A hit when jazz was widely considered out of style, ‘Cast Your Fate To The Wind’ set the course of Vince Guaraldi’s career. The long-time sideman for vibraphonist Cal Tjader needed to pad out his cover versions of Luiz Bonfá and Antônio Carlos Jobim on the 1962 soundtrack to Michael Camus’s Brazilian film Black Orpheus, so inserted a rare original. An intimate three-way with bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Colin Bailey struck through with a trademark hint of melancholy, the Californian pianist’s unforgettably placid looping verses proved as distinctive as his generous moustache, working in sharp contrast to the song’s swinging yet serpentine solo. Unlike the bossanova breakdowns of A-side ‘Samba de Orpheus’ it became a radio sensation after a disc jockey at Sacramento’s KROY put it on rotation, its success snagging Guaraldi a Grammy. Afterwards TV producer Lee Mendelson asked him to write the music for a TV cartoon special he was working on, which ultimately became festive perennial A Charlie Brown Christmas. Guaraldi would go on to pen all the Peanuts music until his sudden death in 1976.