The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi, at last (or is it?)

I don't know if any Vince fans have seen this, but Toby Gleason and Andrew Thomas have created a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of the film, "The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi."

Sadly, it doesn't look likely that it'll reach its funding goal, so who knows what'll happen to this film after that. I don't think enough has been done to get the word out about this campaign, as I only heard about it when I received a Google Alert email after it had already been going for a couple of weeks.

If you watch the video with Thomas and Gleason, they mention that the film is complete, but paying the musicians in the film is the reason for the fundraiser. Although, they also mention in the comments that they're only (currently) trying to release this in the US due to music licensing rights.

You can see the campaign, here: The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi »

According to the video, there's a lot of footage of unheard Vince music.

I would absolutely love to see this. It's been years since it was first announced and it pains me to know that it's done, but I can't purchase, or even view it.

Hopefully they find SOME way to release it.

Please share the link to the campaign, anywhere you think it's appropriate.

 

Thanks for spreading the word; it looks like a fascinating documentary.
I agree it's a shame if it never gets a wide release...

BTW: Is that the best title they could come up with? Just nitpicking...

 

Kickstarter if just ONE way to fund something. Where there's a will, there's a way. It will come at the right time as long as the commitment to have it happen is still there.

By the way, thanks for the link. I pledged. If the Kickstarter goal doesn't happen, you don't get charged the money you have pledged.

That the film is already in the can, I will terribly surprised that a benefactor who is big on jazz won't come along to help the film along, even though it may not come through via the Kickstarter campaign.

 

Well, the title is based on the original documentary title, "Anatomy of a Hit" which was a three part television series hosted by Toby's father, Ralph Gleason. I believe that this film contains a large amount of that original footage.

Yes, I have seen other projects fail on Kickstarter, and subsequently show up on another fundraiser site, so I guess that's a possibility, too.

 

Just a thought, the possibility of Clint Eastwood (who loves Jazz) had heard about this maybe he can help. He probably would have to do this "under cover" because of who he is. Nice wish!

Rick A.

 

If that person exists, he has probably already blown his fortune on trying to save jazz.

 

But he would remove Vince Guaraldi's music and replace it with one of his famous one-finger piano film scores.

 

OH GOOD GRIEF !!!

 

You know the old joke: "How do you make a million playing jazz? Start with two million."

 

That may be true, but benefactors don't do benefactoring to make money. We're not investing in the film, we're supporting the film.

 

Well, I hope you are right. I would like to see the film. Let's see who steps up.

 

And it may not be with this vehicle, though I'd love one of those prints of Guaraldi with the Peanuts gang.

 

To what print are you referring?

 

Go to the above link for the Kickstarter page. You'll see the various pledge levels. Check out the $40 level.

 

Hmmm... They show this image with the Peanuts gang (bottom), but I don't think that's what is referred to in the $40 pledge. That perk mentions an 'iconic' Vince photo by Max Weiss, which I believe is this one:

 

You are right. I'd rather have a copy of the Schulz drawing, but no matter.

And, the likelihood is this all will be moot due to the money that needs to be raised in the next week. But I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

Being a huge Vince fan, I caught a screening back in 2011. It was my first time to see footage of Vince playing and speaking (in excerpts from "Anatomy of a Hit," which Toby Gleason's dad, Ralph, played a big role in), which was extremely cool. It was interesting to hear from some of his contemporaries and get a better sense of social context. But even in the grips of my fandom, I thought that the film (at least at that point; perhaps it's been refined since then) needed a tighter narrative structure and a *much* heavier editor's hand. The talking heads and their self-focused reminiscences submerged the Guaraldi content, and some of the tangents lost Vince entirely. The "Anatomy of a Hit" excerpts were the most interesting and -- if Toby has the rights -- including those original National Educational Television programs on any DVD release would greatly increase the interest it would generate. Here, for what they're worth, were my observations I sent to a friend the day after the screening:

"As to 'Anatomy': Bottom line, I'm very glad I went to see it. Even as a near-completist Guaraldi music collector, that was the first footage I had ever seen of him performing and speaking, which was cool.

