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…