These are good days to be a fan of Vince Guaraldi’s music because Craft Recordings continues digging into its archives, bringing back iconic recordings as part of its wonderful Original Jazz Classics series reboot. One of the latest is the 1964 Fantasy Records release From All Sides, the second of three collaborations between Guaraldi and Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete.
This album’s all analog-crafted lacquers were cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Manufactured on 180 gram vinyl at RTI — one of the best pressing plants anywhere, this exemplary re-issue of From All Sides is arguably better than the original in numerous ways.
Musically, this reissue sounds like From All Sides should.
Yet, there is a somewhat greater sense of brightness, clarity and open-ness on the new edition. The low end is richer as well, overall feeling less compressed. The vinyl is super quiet and most important for piano centric music, the disc sides are perfectly centered.
The bigger picture issue about original pressings in this instance is simply a matter of availability: this album is not easy to track down in good condition. Currently, I do own a nice one but it took me a long time to find it, making numerous upgrades over the years as I stepped up to better condition copies found out in the wilds of collecting. Like many jazz and soul albums, Vince Guaraldi’s records were often played at parties so most often when you find his records they are in what I call “well loved” condition — still playable, but far from perfect. And with this kind of music you really want the vinyl to be as pristine as possible.
The cover art on this reissue is exemplary with print quality that is much nicer than my original. I know you can’t play a cover, but it’s nice to see all the detailing in a much clearer manner and with more accurate color palettes and free from scratches (as is on my over-saturated original).
Of course the music on From All Sides is lovely (as are most Guaraldi albums!). You’ll even hear at least one familiar melody here: the sweetly hushed bossa nova “Menino Pequeno da Bateria” later appeared in the A Charlie Brown Christmas TV special soundtrack retitled “My Little Drum.”
As far as considering this reissue over a clean mint original copy, that is a personal decision, one which might cost you a bunch these days (or at minimum a lot of searching!). For reference, at the time of this writing there were just three original 1964 copies available on internet music marketplace Discogs in no better than VG+ condition (there were no originals on eBay, just reissues). While the VG copy is selling for $30, the VG+ graded discs are priced rather steeply at $125 and $399!
But, even if you could find a nice copy for $50, you’d be unicorn-lucky. Most people aren’t like me, willing to scour garage sales, thrift shops and flea markets all the time seeking bargains.
Thus, all that said, for approximately $38.98 at Amazon this new Craft Recordings reissue of Vince Guaraldi and Bola Sete’s From All Sides feels like a solid buy you should act on while its readily available (and before the flippers start boosting up the market prices).
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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