50th Anniversary LP & CD release of Vince Guaraldi's A Boy Named Charlie Brown album

Vince Guaraldi's first album of Peanuts music, titled Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, was initially released nearly 50 years ago, in December 1964. (The album's title was later shortened to just A Boy Named Charlie Brown.)

The music on the record was the soundtrack for a documentary by producer Lee Mendelson about Charles Schulz and Peanuts. But Mendelson was unable to sell the documentary, also 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 went ahead and released the album, introducing the world to "Linus and Lucy," now instantly recognized as "the Peanuts theme." Several other themes on the LP, such as "Charlie Brown Theme" and "Baseball Theme," also appear regularly in the early Peanuts animated specials.

This May, Concord Music - the modern owners of the Fantasy label - is releasing two different 50th anniversary editions of the A Boy Named Charlie Brown album, one on vinyl and one on CD.  Both feature newly remastered tracks of the original album music.

(Note: the information about the contents of the releases was updated and corrected the day after this entry was original posted, based on new information received.)

The original LP cover

The "limited edition, collectible" vinyl may be of the most interest - it will be a faithful reproduction of the 1964 LP release, featuring the album's original cover (the artwork was completely replaced for later LP and and CD releases), the original liner notes in a gatefold jacket, and reproductions of the dozen 8" x 10" lithographs that came with the album. On top of that, it will be pressed on orange vinyl (which may not be authentic to the original, although Fantasy did have a tradition of releasing albums on colored vinyl in the 1960's).  However, the LP will only feature the nine tracks that were originally released in 1964.

The CD release will sport the modernized cover (same as the current CD) and a less elaborate booklet, but it will include new liner notes by Guaraldi historian (and FiveCentsPlease.org co-author) Derrick Bang, and 11 tracks - the original nine from the LP; "Fly Me to the Moon," a bonus track that has been part of all CD releases of the album; and a new bonus track, an alternate take of "Baseball Theme."  Derrick's new liner notes will only appear with the CD, and the bonus tracks will also only be on the CD.

It sounds like dedicated Vince Guaraldi fans will want (need?) to buy both releases, which are due out on May 13, 2014.  The vinyl edition should be available from Amazon, CDUniverse, or any other music store willing to order and stock it.

For more information, see the Concord press release and Derrick's posts about the release at his Impressions of Vince blog - both his initial announcement and then his detailed description of the LP facsimile edition.

(Note that this is not a release of the soundtrack for the 1969 movie also titled A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Sadly, that soundtrack remains unreleased.)

Catch a Charlie Brown Christmas concert

Several years ago, concerts featuring Vince Guaraldi's music from A Charlie Brown Christmas started springing up around the country, and it seems they've proved popular, as the number of concerts has continued to grow each subsequent year.

Over at his Impressions of Vince blog, my colleague Derrick Bang has posted his comprehensive list of 2013 concerts. Check it out and see if there's a concert in your vicinity.

Personally, I went to one of the Heather Pierson Quartet's A Charlie Brown Christmas concerts last year and really enjoyed it. I recommend them, if you live near one of the locations of their eight shows in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. But I'm sure the other groups put on good shows, too!

Another year, another A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack release

Fans of Vince Guaraldi and the music of the Peanuts television specials might have thought that after releasing a newly remastered version of the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack in 2012 (which was preceded by a different remaster in 2006, which was preceded by the original CD release in 1988), that Fantasy Records might take a year or two before releasing another edition of the classic holiday soundtrack. They'd have been wrong.

On October 22, 2013, Fantasy released what they are calling A Charlie Brown Christmas (Snoopy Doghouse Edition). The CD contents are exactly the same as the 2012 remaster - the same tracks, the same remastering, the same booklet with liner notes by Vince Guaraldi expert (and my FiveCentsPlease.org colleague) Derrick Bang - but this version comes with special packaging that converts into a doghouse and includes little standup cutouts of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and Lucy (see the picture below).

On YouTube, Concord Records (owner of the Fantasy label) has posted an "unpacking" video that gives a better idea of how the packaging works.

