Vince Guaraldi at the Piano

DERRICK BANG,

Derrick Bang

Contributor since 2012

Derrick is a film critic and the author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano.

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Vince Guaraldi at the Piano

Published: May 8, 2012

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This article appears in the prologue of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano by Derrick Bang (McFarland Books, 2012).

Prologue: "The Sound of Surprise"

Saturday, October 4, 1958: shortly after midnight, at the first-ever Monterey Jazz Festival.

It had been a busy day; indeed, it was already a long three-day weekend. Headliner Louis Armstrong Louis Armstrong
1901 - 1971
trumpet —introduced by emcee Dizzy Gillespie Dizzy Gillespie
1917 - 1993
trumpet —had helped lure a crowd of roughly 5,000 jazz fans to Friday evening's opening-night performances, although one critic was much more impressed by an earlier set from pianist Burt Bales' "boisterous, stomping band," with its crowd-pleasing riffs coming from clarinetist Vince Cattolica, trombonist Skip Morr and bassist Bill Smith.

Saturday afternoon brought sets by Rudy Salvini's Big Band, the Brew Moore/Dickie Mills Quintet, Med Flory Med Flory
b.1926
sax, tenor 's Big Band, the Leroy Vinnegar Leroy Vinnegar
1928 - 1999
bass, acoustic Quartet, the Mastersounds, and Shelly Manne and his Men; vocalist Betty Bennett concluded the "daytime" activities, although by now darkness already had fallen.

New emcee Bobby Troup Bobby Troup
1918 - 1999
piano brought Gillespie back to the stage in a performing capacity, as the jazz legend's quintet kicked off the Saturday evening program at close to 9 P.M. Gillespie was followed by the Jimmy Giuffre Jimmy Giuffre
1921 - 2008
clarinet Trio; they passed the torch to Gerry Mulligan Gerry Mulligan
1927 - 1996
sax, baritone 's combo, which boasted trumpeter Art Farmer Art Farmer
1928 - 1999
flugelhorn , bassist Bill Crow and drummer Dave Bailey. Mulligan's group then yielded the stage to the Max Roach Max Roach
1925 - 2007
drums Quintet. Next up: the Modern Jazz Quartet Modern Jazz Quartet

band/orchestra and vocalist Ernestine Anderson Ernestine Anderson
b.1928
vocal .

By now, the witching hour had come and gone. An appropriately eerie fog should have dampened spirits as the temperature—invariably chilly along the Monterey Peninsula, even during early autumn—dropped further. According to box-office receipts, 5,912 jazz fans were jammed together for this wonderful onslaught of music; they should have been tired, man!

Still to come, on Sunday, were the Dave Brubeck Dave Brubeck
1920 - 2012
piano Quartet, the Harry James Harry James
b.1916
trumpet Orchestra, Benny Carter Benny Carter
1907 - 2003
sax, alto , Buddy DeFranco Buddy DeFranco
b.1923
clarinet , Sonny Rollins Sonny Rollins
b.1930
saxophone and Lady Day herself—Billie Holiday Billie Holiday
1915 - 1959
vocal —along with return appearances by Gillespie, Mulligan, the Modern Jazz Quartet and many of the other musicians who had made Monterey their home for the cheerfully rowdy weekend.

Reasonable people therefore would have headed home to bed, in order to recharge for Sunday's rousing festival finish.

But no, here it was, after midnight Saturday—already into early Sunday, in other words—and the fans still wanted more. They had grooved to great licks from top-flight musicians—interrupted, far too often, by the roar of overhead planes flying to or from the Monterey Airport—and were worked up into a toe-tapping, finger-snapping frenzy.

At this late hour, facing a crowd that massive—that energized—even a seasoned celebrity might have thought twice before offering dessert after such a sumptuous, multi-course meal. Imagine, then, the likely anxiety of the five young men who quietly walked onto the stage. They even had to introduce themselves, Troup having retired for the night.

"It's getting kinda late in the morning ... early in the morning, late in the evening," the striking, clean-cut band leader fumbled. "I'm Cal Tjader Cal Tjader
1925 - 1982
vibraphone , and I'd like to introduce the guys in our regular quartet."

Tjader must have been gratified by the burst of applause resulting from these few words, because his voice became clearer and more confident. Polite clapping greeted each of his sidemen, as they were introduced in turn.

"We have, on piano, Vince Guaraldi ... and, on bass, Al McKibbon Al McKibbon
b.1919 ... and on drums, Willie Bobo Willie Bobo
1934 - 1983
percussion . And we're very happy to have, as a guest with our jazz quartet, the very wonderful clarinetist who needs no introduction at all, Buddy DeFranco.

"We'd like to start things off with George Gershwin's very wonderful tune from Porgy and Bess, 'Summertime.'"

The crowd murmured approval at this choice, then settled into quiet silence as Tjader's mallets gently and impeccably opened with a few bars from the opera's "Catfish Row" theme. Guaraldi, McKibbon and Bobo woke potentially drowsy listeners with four sharp unison fanfares; Tjader slowed the straight-time tempo to a crawl, almost a stop...

...and then the band launched into a bluesy arrangement of "Summertime" that would have had everybody dancing in the aisles, given enough room. DeFranco took the first bop-hued solo, Guaraldi's piano adding harmonic counterpoint as Bobo's drums rose, just slightly, in volume and intensity. McKibbon's bass slowly fought to the foreground as Bobo inserted a double-time riff, and then DeFranco surrendered the lead back to Tjader, and to the song's first spontaneous burst of applause.

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