The album is a mix of previously unreleased studio and live recordings taped in mid-1970s.

[1] In the mid-2000s, Vince Guaraldi's son, David Guaraldi, worked to restore a wealth of unreleased live recorded material from his father's archives.

[1] The recordings on North Beach were taped in a variety of studios and jazz clubs based in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California.

[1] The release features covers of Elton John's "Your Song" and Ervin Drake's "It Was a Very Good Year".

[1] All tracks are written by Vince Guaraldi, except where noted"Cast Your Fate to the Wind", "Linus and Lucy" and "Cabaret" were re-released on Live on the Air (2008).