A taste of the music that made Peanuts swing

San Franciscan Vince Guaraldi had already established himself as a pianist and composer, first with Cal Tjader and then as a leader of his own group, when producer Lee Mendelson came knocking. Mendelson had been enchanted by Guaraldi’s 1963 surprise hit single, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” and asked him to write some original music for a documentary to be entitled A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Though the program didn’t air at the time, Guaraldi’s music so perfectly captured the mood and character of Peanuts, that he was invited to write the soundtrack for the first Peanuts special that did air, 1965’s landmark A Charlie Brown Christmas.

There were so many unlikely elements to the Christmas special (including the overt religious theme and the use of child actors to voice the characters), that Guaraldi’s literate, mirthful and sophisticated jazz score didn’t feel at all unorthodox. Bringing along key pieces from the unaired documentary, most notably “Linus & Lucy” and “Charlie Brown Theme,” Guaraldi’s music was as important in lifting the characters off the comics page as was the animation. Guaraldi continued to provide music until his passing in 1976, scoring a total of seventeen Peanuts specials and the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

Fantasy’s twelve-track collection pulls together selections from four television specials, leaning heavily on the original A Boy Named Charlie Brown (tracks 1-5) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (tracks 1 and 9-12). Also included is the gentle, piano-and-woodwinds “Great Pumpkin Waltz” from 1966’s It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and a pair from 1973’s A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, “Thanksgiving Theme” and “Little Birdie,” the latter including a rare vocal from Guaraldi himself. At twelve tracks, this only scratches the surface of Guaraldi’s Peanuts’ canon, and though the heavy tilt towards earlier material supports the “Greatest Hits” theme, the lack of completeness might make reissued soundtracks [1 2] a better place to start. What’s here is great, but it’s not enough! [©2015 Hyperbolium]