Alma-Ville

Alma-Ville is the 12th and final studio album by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, released in the U.S. by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in December 1969.

Alma-Ville
Studio album by
Vince Guaraldi
ReleasedDecember 1969
RecordedOctober 1969
StudioAmigo Studios, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Genre
Length43:44
LabelWarner Bros.-Seven Arts
ProducerShorty Rogers
Vince Guaraldi chronology
The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi
(1969)		 Alma-Ville
(1969)		 A Boy Named Charlie Brown: Selections from the Film Soundtrack
(1970)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Five Cents Please[2]

Background

Vince Guaraldi's final three albums released during his lifetime were recorded for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts after spending considerable time struggling to extricate himself from Fantasy Records.[1] Warner signed Guaraldi to a three-record deal, and insisted that his inaugural release consist of his Peanuts songs. Guaraldi responded with new renditions of eight of his most popular scores from those programs on his first release, Oh Good Grief!.[3] Guaraldi was then given complete artistic control over his sophomore, self-produced Warner effort, The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi, resulting in an unfocused and overindulgent album that was not well received by both critics and consumers.[2]

At Warner's insistence, arranger Shorty Rogers was recruited to produce Guaraldi's final album, Alma-Ville. The album includes a cover of The Beatles’ song "Eleanor Rigby", which Guaraldi had been regularly performing during his live sets.[2] The album's title track is a new recording of a song originally recorded earlier for the album Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962).[2]

Reception

Though deemed a focused improvement over The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi, Warner Bros. lost interest in Guaraldi and did not promote Alma-Ville, letting him go at the end of their three-record deal.[4] Both The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi and Alma-Ville fell into obscurity, with Oh Good Grief! remaining in print and a steady seller due to the perpetual popularity of the Peanuts franchise.[2]

A remastered edition of Alma-Ville was released on July 6, 2018, by Omnivore Recordings as part of the 2-CD set The Complete Warner Bros.–Seven Arts Recordings.[3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Vince Guaraldi, except where noted

Side One
No.TitleWriter(s)NotesLength
1."The Masked Marvel" Featured in the Peanuts prime-time television special It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown (1969); re-released on North Beach (2006) with extended fade-out5:20
2."Cristo Redentor"Duke Pearson 4:51
3."Detained in San Ysidro"  3:33
4."Eleanor Rigby"
new recording; original version released on Vince Guaraldi with the San Francisco Boys Chorus (1967)5:13
5."Uno Y Uno"  2:14
Side Two
No.TitleWriter(s)NotesLength
6."Alma-Ville" new recording; original version released on Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962)4:35
7."Rio From the Air"  6:15
8."Watch What Happens" (from the film The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)
 4:14
9."Jambo’s" new recording; original version released as "Casaba" with Bola Sete on Vince Guaraldi, Bola Sete and Friends (1964)7:29
Total length:43:44

Session information

Credits adapted from remastered 2018 CD liner notes.

References
  1. Ginell, Richard S.. Alma-Ville at AllMusic. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  2. Bang, Derrick. "Vince Guaraldi on LP and CD: Alma-Ville". fivecentsplease.org. Derrick Bang, Scott McGuire. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  3. Jurek, Thom. The Complete Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Recordings at AllMusic. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  4. Kyle, Joseph (October 3, 2018). "Vince Guaraldi: The Complete Warner Bros.–Seven Arts Recordings (Omnivore)". therecoup.com. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
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