The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays the Music of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison LP

Over the course of a career spanning six decades, drummer Jerry Granelli has worked with many of the greatest artists across the full spectrum of jazz and beyond. On The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince and Mose, his rapturous new album for RareNoise, Granelli revisits two of his most indelible collaborations from the vantage point of the exploratory now.

The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince and Mose starts from the foundation of two singular composers: the elegant, lyrical pieces of pianist Vince Guaraldi, with whom Granelli played for three busy years early in his career - including the landmark Peanuts television specials; and the eccentric singer/pianist Mose Allison, whose wry twists on the blues Granelli had the pleasure of accompanying for nearly 40 years. Never one to dwell on the past, Granelli has long eschewed tribute projects or reprises of past glories. Two factors combined to change his mind on this remarkable occasion: the joy of delving into these extraordinary compositions with a modern urgency untouched by nostalgia; and his collaborators, both of whom share his expansive approach: pianist Jamie Saft and bassist Bradley Christopher Jones.

...percussionist Jerry Granelli has been involved in so many different projects over the years that he would seem to be several drummers. A San Franciscan, Granelli was the drummer on Vince Guaraldi's popular series of Peanuts LPs and TV specials. He played on hit records and with psychedelic rock bands, while his jazz gigs encompass work with Denny Zeitlin, Jane Ira Bloom and Mose Allison.

Wistful and mesmerizing, 'Cast Your Fate to the Wind' was a hit for Guaraldi in 1962. Saft's clanging piano turns it dark, dense, and foreboding. Allison's 'Your Mind Is on Vacation' is barely recognizable, blown up by bass/drum thunder and crashing piano chords. 'Parchman Farm,' Allison's enduring, droll, politically incorrect prison song becomes eight minutes of jagged, far-flung blues. 'Baby Please Don't Go' retains its original hooks, but here, it's nastier. Who knew that 'Christmas Time Is Here' needed revisiting and reinterpreting? It comes, of course, from Guaraldi's music for the 1965 television special A Charlie Brown Christmas. The song is now part of the soundtrack to every American's holiday season. Saft is surprisingly gentle and respectful with the haunting, fragile melody, and Jones's looming, hovering bass lines render it even more apt.