{"id":2551,"date":"2012-11-03T10:49:21","date_gmt":"2012-11-03T14:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westwoodvalley.com\/?p=2551"},"modified":"2012-11-03T10:49:21","modified_gmt":"2012-11-03T14:49:21","slug":"my-musical-evolution-part-314-vince-guaraldi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wrharrison.com\/musicalevolution\/2012\/11\/03\/my-musical-evolution-part-314-vince-guaraldi\/","title":{"rendered":"My Musical Evolution – Part 314 Vince Guaraldi"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vince<\/a>In May of 1988, I felt that I had to move out of Stately Roach Manor<\/em>. I had to save money for my upcoming wedding and I really wasn’t doing anything at the house but sleeping for a few hours at night. It was time to move on. I have to take a moment to thank Aric for being the absolute best room mate I could have had. For two and a half years we had a harmonious blast of hollywood film proportions.<\/p>\n

My Musical Evolution <\/em> was still rather dormant as I moved back\u00a0 into my childhood home on Lincoln Court. Living with mom was different this time. I wasn’t doing anything that she would disapprove of and the grindstone was keeping my nose busy.\u00a0 A side effect is that I don’t have a clear era<\/em> attached to this period of my life. Roach Days Revisited <\/em>had come to an end and I’m just sort of floating here, waiting for the next phase to happen.<\/p>\n

In September of 1988, I began to purchase some music again. Not in the volumes I had in the previous years, just a few notable\u00a0things. I may have mentioned that I had always been a fan of Charlie Brown <\/em>music.\u00a0 Ever since I first saw It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown<\/em> back in the 1960’s , I’ve been drawn to the music. Back in The Academy Days, <\/em> I used to ask a musician friend named Charlie Jones to play what I now know as Linus And Lucy <\/em>on the piano in the audtiorium in Fuller Hall.<\/p>\n

As for my acquisition of this album Oh Good Grief!<\/em> I have to thank my friend Albert Gomez<\/em>.\u00a0 I must have mentioned my fondness for Charlie Brown<\/em> music that fall. I can only assume that it was in anticipation of the airing of Great Pumpkin.<\/em> To my surprise, he had a couple albums by The Vince Guaraldi Trio<\/em>. How lucky is that? Or was it some kind of destiny? It was just a short while later that I was able to find 3 Charlie Brown albums by The Vince Guaraldi Trio<\/em> at Musicland<\/em> in the mall. Musicland<\/em> was way more expensive than Wooden Nickel<\/em> but they alwasy seemed to have the more obscure stuff that I was looking for.<\/p>\n

Oh Good Grief! <\/em>is a fantastic album and I cannot thank Albert enough for making this connection for me. You have to remember that this was still a decade before the internet was a household utility and Shazam<\/em> couldn’t have run on cell phones if it had been invented and even if we had cell phones. Doesn’t that sound crazy? A life without smartphones and the internet. Where did we get information? In this case, it was old fashioned person to person networking.<\/p>\n

It may seem unlikely but in the nearly 25 years that I’ve owned Oh Good Greif!, <\/em> it would have to rank in my top 30 most played Compact Discs. Is it because I bought it in September like a-Ha’s Hunting High And Low?<\/em> Similar to my favorite classical stuff and Tubular Bells, Oh Good Grief! <\/em> is a smooth collection of instrumental music that I find it easy to work to. As it plays, it muffles the background sounds of life going on, helping to focus without the distraction of lyrics. I love it. It is seriously good jazz music. It might benefit from some sentimental nostalgia tied to It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown<\/em> and that small town 60’s feel particularly with The Great Pumpkin Waltz.<\/em> The only thing I’d like better\u00a0would be\u00a0the full Great Pumpkin Soundtrack<\/em> with the flute laced Linus And Lucy <\/em> and that great music behind Snoopy’s adventures behind enemy lines in the French countryside. I’ve even written to the late\u00a0Mr. Guaraldi’s representatives requesting just that. It has become a Halloween tradition in our house. I watch It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown<\/em> while Mary hands out candy to Trick Or Treater’s that show up. I love the nostalgia of the program but mostly I just listen to the music. I hope they do eventually release the full soundtrack. Until then I’ll continue to thoroughly enjoy Oh Good Grief! <\/em>Thanks Albert.<\/p>\n

Linus And Lucy<\/em>
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