Article Contributed by Craft Recordings
Published on January 7, 2026
Wes Montgomery – Full House<
Craft Recordings rings in the new year with three new releases from its acclaimed Original Jazz Classics (OJC) series: From All Sides by Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete, Thelonious Monk’s Alone in San Francisco, and Wes Montgomery’s Full House.
Long a touchstone for collectors, the OJC series is dedicated to definitive editions of landmark jazz recordings, produced with audiophile-grade care and respect for the original sound and presentation.
All three titles arrive February 27, 2026, and are available to pre-order now on 180-gram vinyl and 192/24 HD digital audio. True to the OJC ethos, each reissue features lacquers cut from the original tapes (AAA) by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, 180-gram vinyl pressed at RTI, and tip-on jackets faithfully replicating the original artwork.
Pianist Vince Guaraldi and Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete first crossed paths during a residency at San Francisco’s Trois Couleurs club—a fateful encounter that sparked a rich creative partnership ultimately entwining West Coast jazz with bossa nova and Afro-Brazilian rhythms.
Recorded in 1964, From All Sides marked the duo’s second collaboration (there would be three in total) and stands as one of their most relaxed, joyful statements. Effortless and escapist, the album glides from a feather-light take on “The Girl from Ipanema” to the spirited gallop of “Ballad of Poncho Villa.”
While Guaraldi is widely celebrated for his timeless Peanuts soundtracks, longtime listeners will recognize melodic threads here that later resurfaced in that beloved universe. Adaptations of the wistful “Menino Pequeno da Bateria” (later reworked as “Little Drummer Boy”) and the carefree “Choro” would go on to appear—respectively—on A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968).
Recorded in 1959 over two days in San Francisco, Alone in San Francisco finds Thelonious Monk in rare, unguarded form—performing solo, without an audience or ensemble. With nowhere to hide, Monk (to no one’s surprise) rose to the occasion, creating one of the most intimate documents in his catalog.
The album offers a mix of standards and original compositions. It opens with Monk’s springy, dexterous classic “Blue Monk,” arguably his most recorded work, before easing into the off-kilter elegance of “Ruby, My Dear.” Elsewhere, two takes of the intriguingly titled “There’s Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie” highlight Monk’s improvisational instincts, oscillating between lilting meditation and playful abstraction.
As DownBeat wrote upon the album’s original release, “…this LP, perhaps more than any other, brings you several of the many faces of this remarkable musician.”
Recorded live on June 25, 1962, at Tsubo, a Berkeley, California coffeehouse, Full House captures legendary guitarist Wes Montgomery at a creative peak, backed by a formidable ensemble featuring tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin and the Wynton Kelly Trio—pianist Wynton Kelly, double bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb—fresh from their work with Miles Davis.
All About Jazz later described the album as “a glimpse of what was to come and be lost all too soon,” and the performance lives up to that promise. Montgomery’s lyrical restraint shines on “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” while the blistering bebop of “Blue ’N’ Boogie” and the Latin-inflected groove of “Cariba” reveal the full range of the group’s dynamic interplay.
Anchored by an enthusiastic live audience, Full House remains one of Montgomery’s most accessible and exhilarating recordings.
Pre-order the new OJC titles here:
https://i.craftrecordings.com/ojc-2026
Shop the complete Original Jazz Classics collection:
https://craftrecordings.com/collections/original-jazz-classics
Vince Guaraldi & Bola Sete – From All Sides
Side A: Choro; Menino Pequeno Da Bateria; Ginza Samba; The Girl From Ipanema
Side B: A Taste Of Honey; Ballad Of Pancho Villa; Little Fishes; Mambeando
Thelonious Monk – Alone in San Francisco
Side A: Blue Monk; Ruby, My Dear; Round Lights; Everything Happens To Me; You Took the Words Right Out of My Heart
Side B: Bluehawk; Pannonica; Remember; There’s Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie; Reflections
Wes Montgomery – Full House
Side A: Full House; I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face; Blue ’N’ Boogie
Side B: Cariba; Come Rain or Come Shine; S.O.S.
Craft Recordings is home to one of the largest and most essential collections of master recordings and compositions in the world. Its storied repertoire includes landmark releases from icons such as Joan Baez, John Coltrane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, Isaac Hayes, John Lee Hooker, Little Richard, R.E.M., and Joan Sebastian, alongside catalog recordings from celebrated contemporary artists including A Day to Remember, Evanescence, Alison Krauss, Nine Inch Nails, Taking Back Sunday, and Violent Femmes.
Renowned imprints under the Craft banner include Fania, Fantasy, Fearless, HITCO, Musart, Nitro, Panart, Prestige, Riverside, Rounder, Specialty, Stax, Vanguard, Varèse Sarabande, Vee-Jay, and Victory. Craft is also home to the Billie Holiday and Tammy Wynette estates, preserving and protecting their legacies through day-to-day stewardship.
Craft Recordings is the catalog label team for Concord. For more information, visit CraftRecordings.com.
