Vince Guaraldi Trio • Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus Fantasy Records/Craft Recordings CR00503
Nothing announces "major" status as well as a series of super-premium LPs, especially of the music Craft Recordings has at its disposal. Craft launched the Small Batch One Step series in 2021 with John Coltrane's Lush Life, following that up with titles from Yusef Lateef, Miles Davis and now Vince Guaraldi. One Step eliminates two processes and two sets of metal parts, putting the stampers two steps closer to the master tapes. Each One Step release is pressed using Neotech’s VR900 compound, among whose claimed merits are a reduction in surface noise. The earliest of Craft's One Step releases sold out quickly, due to pressing runs of 1000 copies. I'm sure I wasn't alone in trying to buy both immediately after release and coming up empty. There were 6000 copies of Miles Davis's Relaxin', and Craft still has some copies for sale. For Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, Craft settled on 3000 -- a happy medium that should ensure no quick sellout. Many know pianist Vince Guaraldi from his music for Peanuts TV specials, especially A Charlie Brown Christmas, but he had a successful performing and recording career as leader of his own trio. He is, to my ears, one of the most recognizable jazz pianists, his sunny tone complementing his light touch, which gives his playing a luminous, ringing quality. Black Orpheus in the title refers to the Marcel Camus film from 1959, which won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film and the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie sets the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with its journey to the underworld, during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. The film's soundtrack, composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfá, is often credited for spurring the bossa nova craze in the 1960s. Guaraldi's trio included Monty Budwig on bass and Colin Bailey on drums; their music here was not used in the film, hence the phrase "jazz impressions" in the album's title. (The man and woman embracing on the album's cover are also not in the movie.) The eight Latin-flavored numbers, most written by Bonfá, have boppish swing and charm in abundance. It's music that's easy to like, even for listeners with only a peripheral interest in jazz. This may be why Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," which was released as the B side of the 45rpm single of "Samba de Orpheus," became a rare jazz hit.
As for the sound, it's glorious, aided by the LP's digital-like quietness. The instruments are well separated, the bass is detailed and taut, and each note of Guaraldi's piano projects with an airy glow. Analogue Productions reissued Jazz Impressions... on a pair of 45rpm LPs [Fantasy/Analogue Productions 8089], and its sound is definitely darker and thicker than that of the Craft One Step. I also have three original LPs [Fantasy 3337], all in mono and pressed on red vinyl. While the perspectives of the stereo One Step and mono pressings are different, the lighter tonal balance and better delineation of the instruments are very similar. If you believe that original pressings are the standard against which all others should be judged, you'll find that this Jazz Impressions... upholds your belief. I would go further and say that the air and "aura" (for lack of a better word) around the instruments, especially Guaraldi's piano, are unusual and more like what I've heard from master tapes (the couple of times I've heard them) than from the original pressings. Craft's packaging is deluxe: a glossy tip-on sleeve with high-quality printing fits into a handsome outer slipcase, but there's no fumbling or frustration when you want to get the record out. You pull on the end of an integral ribbon and the sleeve slides out. The included large booklet has text written by Derrick Bang, a Vince Guaraldi scholar, and it's packed with relevant information. I learned more than a few things from it. Craft has also released an expanded edition of Jazz Impressions... on three LPs or two CDs. It uses conventional techniques and packaging, and it includes many previously unreleased alternate tracks. I've not heard it, but it's now on my "must buy" list. Craft's One Step Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
is in a small group of the very best reissues I've come across, regardless of label. It
was created with extreme care, and it lives up to the goal of being closer in sound to
master tape. It's an LP with music and sound to savor. |
raft Recordings has quietly
become a major reissue label, its releases rivaling those of Mobile Fidelity, Analogue
Productions and Impex for overall quality. But Craft has a gigantic advantage over these
and other labels reissuing LPs: direct access to significant music. Craft is a subsidiary
of Concord Music, which owns a vast and historically important catalogue of labels.
Fantasy, Prestige, Riverside, and Contemporary are all in the pantheon of jazz labels, and
they are only four of nearly two dozen under the Concord umbrella. In addition to the
choice of material, Craft has done its reissues right: using the master tapes as
source materials; hiring experienced engineers, including Kevin Gray and Bernie Grundman;
and pressing its records at RTI in California -- audiophile cred in spades.
