A touch of Thai, jazz-style

July 17 was Vince Guaraldi’s 98th birthday, and — since his first publicized gig was an April 1951 booking at San Francisco’s Cable Car Village, as a member of tenor saxman Chuck Travis’ quartet — this year marks the 75th anniversary of Vince’s professional career.

That was two excellent excuses for the sensational all-Guaraldi set presented Sunday evening, July 19, by pianist Jim Martinez’s Quartet, accompanied by his son, James Martinez, on guitar; Kerry Kashiwagi, on bass; and Scott Gordon, on drums.

 

Jim’s fondness for Guaraldi’s music became evident when his 1994 album — Good Grief! It’s Jim Martinez, complete with a cover image of Snoopy pounding the ivories — included a sassy cover of “Linus and Lucy.” He upped the ante with his 2004 holiday release, A Jim Martinez Jazzy Christmas, which included covers of numerous Guaraldi originals and arrangements from his soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Jim and I got to know each other shortly thereafter, and quickly became fast friends (which shouldn’t surprise anybody).

 

One of our most treasured memories came on the evening of June 30, 2012, when I arranged for him to play piano in a quartet that included former Guaraldi sidemen Eddie Duran (guitar), Dean Reilly (bass) and Colin Bailey (drums), during a private concert for the Peanuts Collectors Club. (Full details are here.) Another high point came three years later — August 15, 2015 — when Martinez was joined by bassist Brian Clark and drummer Tim Metz, for a 50th anniversary concert re-enactment of Guaraldi’s Jazz Mass, at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, the venue where it debuted back on May 21, 1965. (Full details of that magnificent day can be read here.)

 

Jim and I have collaborated many times since then, and many times Constant Companion and I have simply reveled in watching him perform, either as a soloist or with a combo.

 

Even by those aforementioned previous events, Jim was on fire Sunday evening.

 

But before getting to that, the venue deserves special mention: Twin Lotus Thai, a darling little restaurant plunked to one side of an unassuming shopping center in Sacramento’s College Glen neighborhood, just east of Sacramento State University. It opened in 2022 as a dream project by veteran jazz pianist Joe Gilman and his wife, Kai. Gilman’s four-decade career teaching jazz studies — at Sacramento State, American River College and University of the Pacific’s Brubeck Institute — occasionally was interrupted by tours with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, and as part of the Kennedy Center/USIA Jazz Ambassador Program. Call all of that his day job; the restaurant became his nighttime side hustle.

Jim and Joe — the latter a couple years older — have known each other since both took classical piano lessons from Yuriy Oliynyk, before they were teenagers.

 

Understanding a new restaurant’s need to boost its profile by any means necessary, Joe impulsively dragged in a piano one evening, in order to back a jazz chanteuse. That modest beginning quickly blossomed into the rarest of creatures these days: an incredibly successful “jazz joint” with live music every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Reservations are essential, because most events sell out, sometimes weeks in advance. Those In The Know have learned that booking ahead is necessary in this intimate space, which seats only about 50 patrons. 

 

Joe, Kai and their staff run this operation with impressive efficiency, encouraging reserving patrons to place food orders ahead of time. Those who order upon arrival mark their requests on menu “score cards” collected and handed to the kitchen staff; the meals arrive quickly, delivered by servers who skillfully maneuver between the closely placed tables. Many entertainment bookings offer two seatings — typically 5 and 7 p.m., as was the case Sunday — so the music sets never run more than an hour. Following the first, the place briefly closes; tables are refreshed, and name tags placed to guide patrons to their seats. Gilman personally greets everybody at the door — “I’m not allowed in the kitchen,” he joked, during a recent television news feature story — and clearly knows many returning customers by name.

 

Now, getting back to Sunday evening...

 

Constant Companion and I attended the 7 p.m. show. After briefly promoting some upcoming events, Gilman introduced Jim and the band; they began promptly at 7:15, with a roaring cover of “Alma-Ville,” one of Guaraldi’s sassiest tunes. It opens with a swinging piano hook, capably backed by the sidemen; Jim turned the lengthy arrangement into a “showpiece” number, signaling interior improv solos from, in turn, James, Kashiwagi and Gordon.

