1. Samba de Orfeu (aka Samba de Orpheus)
2. Manha de Carnaval
3. O Nosso Amor
4. Felicidade
5. Cast Your Fate to the Wind
6. Moon River
7. Alma-Ville
8. Since I Fell for You
Bonus Tracks
9. Samba de Orfeu (single version)
10. Manha de Carnaval (take 2)
11. O Nosso Amor (take 2)
12. Felicidade (take 3)
13. Cast Your Fate to the Wind (take 3)
Vince Guaraldi - Piano
Monty Budwig - Bass
Colin Bailey - Drums
As much as fate played a role in the story of the characters Orpheus and Eurydice in the Marcel Camus film Black Orpheus, so did fate also intervene in the career of Vince Guaraldi. Up until the time he recorded the music from the movie Black Orpheus, Guaraldi was an appealing but lesser-known jazz pianist with an unimportant career. The samba-infused score that Antonio Carlos Jobim and Luis Bonfa wrote for the movie produced four seminal tunes that Guaraldi used as the hallmark for his recording: Samba de Orfeu, Manha de Carnaval, O Nosso Amor and Felicidade. Given the opportunity to showcase his piano style, Guaraldi demonstrates a deft right-hand which engages the melody, and then develops the improvisational phrasing to deliver a distinctive sound.
Needing another samba-themed piece to complete the thread of the album, Guaraldi added an original tune Cast Your Fate to the Wind which, as "fate" would have it, became a Billboard hit. As a result the album was pulled into jazz chart territory, and ultimately provided a Grammy for Best Original Jazz Composition, all of which propelled Guaraldi's career to another level.
In terms of the other tunes on the disc, two deserve further mention. The Mancini-Mercer composition Moon River gives Guaraldi an opportunity to deliver the song's wistful statement in an arrangement that is faithful to its intention, without being maudlin. The Buddy Johnson composition Since I Fell For You shows the bluesy side of Guaraldi, and does not detract in any way from the overall samba flavour that is the motif of the album.
As for the bonus tracks, while interesting, they are simply longer or shorter versions of the main tunes without adding anything new to the released interpretations.
Original Jazz Classics has done an excellent job in remastering this
album, which was initially issued by Fantasy Records. This was Guaraldi's
step forward album, and is an important link to the bossa nova period
that followed.
Pierre Giroux
CD Reviews
Original Jazz Classics Remasters 0888072323285
