New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Omnivore Recordings will release two titles from pianist Vince Guaraldi on July 6, 2018: The Complete Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Recordings (encompassing three Warner Bros.-Seven Arts albums: Oh, Good Grief!, The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi and Alma-Ville), as a two-CD set with four previously unreleased bonus tracks; and the classic Oh, Good Grief! album, on translucent red vinyl.
Many people got to know Guaraldi through his 1963 Grammy®-winning song, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," or via the group
Sounds Orchestral's Top 10 cover of it two years later. Lee Mendelson heard Guaraldi's version while working on a Peanuts documentary; he contacted the pianist and asked him to score that project. Although Mendelson wasn't able to sell that documentary to network television, he and Guaraldi subsequently reunited for what became the first Peanuts television special, A
Charlie Brown Christmas. It was a match that made TV and musical history. With songs like "Linus and Lucy" the show was a hit, and for more than five decades not a holiday season has gone by without an airing. So potent and successful was the Peanuts/Guaraldi combination that the jazz pianist went on to score a total of 15 Peanuts television specials, a 1969 documentary and the debut feature film that same year.
In 1968, Vince made a label switch from his long-time home, Fantasy Records, to Warner Bros. Records. For his inaugural album, Oh, Good Grief!, he decided to re-interpret his Peanuts classics. In addition to the instantly recognizable Guaraldi sound of piano, bass, and drums, he added electric guitar and electric harpsichord to the mix. The record was a smash hit.
For its 50th anniversary, Oh, Good Grief! will be presented by Omnivore Recordings the way the world first heard it — as stated on the original release's back cover, "on shiny black vinyl." Well, actually, this special edition is "on shiny redvinyl." Mastered by
Kevin Gray and pressed at world-class record-pressing plant RTI, this timeless album has never sounded better.
Following Oh, Good Grief!, 1969's The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi lived up to its title and found the pianist experimenting: There's a large string section, Guaraldi's first recorded vocals (covering the singer/songwriter Tim Hardin), and original compositions that could be described as lengthy rock jams.
Guaraldi's last album for the label and final-ever album, 1970's Alma-Ville, ranks among his best-ever releases. Six of the nine songs on this "return to jazz" project were Guaraldi originals; the set was recorded with several different ensembles. Besides the original compositions, Alma-Ville finds Guaraldi covering the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," which had become a staple of his live performances; Duke Pearson's "Cristo Redentor"; and the Michel Legrand/Norman Gimbel song "Watch What Happens."
Guaraldi's three albums for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts have been produced for reissue by Grammy Award-winning Omnivore Cheryl Pawelski; remastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Graves; and will be available from Omnivore as The Complete Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Recordings. Guaraldi's official biographer, Derrick Bang, wrote the liner notes.
Track Listings:
Oh, Good Grief!
Linus & Lucy
You're In Love, Charlie Brown
Peppermint Patty
Great Pumpkin Waltz
It's Your Dog, Charlie Brown
Oh, Good Grief!
Red Baron
Rain, Rain Go Away
The Complete Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Recordings:
Linus And Lucy
You're In Love Charlie Brown
Peppermint Patty
Great Pumpkin Waltz
He's Your Dog,
Charlie Brown (a.k.a. It's Your Dog, Charlie Brown)
Oh, Good Grief!
Red Baron
Rain, Rain Go Away
Nobody Else
Lucifer's Lady
Black Sheep Boy
Once I Loved
The Beat Goes On
Yesterday
Coffee And Doe-Nuts
Reason To Believe
It Was A Very Good Year
Do You Know The Way To San Jose (Take 15, previously unissued)
The Beat Goes On (Take 14, previously unissued)
Oh, Happy Day (previously unissued)
The Share Cropper's Daughter (previously unissued)
The Masked Marvel
Cristo Redentor
Detained In San Ysidro
Eleanor Rigby
Uno y Uno
Alma-Ville
Rio From The Air
Watch What Happens (From The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg)
Jimbo's (a.k.a. Jambo's)
