Frogtoon Music

Moon River by Vince Guaraldi Trio

Artist Biography For Vince Guaraldi Trio

The Vince Guaraldi Trio Was A Jazz Group Fronted By Pianist And Composer Vince Guaraldi. Most Well-Known In Its Acoustic Piano-Drums-Bass Configuration The Trio Provided Music For A Number Of Animated Productions Of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts Comic Strips. Guaraldi's Distinctively Breezy Bluesy And Melancholy Jazz Has Become An Indelible Part Of Peanuts' Timeless Legacy. Their Soundtrack For The 1965 Christmas Special A Charlie Brown Christmas Is One Of The Biggest-Selling And Most Critically Successful Christmas Albums Of All Time. The San Francisco-Based Trio Was First Formed Around 1954 Then In A Piano-Guitar-Bass Configuration. Starting With The Release Of The Group's Self-Titled Debut Album On Fantasy In 1956 Guaraldi Would Remain On The Label For Some Time. Guaraldi's Early Recordings Were Decidedly Low-Key And Morose Compared To The Work For Which He Would Become Famous But His Trademark Melancholy And Distinctive Instrumental Voicings Including His Deep Basslines Were Indelible Parts Of His Aesthetic Framework From The Very Beginning. Influenced By The Brazilian Film Black Orpheus 1959 --Whose Soundtrack Was A Large Part Of The Impending Bossa Nova Craze--The Trio Recorded The Album Jazz Impressions Of Black Orpheus 1962 Having By This Point Settled Into Their Now Familiar Piano-Bass-Drums Lineup. The Album Featured Renditions Of Songs From The Film As Well As A Number Of Originals One Such Song Was "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" Which Would Within A Year Become One Of The Most Commercially Successful Jazz Instrumentals Of Its Time Notably Winning A Grammy For Best Instrumental Song. Several Vocal Versions With Lyrics By Carel Werber Would Also Achieve Significant Success. It Was Thanks To Guaraldi's Hit Song That He Was Discovered By Lee Mendelson Who Wanted Him To Write Music For Peanuts Animation. Guaraldi's First Peanuts Assignment Was The Music For The Ill-Fated Schulz Documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Though The Special Was Never Aired And Remained Unavailable To The Public For Several Decades The Music Was Released As The Album Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown 1964 . For Later Reissues The Album Was Retroactively Renamed After The Documentary. Despite A Troubled Production Process 1965 Saw The Premiere Of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Guaraldi's Ground-Breaking Amalgamation Of Christmas Music And His Own Unique Brand Of Jazz Was An Inexorable Part Of The Special's Unforeseen Success The Soundtrack Featuring Originals Alongside Guaraldi's Interpretations Of Standards Continues To Amass Impressive Sales Even Now. One Of The Songs From The Special "Linus And Lucy" Featured In The Special's Famous "dancing Scene" Would Become The De Facto Theme Of Peanuts Animations Often Mistakenly Referred To As The "Peanuts Theme". Another Song On The Soundtrack "Christmas Time Is Here" With Lyrics By Mendelson Has Become A Christmas Standard In Its Own Right. With The Passing Of The '60s Guaraldi Began Experimenting More And More With Different Sonic Textures For His Music Having All But Replaced His Acoustic Piano With Various Electronic Keyboards Most Notably The Fender Rhodes. Consequently Guaraldi Would Less And Less Perform And Record Within The Context Of A Trio. While It Was Never "officially" Disbanded And Guaraldi Still Used This Configuration From Time To Time The Group Inevitably Dissolved Upon Guaraldi's Untimely Death In 1976. Peanuts Specials Made Subsequent To His Death Often Reuse Guaraldi's Recordings Or Original Music Inspired Heavily By Guaraldi's Iconic Scores A Testament To His Importance To The Identity Of Peanuts. More Importantly Generations Of People Have Cited Guaraldi's Inventive And Playful Jazz As Their Formative Experience With The Genre Imbuing A Spark Of The Love Of Jazz In Untold Numbers Of Listeners That Only Seem To Increase The More Time Goes By.

