Music News

Vince Guaraldi’s Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus gets deluxe reissue for 60th anniversary

By 2022/09/28

Vince Guaraldi

Credit:courtesy of Concord

Vince Guaraldi’s breakthrough album Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus is getting an expanded reissue with 12 previously unreleased selections in celebration of its 60th anniversary.

Released by Craft Recordings, the new edition of the 1962 album features 16 total bonus tracks, including outtakes and alternate takes of nearly every track on the record.

Before Vince Guaraldi’s name became synonymous with the beloved Peanuts animated specials, he was a rising star in the West Coast jazz scene. He released his self-titled debut album in 1956 and followed it with A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing in 1957. But it was only five years later when the pianist released his third album that he settled into his own as a leader and established his signature style.

Featuring the Grammy-winning hit Cast Your Fate to the Wind, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus served as Guaraldi’s creative and commercial breakthrough and turned him into a household name.

The new reissue of Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus features newly remastered audio by engineer Paul Blakemore. Produced by Nick Phillips, the original album is cut from the original master, while the bonus material was transferred from the original analog tapes. The triple-LP and double-CD physical formats come with new, in-depth liner notes by jazz writer Andrew Gilbert.

Craft is also releasing a limited vinyl pressing of the original eight-track album as part of their Small Batch series.

Recorded in 1961, the album contains both original compositions and covers of songs from the Oscar-winning film Black Orpheus. It was recorded by the trio of Guaraldi, drummer Colin Bailey and bassist Monty Budwig.

“Guaraldi, Budwig, and Bailey interpreted the Black Orpheus material with impressive care and feeling,” Gilbert writes in the liner notes, adding that the rhythm section’s work “stands the test of time, effectively articulating a North American impression of the bossa nova pulse.”