Vince Guaraldi was a well-respected jazz pianist whose greatest success came from avenues usually closed to contemporary jazz artists: he enjoyed a hit single at a time when jazz had largely been exiled from the pop charts, and he scored a series of very successful animated television specials, a medium where cookie-cutter pop music was traditionally the order of the day.
Guaraldi's first full album with his own group, simply titled The Vince Guaraldi Trio, was issued by Fantasy in 1956, and featured the pianist with guitarist Eddie Duran and bassist Dean Reilly. Guaraldi's f...