Frogtoon Music - Song Info: Moon River

"Moon River" Is A Song Composed By Johnny Mercer Lyrics And Henry Mancini Music In 1961 For Whom It Won That Year's Academy Award For Best Original Song. It Is Most Well-Known For Being Sung In The Movie Breakfast At Tiffany's By Audrey Hepburn Although It Has Been Covered By Many Other Artists. It Became The Theme Song For Andy Williams Who First Recorded The Song In 1961 And Performed It At The Academy Awards Ceremonies In 1962. He Sang The First Eight Bars Of The Song At The Beginning Of His Television Show He Also Named His Production Company And Venue In Branson Missouri After Moon River. Williams' Version Was Vetoed By Cadence President Archie Bleyer Who Believed It Had Little Or No Appeal To Teenagers. Williams' Famous Version Never Charted Except As An LP Track Which He Recorded For Columbia In A Hit Album Of 1962. The Success Of The Song Was Responsible For Relaunching Mercer's Career As A Songwriter Which Had Stalled In The Mid-1950s Because Rock And Roll Replaced Jazz Standards As The Popular Music Of The Time. An Inlet Near Savannah Georgia Johnny Mercer's Hometown Was Named Moon River In Honor Of Him And This Song. The Popularity Of The Song Is Such That It Has Been Used As A Test Sample In A Study On People's Memories Of Popular Songs. The Original Version
Mercer And Mancini Wrote The Song For Audrey Hepburn To Fit Her Vocal Range. Initially The Lyrics Started "I'm Holly Like I Want To Be / Like Holly On A Tree Back Home..." However They Were Later Changed To Fit The Theme To The Movie Breakfast At Tiffany's. Although An Instrumental Version Is Played Over The Film's Opening Titles The Lyrics Are First Heard In A Scene Where Paul 'Fred' Varjak George Peppard Discovers Holly Golightly Hepburn Singing Them Accompanied By Her Guitar On The Fire-Escape Outside Their Apartments. There Was Much Behind-The-Scenes Consternation Which Erupted When A Paramount Pictures Executive Suggested Deleting The Song From The Film Immediately After A Very Successful San Francisco Preview. Hepburn's Reaction Has Been Described By Mancini And Others In Degrees Varying From Her Saying "over My Dead Body" To Her Using Somewhat More Colorful Language To Make The Same Point. Hepburn's Version Was Not Included In The Original Score Album To Breakfast At Tiffany's. Instead An Album Version Recorded By Mancini And His Chorus Was Released As A Single And Became A #11 Hit. In Different Versions Joel Whitburn's "Top Adult Contemporary Songs" Reported The Song As A #3 Or #1 Easy Listening Hit Due To Unpublished Charts In Billboard. Only Months After Hepburn's Death In 1993 Her Version Was Released On An Album Entitled Music From The Films Of Audrey Hepburn. Other Recordings
"Moon River" Was Released By South African Singer Danny Williams And Reached #1 In The UK. Shortly Thereafter Andy Williams Recorded The Song And Made It His Theme Song. It Was A Hit For Jerry Butler In 1961 Reaching #11 In The Billboard Charts. Other Artists That Have Covered The Song Are The Afghan Whigs Benny Anderssons Orkester Paul Anka Blake Louis Armstrong Vince Guaraldi Beru Revue Mary Black Sarah Brightman Liz Callaway Perry Como Ray Conniff Bobby Darin Ania Dąbrowska Dr. John Dump Billy Eckstine The Four Freshmen Connie Francis Bill Frisell Instrumental Emi Fujita Judy Garland Karel Gott Grant Green Instrumental Patty Griffin The Innocence Mission Although This Version Is Sometimes Incorrectly Cited As Being Performed By Milla Jovovich Bradley Joseph Instrumental Kim Yoo-Jin James Last Joey McIntyre Johnny Mathis Brad Mehldau Jane Monheit Morrissey Patsy Ann Noble Jim Reeves John Barrowman R.E.M. Mia Riddle Andrea Ross Frank Sinatra Barbra Streisand Sarah Vaughan Nan Vernon Kid Koala Westlife Victoria Williams The Divine Comedy And Tata Young. Mercer Himself Recorded The Song In 1974 For His Album Appropriately Named My Huckleberry Friend.

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