter. "Linus And Lucy" comes from A Charlie Brown Christmas; but this excellent jazzy number could be enjoyed any day of the year. "Outra Vez" is another highlight of this fine album.The CD ends with three "Peanuts" related numbers; as you may well know Vince Guaraldi did a lot of work playing piano on the number for the "Peanuts" Christmastime TV special entitled A Charlie Brown Christmas and other Peanuts TV specials as well. "Oh, Good Grief." is a peppy, jazzy little number that features how well Vince could take a simply melody and make it sound orchestral and majestic.
The CD ends with "Christmas Time Is Here;" this number stuns me with its beauty and I'm sure you will enjoy it, too. How elegant.
Vince plays this with such sensitivity and grace that he makes "Christmas Time Is Here" both an instant classic--as it was and still is--and a masterpiece. We miss you terribly.
"Christmas Time Is Here" begins with the piano and some gentle percussion; but make no mistake about it--Vince Guaraldi's piano playing remains completely in the spotlight. The percussion, drums and bass help the number along--but they leave Vince's piano playing squarely in the spotlight.
Listen for Vince to flawlessly jump back and forth between tempo and key changes without the slightest bit of effort. "Outra Vez" has a bossa nova type beat that is truly special; and Vince plays beautifully, never once missing a note.
Lucky" gets the royal Latin treatment from Vince and the others as they play this to perfection. The percussion also helps to make "Days Of Wine And Roses" a number I predict you'll enjoy very, very much.
Guaraldi's untimely death). It also features another original Guaraldi composition called "Treat Street" (it sounds like a mix between George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and the theme music from the Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, which would come out years after Mr. Lucky," and "Days of Wine and Roses" (featuring some impressive acoustic guitar licks from Bolo Sete).
Guaraldi is probably best known as the composer of the early Charlie Brown soundtracks from A Charlie Brown Christmas to It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. Guaraldi was a gifted pianist (although he was just as articulate on other keyboard instruments) and this CD mainly focuses on his 1960's contributions. Mr.
He covered standards like the meloncholy romantic "Mahna de Carnival," the Beatles "I'm a Loser," Henry Mancini's "Mr. Known for trying different styles, Brazilian influnces abound on "Outra Vez" and Latin influences on "Zelao." Of course, 3 standards from the Charlie Brown specials are included here, "Oh Good Grief," "Linus and Lucy" (one of his best known songs, otherwise known as the theme from all the Charlie Brown specials) and "Christmas Time Is Here." This one I recommend to anyone who likes good sounding jazz piano and of course, to anyone who thinks all Guaraldi played were scores for Charlie Brown. However, before the Peanuts gang set a literal animation foot, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" was perhaps what Vince Guaraldi was best known for.
The original version is included here and I remember hearing it as a kid as the theme to one classic rock radio show by one DJ based out in New York (WNEW FM, in fact).
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