If you already have the 2012 release, there's no need to get this one unless you're a completist. But it might make a nifty gift if you're planning on giving the CD to someone else... which is probably what Fantasy is hoping you'll think! The "plain" 2012 CD release remains available as well, and is slightly cheaper, so you can save a few bucks if you don't want the special doghouse packaging. For more commentary on this new CD release, see Derrick's post at the Impressions of Vince blog.

Meanwhile, the soundtrack isn't the only A Charlie Brown Christmas item to get a re-release this year. Lee Mendelson's book detailing the creation of the 1965 TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition, has been reissued with a new cover. The contents are otherwise apparently the same as the previous hardback and paperback editions.

Newly Remastered Version of A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack Album Released October 9, 2012

Getting a very early jump on the holiday season, Concord Music has released a newly remastered edition of the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack album by Vince Guaraldi.

You may be thinking, "didn't they remaster the soundtrack already?" Yes, they did. Concord issued a remastered and expanded version of the album in 2006, but some listeners found fault with that release's remastering for changing the sound of the album too much and using different edits and takes of some of the tracks.  This new, 2012 remastered edition is a much more low-key remaster, resulting in modest sonic improvement and clarity over the original 1988 CD, but no radical changes.

This re-release of the album includes two "bonus" tracks: "It's the Great Pumpkin Waltz" and "Thanksgiving Theme" (from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, respectively). However, both have been previously released - they can be found on the Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits album, and seem somewhat out of place accompanying the Christmas soundtrack. Unfortunately, the four bonus alternate takes from the 2006 release do not reappear on the 2012 edition. (Concord also calls "Greensleeves" a bonus track, and while it's true it wasn't on the original soundtrack LP, it's been part of every CD release so far, so it's a very familiar track at this point.)

The 2012 remastered edition does feature a very nice 20-page booklet with generous new liner notes written by Guaraldi expert and historian Derrick Bang. You can check out Derrick's writeup about the new remastered album on his Impressions of Vince blog.

It appears that all three versions of the A Charlie Brown Christmas CD (the original 1988 release, the 2006 remaster, and the 2012 remaster) remain in print simultaneously, at least for the moment - presenting listeners with an embarrassment of choices (or possibly with the feeling that they'll need all three).  The 2012 remaster is available as a digital download as well as on CD, and there's even a special green vinyl LP version of it!

(The album has also been repackaged in various ways over the year. If you're curious about the many different releases of the A Charlie Brown Christmas album, see Derrick's detailed A Charlie Brown Christmas Redux ... and redux and redux article.)

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack added to Library of Congress' National Recording Registry

Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack album for "A Charlie Brown Christmas," the classic 1965 Peanuts television special, has been selected as one of this year's titles to be added to the National Recording Registry.

Each year, the Library of Congress selects 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" recordings to be preserved in the Registry.  This year's selections range from a 1888 Edison cylinder recording for a talking doll to Leonard Bernstien's 1943 New York Philharmonic debut to Prince's 1984 album "Purple Rain."

In its May 23, 2012, announcement, the Registry says:

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” introduced jazz to millions of listeners. The television soundtrack album includes expanded themes from the animated “Peanuts” special of the same name as well as jazz versions of both traditional and popular Christmas music, performed primarily by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. The original music is credited to pianist Guaraldi and television producer Lee Mendelson. Best remembered is the “Linus and Lucy” theme, originally composed by Guaraldi for an earlier “Peanuts” project, which remains beloved by fans of the popular television specials, those devoted to the daily newspaper comic strip, and music lovers alike.

For more information about the Registry and this year's selections, see Derrick Bang's post at the Impressions of Vince blog, the National Recording Registry's list of this year's selections, or this article from the Washington Post.

Impressions of Vince - a new blog about Vince Guaraldi

Derrick Bang, the co-proprietor of FiveCentsPlease.org and author of the recently published book Vince Guaraldi at the Piano, has launched Impressions of Vince, a new blog devoted to jazz pianist and Peanuts music composer Vince Guaraldi.

