Expanded edition of Guaraldi's Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown coming April 11, 2025 on CD and digital

Following the Record Store Day LP announcement from a few weeks ago, Craft Recordings has announced a new, expanded edition of Vince Guaraldi's first album of Peanuts music, Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, will be coming to CD and digital as well.

The new release is set to arrive on April 11, 2025.  (While the press release says April 4, April 11 is the date listed for pre-orders at all major vendors.)

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of Peanuts, the 2-CD edition will have the original 9-track album program on disc 1, and 11 never-heard-before alternate takes plus 5 previously released alternates and bonus tracks on disc 2.

Vince Guaraldi wrote the music on Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown  for a documentary by producer Lee Mendelson about Charles Schulz and Peanuts. But Mendelson was unable to sell the documentary (titled A Boy Named Charlie Brown) to a network and it was never seen on television... although it did lead to Mendelson getting the job to produce the holiday classic A Charlie Brown Christmas and many more Peanuts specials. (The original, unbroadcast documentary can be ordered on DVD from the Charles Schulz Museum's online store.)

Even though the documentary never aired, Fantasy Records and Vince Guaraldi released an album of the music 1964, introducing the world to "Linus and Lucy," now instantly recognized as "the Peanuts theme." Several other themes on the album, such as "Charlie Brown Theme" and "Baseball Theme," also appeared regularly in the early Peanuts animated specials.

The album has been available on CD and digital for years, and in 2014 there was a 50th anniversary release that included a single alternate take of "Baseball Theme."

But now this new, expanded 2025 edition of Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown features many more alternate versions of the tracks, all taken from the original recording sessions. According to the press release, they include two alternate versions of "Linus and Lucy," including an early studio test; outtakes of "Oh, Good Grief" and the ode to fellow (albeit animated) pianist "Schroeder;" the sweepingly carefree "Baseball Theme," and more.

The tracks are accompanied by new liner notes by Derrick Bang, author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano (McFarland & Company), plus the original album's essays from producer Lee Mendelson and music journalist Ralph J. Gleason. The music has received a fresh remastering by Grammy Award-winning engineer, Paul Blakemore.

You can read the full Craft press release here, and place pre-orders using the links here.

And if you prefer vinyl, look for the Record Store Day release containing just the alternate tracks on April 12, 2025. (There will not be a CD with just the alternate tracks; only the 2-CD version with both the original album and the new alternate takes be available.)

The full track listing for the 2-CD and digital release:

Disc 1
1. Oh, Good Grief
2. Pebble Beach
3. Happiness Theme (Happiness Is)
4. Schroeder
5. Charlie Brown Theme
6. Linus and Lucy
7. Blue Charlie Brown
8. Baseball Theme
9. Frieda (with the Naturally Curly Hair)

Disc 2
1. Linus and Lucy (Studio Test)
2. Linus and Lucy (Take 3)
3. Happiness Theme (Happiness Is) (Take 4)
4. Pebble Beach (Take 7)
5. Baseball Theme (Take 1)
6. Oh, Good Grief (Take 1)
7. Schroeder (Take 3)
8. Baseball Theme (Take 2)
9. Oh, Good Grief (Take 1/Later Session)
10. Schroeder (Take 2)
11. Blues for Peanuts
12. Charlie Brown Theme (Take 4)
13. Blue Charlie Brown (Take 1)
14. Frieda (with the Naturally Curly Hair) (Take 1)
15. Fly Me to the Moon
16. Autumn Leaves

Easter Beagle egg-shaped vinyl, A Boy Named Charlie Brown alternate takes, and more Peanuts podcast episodes

Three news items for your ears!

Record Store Day 2025 is coming Saturday, April 12 and there will be not one, but two, Vince Guaraldi exclusive vinyls available that day.

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, the complete soundtrack to It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown will be released on March 21, 2025.

Then on April 12, Record Store Day, Lee Mendelson Film Productions is releasing a special egg-shaped - yes, egg-shaped! - 10" vinyl, titled Selections from It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. It features the "eight best tracks" from the full soundtrack album.

The limited edition, individually numbered, egg-shaped vinyl will be available in five different colors - but like a true Easter egg hunt, which color you get will be a surprise; the color isn't revealed on the packaging.. so you won't know which color you've got until you open the album. 

You can read the official press release for the egg-shaped exclusive here, and details about both the full 20-track album and the exclusives here.

The track list for the egg-shaped exclusive is:

SIDE A

1. Peppermint Patty

2. Snoopy and Woodstock

3. Woodstock's Dream

SIDE B

1. Marcie's Song (Kitchen Music)

2. Linus and Lucy (Reprise)

3. Woodstock's Pad

4. Easter Egg Soup (Kitchen Music 2)

5. Salting Eggs / Linus and Lucy (4th Reprise)

This exclusive will be available only at participating record stores on April 12, 2025 - see the Record Store Day website for a list, or call your local store to see if they'll be carrying it. 

***

Second, the folks at Craft Recordings will release a Record Store Day exclusive they're calling Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Alternate Takes)... because the entire LP consists of never-before-released alternate versions of the tracks on that 1964 album, taken from the original recording sessions.

The album's music was composed for a 1964 documentary that never aired, but Guaraldi would use the themes he created for it in his work for the Peanuts animated specials.

According to the press release, Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown (Alternate Takes) features two alternate versions of "Linus and Lucy," including an early studio test; outtakes of "Oh, Good Grief" and the ode to fellow (albeit animated) pianist "Schroeder;" the sweepingly carefree "Baseball Theme" and more.

This Record Store Day edition will be pressed on sky-blue vinyl and limited to 3,400 copies. It also includes new notes from Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang. You can read the official press release here.

The full track list for the album:

SIDE A

1. Linus and Lucy (Studio Test)

2. Linus and Lucy (Take 3)

3. Happiness Theme (Happiness Is) (Take 4)

4. Pebble Beach (Take 7)

5. Baseball Theme (Take 1)

6. Oh, Good Grief (Take 1)

7. Schroeder (Take 3)

8. Baseball Theme (Take 2)

9. Oh, Good Grief (Take 1 / Later Session)

 

SIDE B

1. Schroeder (Take 2)

2. Blues for Peanuts

3. Charlie Brown Theme (Take 4)

4. Blue Charlie Brown (Take 1)

5. Frieda (With the Naturally Curly Hair) (Take 1)

A new, expanded CD and digital release of the album containing all these alternate versions will be released one week earlier, on April 4, 2025 - see this blog post for details.

This exclusive will be available only at participating record stores on April 12, 2025 - see the Record Store Day website for a list or call your local store to see if they'll be carrying it.

***

Finally, after a couple months' break, the official Peanuts podcast "You Don't Know Peanuts" has returned with a second series of five more weekly episodes.

Episode 6, released earlier this week, features an interview with Jeanne Schulz, the woman behind the man behind Peanuts. Other episodes in the second season will cover the making of The Snoopy Show and other 21st Century Peanuts television series; how Snoopy has influenced fashion from New York to Paris; and a look at NASA’s relationship with Peanuts over the last 60 years.

You can learn more about the podcast and listen to it at https://www.youdontknowpeanuts.com , or you can get it from your favorite podcast source, including (but not limited to) Apple Podcasts or Spotify.