The latter duo’s support throughout the entire set was nuanced and tasty. Kashiwagi’s bass comping deftly supplemented the piano and guitar, while Gordon always established a finger-snapping beat without overwhelming the other players.

 

Jim dialed the tempo back for a lovely reading of “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” followed by a feisty handling of “Linus and Lucy.” Jim has been cheekily expanding that tune ever since he first recorded it in 1994, and Sunday’s version was no different; he was all over the keyboard during the swing bridge, his right hand climbing up the keyboard during final repetitions of the core melody, before bringing it to a close.

 

By this point, Constant Companion and I had noticed that a young twentysomething couple, two tables from us, was totally grooving to the band. Given that most patrons were on the north side of 50 years old, this couple’s mere presence was inspiring; the degree to which the young woman bopped, nodded in time, snapped her fingers and really dug it, was icing on the cake. Both wore jazz- and Peanuts-themed shirts, so they clearly were drawn by the promise of an all-Guaraldi set. (After the concert concluded, I learned that it was their first exposure to Jim. I’m sure it won’t be their last...)

The subsequent Charlie Brown Christmas medley opened with a sweet reading of “Christmas Time Is Here,” which segued into a brief bit of Guaraldi’s signature arrangement of “O Tannenbaum,” and then concluded with “Skating.” Jim’s handling of the latter’s cascading keyboard runs was masterful, as always, but the need to move on didn’t allow him the luxury of the explosive improv work we’ve heard him add on previous occasions.

 

(That was okay. “Explosive” was coming soon.)

 

James Martinez took the spotlight on “Ginza Samba,” a peppier re-working of Guaraldi’s “Ginza,” which he debuted on 1956’s compilation album, Modern Music from San Francisco. Guaraldi enhanced the tune’s bossa/swing elements and gave it the new name when that arrangement debuted on 1958’s Cal Tjader/Stan Getz Sextet. James’ intricate guitar licks skillfully mimicked Guaraldi’s vigorous keyboard runs — not a trivial thing! — as Jim comped quietly behind him, until taking off during the lengthy piano bridge.

 

The next song, a Martinez original titled “Schroeder Can Play,” came with an introductory story. When Jim first learned about 2015’s The Peanuts Movie, a few years before its release, he offered to compose a Guaraldi-esque score. Initially encouraged to do so, he wrote half a dozen snappy numbers, recorded himself playing them, and sent them off to the filmmakers. He eventually was thanked for his efforts, but told that all concerned had shifted to a pop-oriented score.

 

“I thought about releasing an album titled Songs That Didn’t Make the Movie,” Jim lamented, which elicited a delighted chuckle from the audience. 

 

(Instead, he wrote several more Guaraldi-esque originals, and released everything — along with a handful of Guaraldi’s established Peanuts themes — on 2015’s Good Grief! It’s Still Jim Martinez.)

 

“Schroeder Can Play” cheekily opens with — and occasionally repeats — a few bars from Guaraldi’s “Frieda (with the Naturally Curly Hair),” and then smoothly slides into a cheerfully lyrical melody that skillfully delivers the “can’t help smiling” mood of so many Guaraldi compositions.

 

The set concluded with a true show-stopper: Guaraldi’s “Samba de Orpheus,” with which he often opened live performances, when touring during the year following the release of 1962’s Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus. Jim introduced it as a showcase for Kashiwagi’s dynamic bass work; the arrangement opens with just bass and drums, setting the stage for the piano’s eventual entry. After granting the melody sufficient space, all four musicians bent down and grooved with a level of intensity that grew stronger by the minute. Midway through this lengthy finale, Jim shifted down an octave, and motioned to Gilman; the latter walked over and deftly added his two hands — while standing — to grant an upper-register counterpoint to the increasingly vigorous improv bridge. All the patrons were spellbound, some with mouths agape; this was a moment.

Gilman finally backed off, to whoops and thunderous applause, allowing the quartet to return to the melody, and conclude the song. Extended applause — some folks standing — accompanied the final bows.

 

Definitely the tightest 55 minutes of music I’ve heard in a long time.

 

Jim and his combo have performed previously at Twin Lotus Thai, and I’m sure he’ll return again.

 

We’ll definitely be there.