The Vince Guaraldi Trio • Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus
Analogue Productions/Fantasy AJAZ-8089
Two 45-RPM 180g LPs
1962/2003
A while ago I was clicking around YouTube looking at various turntable videos, when I stumbled across one playing a beautiful piece of music (unfortunately, I can’t seem to find that video now). After a bit of digging through the Related Videos, I discovered that the track I liked so much was Cast Your Fate to the Wind, from the 1962 record Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that not only was the record available on vinyl, it was part of Analogue Productions’ Fantasy 45 Series. So I ordered a copy.
Remastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray at AcousTech Mastering’s facility at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), the Fantasy 45 Series is cut at 45 RPM, and pressed by RTI onto two thick 180g slabs of virgin vinyl. Cutting at 45 RPM results in better sound quality than the more usual 33 RPM because the undulations of the groove are stretched out over a longer distance. To maximise the sound quality, each pressing is limited to only 1,000 numbered copies.
Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus is Vince Guaraldi’s interpretation of four pieces of music from Antoinio Carlos Jobin’s soundtrack to the 1959 movie, Black Orpheus. The album also includes two standards and two compositions by Guaraldi, the most famous of which is Cast Your Fate to the Wind.
I’ve not heard an original pressing of this record so I can’t tell you how this reissue compares to it. But I can tell you that Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray have done a wonderful job. The surface of my copy was silent and blemish free. The clarity, dynamics, and top-to-bottom coherency are fantastic, belying this recording’s age.
Imaging is for the most part fine, with Vince Guaraldi’s piano dead centre, Colin Bailey’s drums usually towards the rear left of the sound stage, and Monte Budwig’s bass usually front right. However, a few of the tracks—notably Moon River and Since I Fell For You—seem to be biased to the right channel (this is particularly noticeable with the drums). Also, the drum kit on Alma-Ville sounds like it’s 15 feet wide! I assume that all of these are artistic choices by the original producers, rather than mastering or pressing faults.
Musically, my favourite tracks are Manha De Carnaval, Alma-Ville, and of course, Cast Your Fate To the Wind. I’m a relative newcomer to the jazz genre, but I like Guaraldi’s work. Sure, $50 for one record is not an insignificant investment. But it is worth every penny: if you’re a Vince Guaraldi fan, you owe it to yourself to snap up a copy of this record before they’re all gone.