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What a lot of listeners know these days about Vince Guaraldi is “Peanuts” — in more ways than one.
The bright, bounding, jazzy tunes that provided the soundtrack for the 1965 animated TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” and other “Peanuts” cartoons have earned a special place in the holiday music pantheon, and rightfully so. But the man behind them, pianist and composer Vince Guaraldi, had many deep facets to his music beyond these favorite tunes.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Guaraldi is also a part of Peninsula history, having made a home for a time in Daly City. He died in Menlo Park following a show there and is buried in Colma.
Longtime Bay Area pianist Larry Vuckovich, who was mentored by the jazz great and was his only student, aims to highlight Guaraldi’s other work, in particular his love of Latin rhythms, in a concert paying tribute to Guaraldi and his music Dec. 21 at Meyhouse Palo Alto.
Vuckovich, a respected jazz master in his own right, performs regularly at Meyhouse. He recently marked his 88th birthday with a show there highlighting some of his own unique contributions to jazz, playing music from his groundbreaking 1980 album “Blue Balkan” that pioneered a melding of Eastern European musical styles with jazz.
Born in the former Yugoslavia, Vuckovich came to the United States in his teens, post-World War II. His father had lived in the U.S. previously and had volunteered to fight in World War I, becoming an American citizen, which eased his family’s move following the second World War.
Arriving in the Bay Area in 1951 at around 15 years old, Vuckovich quickly immersed himself in San Francisco’s jazz scene, catching performances by an enviable list of top names in jazz, including Harry James, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton.
“I met Vince Guaraldi at the end of high school, ’56-’57, at (Tenderloin nightclub) The Black Hawk. He was playing with Cal Tjader and he had a great backing band with Mongo Santamaría,” Vuckovich recalled. “He took me as his only student. He turned everybody else away. I don’t know why he liked me. Then I would go to his house for lessons.”
Vuckovich studied with Guaraldi for three or four years after graduating from high school and then the pianist began inviting his student to sub for him.
“I would accompany some well-known singers when he had to go on the road. Then after that, he would recommend me and I would open shows for him,” he said.
Vuckovich said that it was in the early 1960s that Guaraldi made his first national splash with a song called “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” a B-side from his album “Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus.” The album took inspiration from the French-Brazilian film “Black Orpheus” and included covers of songs from the film and originals, showcasing Guaraldi’s love of Brazilian influences. “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” became a hit and earned him a Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition.
“It had kind of a little funk, pop rhythm that took over the country,” Vuckovich said of the song, which also brought Guaraldi some financial recognition. It’s clear, though, that he didn’t let success go to his head.
“He had a good sense of humor when that took off. I studied with him in Daly City, one of those nice homes there. But when he got the money, he built a redwood and glass house, a phenomenal place, in Mill Valley. A drummer that I worked with was rehearsing with him. He said, ‘Hey, this is a beautiful home.’ (Guaraldi) said, ‘Yeah, I bought it for a song,” Vuckovich said.
In 1973, Vuckovich would go on to perform as the second piano in Guaraldi’s two-piano quintet, Powder Keg, which played regular gigs at the Great American Music Hall. “It featured all the well-known people and (Guaraldi) had Wednesday nights (at the venue) given to him for months. I was honored when he asked me to become his piano partner — the two pianos would do a dialogue,” he said.
Vuckovich said he learned many things from Guaraldi in their years studying and then performing together, including the art of how to accompany other musicians, “you know, not to get in the way, but to give them the chordal and rhythmic accompaniment to so they can play on top of it, so that was a big one. And I learned some Latin music from Vince. We used to listen to great records,” he said.
“Also Vince played with a lot of fire and drive. So I felt like that too. Some people in jazz play more retrospective, quieter — at times, that’s important, but you gotta be able to drive and really accentuate your solo playing.”
The tribute concert to Guaraldi at Meyhouse will highlight his songs that feature Latin influences, particularly Brazilian and Afro-Cuban, as well as his song “Ginza Samba,” which uses a five-tone scale for the melody in a way that recalls Asian musical styles, Vuckovich said, noting that the song was named after a neighborhood in Tokyo. The song’s rhythms, though, draw heavily on Brazilian sounds.
In addition, the program will feature some standards that Vuckovich learned from Guaraldi, including “The Lady is in Love With You.”
“Also, I wrote a tribute to Vince. I call it ‘Vince’s Boogaloo Blues’ and it’s kind of rock-funk,” he said.
Because the songs are so beloved, the concert will include a nod to the composer’s famous “Peanuts” compositions, too, in particular the ballad “Christmastime is Here.”
For the performance, Vuckovich will be joined by guitarist Kai Lyons, bassist Doug Miller and drummer Akira Tana.
“I’m very excited to bring people from the Peninsula here and some of them might not know the history. They might know only ‘Peanuts,” Charlie Brown, but I’m going to introduce them to the other material that he played, Vuckovich said.
Larry Vuckovich plays a tribute to Vince Guaraldi on Dec. 21, 5 and 8 p.m., at Meyhouse Palo Alto, 640 Emerson St., Palo Alto. As of publication time, the shows are sold out, but you can also catch Vuckovich at Meyhouse on Dec. 20 for two performances, 5 and 8 p.m., in a program celebrating a legendary New York jazz club with New York saxophonist Craig Handy, drummer Silvia Cuenca and bassist Essiet Essiet, also at Meyhouse. Tickets for all shows are $55. meyhouserestaurant.com.
