Vince Guaraldi

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." Curiously, not a word about Guaraldi's Peanuts scores -- his primary activity at the time -- is mentioned in the liner notes (deliberately, no doubt), and the only hint of a connection is the leadoff tune, "The Masked Marvel." Alma-Ville became available again in 2005, courtesy of the Wounded Bird label. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide