Posted on 12/09/2023 1:40:02 PM PST by Squawk 8888
On December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on TV screens across America and instantly captured the hearts and ears of a generation. Bolstering the animated special, based on Charles M. Schulz’s immensely popular PEANUTS comic strip, was an engaging score from Bay Area jazz artist Vince Guaraldi, who brought characters like Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy to life through his evocative cues.
Working primarily with bassist Fred Marshall and drummer Jerry Granelli, Guaraldi paired inspired interpretations of traditional holiday fare (“O Tannenbaum,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and “What Child Is This”) with original compositions, including the instantly recognizable “Linus and Lucy” theme, “Skating,” and “Christmas Time Is Here.” The latter song, available as both an instrumental and vocal track, featured young choral singers from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, CA.
More than five decades later, the Emmy® and Peabody®-winning animated classic has spawned more than two dozen subsequent PEANUTS specials. Guaraldi’s soundtrack, meanwhile, has since become one of the best-selling jazz albums in history, second only to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, and regularly ranks among America’s top-selling holiday albums every December.
Music video by Vince Guaraldi Trio performing Christmas Time Is Here. (C) 2012 Concord Music Group, Inc.
On February 13, 1966, at the age of 19, Bivens [ We Five vocaliast] married jazz bassist Fred Marshall (Frederick Calvin Marshall, October 4, 1938 – November 14, 2001).[57][58] Marshall had worked with a number of West Coast rock bands and been a member of the Vince Guaraldi Trio which famously recorded the incidental music for television specials based on the Peanuts cartoons of Charles Schulz.[59] Guaraldi had been an habitué of the hungry i club and Marshall’s own band, the Ensemble, played at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on the same bill as Jefferson Airplane on the night in October 1966 that Grace Slick first sang as their lead vocalist.
[Vince] “Died February 6, 1976 (aged 47)”
Too young...
Love the whole album. Just love it.
I agree. And it is kick-ass music, too...:)
Charles Schultz detested the jazz music.
I listen to this album all through the Christmas season. I love it!
I was privileged to see Guaraldi in person around a half dozen times; he was a terrific, lyrical musician.
The essence of Christmas: beautiful, melancholy, a reminder of childhood, family, & friends. Just gorgeous.
Vince Guaraldi was a genius, with a memorable opus. Thanks.
The sound of his keyboard is as distinct as Billie Holiday’s voice. I know it is just a Fender Rhodes, but somehow it is just different enough I always know it is Vince.
Huh. I would have never guessed that. I can't imagine any other music for it.
I like the instrumental version…. biased I guess because I play piano.
Charles Schultz, as a syndicated cartoonist, was both an excellent & prolific author AND an excellent & prolific writer. Those are two separate vocations while most of us only have the time for one. I would be surprised if he even thought of any kind of music for the story because he would have been too busy working with the team of animators.
Best Christmas Soundtrack. Evah.
Narrowly beats Rankin Bass’ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer for Christmas nostalgia soundtracks.
Both Rudolph and A Charlie Brown Christmas are neck and neck for Best Holiday Special.
They should duke it out in an Epic Rap Battle of History!
one of the first albums i ever bought with my own money: Oh Good Grief!
still have it. still play it.
From the main animator’s recollection.
“Mendelson also recalled that Schulz wanted to create a scene especially to showcase Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” theme, which would eventually become the famous dance segment in the Christmas special.”
Granted this is PBS, but I don’t see why one should doubt it’s veracity.
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