Way Back When

That’s Bola Sete playing the Spanish guitar with the Vince Guaraldi Trio way back when, in 1963. It’s about as pleasant a half hour as you can spend.

Bola was from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. His real name was Djama de Andrade. The name Bola Sete is a kind of in-joke. It means Seven Ball in Portuguese. The seven ball is the only black ball on the snooker table. People used to have more of a sense of humor way back when.

His family was dirt poor. He had six sisters. Every member of the family played a musical instrument, because music used to be more important in regular life way back when. Bola first learned to play on a Cavaquinho, sort of a cross between a Spanish guitar and a ukulele. He eventually got a real guitar, and learned classical music. He had a heavy duty musical education, despite his straitened circumstances. A well-to-do couple sponsored him at a school in Rio, and then a conservatory in Sao Paolo. People used to look out for each other way back when.

Eventually he started playing samba music in Rio. He toured all around, Italy, various places in South America, Nueva York, and San Francisco, mostly in Sheraton hotels, because there used to be good live music in hotel lounges way back when. Dizzy Gillespie heard him play and invited him to tour with him. People used to catch breaks in recognition of their talent and effort way back when. After a successful stint at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Bola hooked up with Vince Guaraldi.

Of course everyone recognizes Vince Guaraldi from his Charlie Brown Christmas album. He was one of those guys that seemed square, but in reality was very hip indeed. There were a lot of talented, but somewhat overlooked guys like him way back when.

Vince and Bola both died young. Guaraldi died of a heart attack when he was only 47. Bola died of cancer when he was 63. It’s a good thing they had cameras and microphones way back when.