That being said, it was very uneven as a film. While some of the context was welcome (e.g., his concerts in support of the civil rights movement, and Dick Gregory's reminiscences), the discursions overwhelmed the narrative during the second half, completely losing Vince during certain portions. The Lenny Bruce/Brubeck/Irwin Corey stuff went far enough afield that it felt more like it had been excerpted from a more generic documentary on the SF Beat scene. (I also thought it weird that they included that rambling, unconnected stuff w/ Corey, without fully explaining or asking Corey about his role in getting VG's trio fired from the Hungry I, which famously infuriated VG). I also felt that some of the talking heads didn't give a lot of concrete insight into Vince, and were instead projecting some of their own recollections and views from the period onto him and his story.

The main thing it needed was crisper editing, and a more aggressive editorial hand. E.g., there were a couple scenes w/ George Winston (like the one where he's talking about how VG's Peanuts soundtracks evoked certain seasons) which were good in their core content, but then lingered inexplicably for a few awkward seconds after the point had been made. I understand the challenges they were up against in trying to convey the last several years of Guaraldi's life, given the dearth of archival footage on him from that timeframe, but the last portion of the film was particularly weak.

I feel bad saying it, but I thought the ending performance by Barbara Ware was positively cringe-worthy and out of place (not so much because of the vocal performance, which would have been fine under a photo montage or some such, but because it was so atrociously lip-synced and filmed with in-your-face camera angles completely at odds with the rest of the film). And then following it up immediately w/ a second vocal performance of "Cast Your Fate" (by the vocal trio featuring Jon Hendricks) was a bit weird (both because of the strangely abrupt, up-tempo vocal feel, and because the lyrics are so obviously not VG's).

So, in all, I couldn't shake the feeling that the film was a lot of hoary reminiscences (some more interesting than others) riding Vince Guaraldi's coattails. The one thing it did do, however, was to whet my appetite to see the three half-hour 'Anatomy of a Hit' shows in their entirety.

I also was disappointed at the near-complete lack of personal life/family angle to the film. On the whole, save for the invaluable VG performance and interview footage in 'Anatomy', I think I enjoyed the less ambitious "Maestro of Menlo Park" short documentary in the Peanuts 1960s DVD at least as much, and it somehow conveyed a more poignant portrait of Vince Guaraldi the person."​

 

As seemed apparent from the beginning of this thread, the Kickstarter campaign was not fully funded.

This update was posted, today, by Andrew Thomas:

Toby and I are humbled and grateful for your generous support of the Vince film, and want you to know that we're not stopping our efforts to get it out! (Well, maybe delayed until after the holidays!) The enthusiasm of your pledges will also help other "angels" realize that there is an audience that wants to see the film. These sorts of things can "snowball", and it's all due to you!

We'll certainly keep you informed of our progress, 'cause we want you to enjoy it as much as you want to see it!

Again, many many thanks!!!! See you later at www.anatomyofvinceguaraldi.com

Hopefully, something will happen soon. It's been a very long wait, already.

 

bump

 

I wish there was an update. I have heard absolutely nothing since the campaign failed.

It's so frustrating.

 

In 2011 we had the "world premier*" of this film in Portland. I hosted this screening and interviewed the director on stage along with several of the people involved in the film. We then had a Q&A with the audience.

I think the film is terrific. Of course, I'm biased, because I'm a HUGE fan.

I still have the full film on DVD, along with A LOT of bonus features. I think this was offered to radio stations during the abbreviated tour of the film. I still watch it at least once a year. As mentioned above, the version I have may have been edited since then.

I've also worked at a radio station in California where Toby was one of the DJs. He's a great guy and is working to carry on the legacy of his dad's work. He had fascinating stories to tell.

For fans of Vince, I highly recommend Derrick Bang's book Vince Guaraldi at the Piano.

* I say "world premier," based on my recollection of what I remember having been told at the time.

 

I wish and hope that Clint would step up, but I'm not optimistic. I don't think he did anything to help save KRML when they were in financial trouble right there in his home town. That station is now Spanish I think. Now KRML is only a web entity.

KRML could have been saved with Clint's lunch money.

Of course, it's HIS money. He can do, or not do, whatever he wants with it.

 

Or maybe Herb Albert, who has been generous to different organizations and causes in the past, I wonder if they knew each other, they had to have.

 

I'd like to clarify my earlier post about my press release DVD of The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi.

The "lots of bonus features" I was referring to are audio features. My DVD of this film came with two audio discs.
Still, LOTS of interesting things there. But audio bonus features.