Vince Guaraldi Live

Despite the co-billing, Sete only appears on the second half of the album, leaving the Guaraldi trio to knock out a crisp series of standard pop tunes of the time ("I'm a Loser," "People," "More") and two memorable Guaraldi originals ("Nobody Else," "El Matador") in its patented mainstream and Latin modes in the first half. When Sete turns up, the set goes all-Brazilian as the two display their blended, intertwined teamwork for the third and last time on records in "Favela" and a brace of tunes from Black Orpheus. Though it is only a partial collaboration, this album has a bit more fire than their previous ones, possibly due to the live factor.

The first and third of the three albums Vince Guaraldi and Bola Sete made together - Vince Guaraldi/Bola Sete & Friends (1963) and Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete Live at El Matador (1966) - are combined onto one disc on this CD reissue. Actually, Sete only plays on two of the seven songs ("More" and "O Morro Nao Tem Vez") on the latter album, but no matter. Their collaboration could not be pegged as a peak in either man's careers, and did not particularly inspire either to forms or feelings they didn't achieve on their own. Nevertheless, they made pleasant, lightly swinging music together, often with a jazz-samba lilt, though at an easy enough pace that the music could fit comfortably into lounges. Vince Guaraldi/Bola Sete & Friends is certainly the more samba-oriented of the pair, not only because Sete is aboard for every cut, but also because the arrangements have more of a Brazilian feel…

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 (namely the Charlie Brown seasonal specials scores and soundtracks for which his name has become synonymous), a medium where cookie-cutter pop music was traditionally the order of the day.

Though Guaraldi had a little over six more years to live, this was his last commercial release; thus one must rely upon memories of the Peanuts specials for his considerable musical growth during the '70s (particularly in his airborne use of electronic keyboards). This time, producer Shorty Rogers imposed some discipline upon Guaraldi's increasingly eclectic pursuits and pulled an engaging straight jazz album from him, where the focus is primarily on his melodic swinging piano work in his usual mainstream and Latin grooves. The sidemen include many of Guaraldi's colleagues from the Fantasy days and top-flight guests, with the pungent guitar of Herb Ellis featured most prominently, and Guaraldi even takes a rudimentary electric guitar solo himself on "Uno y Uno"…

Scott LaFaro - Deep In A Dream: Live In 1958 (2012) {SSJ Japan DSD Mini LP Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 156 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 93 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar | DSD Remaster
© 1958, 2012 SS of Japan / Pacific Delights | XQAM-1619
Jazz / Cool / Modal Music / Bass

Rare reissue of historic recordings by Scott LaFaro. New DSD remastering. Scott LaFaro left us a very small number of recordings due to his untimely death in 1961. He was a genius who developed a revolutionary way of playing the bass. Whether recorded live or in studio, these recordings are all worth listening to. This album consists of three ABC Stars of Jazz TV probrams as well as a very rare rehearsal session at Bob Andrews' Recordville, the record store belonging to Andrews, the famous devotee of the West Coast jazz scene. All are 1958 performances while LaFaro was with the Victor Feldman group. Recommended for fans of Scott LaFaro!

Live at the Philharmonie was the Dave Pike Set's third record for MPS in the year 1969 alone; Noisy Silence-Gentle Noise (MPS 15215) and the stellar Four Reasons (MPS 15253) preceded it. One of the most interesting ideas about this amazing set of music concerns the notorious circumstances under which it was recorded, at the 1969 Berlin Jazz Days festival. The reason for this is the year itself: Miles Davis and his group had brought their fiery brand of electricity to jazz and its reverberations were being heard the world over. At the same time, prog rock and Krautrock were making their heads (considered ugly by jazz purists) known in the guises of Can, Neu!, Amon Düül, and Faust. Add to this Charlie Mariano's great band, the new hip embracing of rock culture by the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, Peter Herbolzheimer's Rhythm Combination & Brass, and any number of other groups, and Berlin was in a state of tension. The wild thing is, everybody agreed on Pike's group – it was the bridge between the jazz tradition, what was transpiring, and what was to come.