While Guaraldi may be most famous for his Peanuts television soundtracks, there was much more to his career - he released a variety of jazz music albums with various musicians and partners, was a frequent performer at West Coast jazz clubs, and wrote and performed the Grace Cathedral Jazz Mass, the first such jazz mass in the United States, among other accomplishments.

The Impressions of Vince blog will be devoted to commentary, discussions and thoughts about Vince Guaraldi and his work, together with updates about Derrick's extensive Guaraldi reference pages at FiveCentsPlease. Derrick also hopes that fans and friends of Guaraldi will write in to contribute commentary, anecdotes, and tidbits about Vince to add to the ever growing archive of information.

We'll keep posting Peanuts-related Vince Guaraldi news here on the FiveCentsPlease blog, but if you're interested in all things Vince, check out the Impressions of Vince blog - Derrick has already posted several entries!

Vince Guaraldi at the Piano: new book about the jazz musician and Peanuts music composer

One of the key ingredients of the original Peanuts TV specials' success was their jazzy soundtrack music, written by Vince Guaraldi. Now fans can learn much more about the composer and his work - both Peanuts and non-Peanuts - from the new book-length career study Vince Guaraldi at the Piano, by Guaraldi historian and expert Derrick Bang. (Note that Derrick is the co-proprietor of FiveCentsPlease.org.)

Vince Guaraldi at the Piano gives Guaraldi the long-overdue recognition that he deserves. In its 390 pages, the book chronicles his years as a sideman; his attraction to the emerging bossa nova sound of the late 1950s; his collaboration with Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete; his development of the Grace Cathedral Jazz Mass; his selection as the composer for the Peanuts animated specials; and his emergence as a respected veteran in the Northern California jazz club scene of the 1970s. The book also includes an extensive discography and index.

We think all aficionados of the original Peanuts music sound and jazz music will appreciate this in-depth look at Vince Guaraldi. Vince Guaraldi at the Piano is available now from the publisher, McFarland & Company; visit their website to see the book's table of contents, read an excerpt, and to place an order. The book can also be ordered from Amazon, but their stocking of has been erratic; you may get quicker service by ordering it directly from McFarland.  A Kindle version of the book is also available at Amazon. You can also get a taste of Derrick's knowledge and research on Vince Guaraldi by visiting his Guaraldi pages at FiveCentsPlease.org.

A Vince Guaraldi Christmas, Live at the Middletree album from The Ornaments

For the past five years, Nashville-based jazz combo The Ornaments have performed holiday concerts featuring their take on Vince Guaraldi's distinctive soundtrack from the A Charlie Brown Christmas TV special.

This year, in addition to their continuing concerts, they've released an album titled A Vince Guaraldi Christmas, Live at the Middletree, featuring nine tracks of their interpretations of the classic holiday tunes.

A Vince Guaraldi Christmas, Live at the Middletree is available on CD from CDBaby or as a download from iTunes.  For more information about the album and The Ornaments, visit The Ornaments' Facebook page or read this article from ArtNow Nashville.

We here at FiveCentsPlease.org haven't heard the album yet (although we do plan to check it out), but we wanted to let you know about it before the holiday season ended.

Charlie Brown Christmas Music Gets 'New' Life

Nearly half a century after its release in December 1965, Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas remains a steady seller; indeed, it has become one of the most popular holiday albums ever produced. No surprise, then, that other jazz artists have attempted to ride that success. Cyrus Chestnut covered the entire album in 2000, and now Nashville-based pianist Lori Medhem has released Christmas Is Coming: A Tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas (Green Hill GHD5705).

Mechem’s album isn’t quite a true cover; she skips a few of Guaraldi’s shorter tracks — notably the children’s vocal on “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” — and supplements with one additional Peanuts theme and three more holiday standards. The result works best when Mechem resists the impulse to slavishly copy Guaraldi’s original charts; at times — as with her handling of “O Tannenbaum” and “Skating” — her keyboard flourishes are too close to Guaraldi’s work, down to some of his single-note affectations.

In most cases, though, Mechem’s own personality and style emerge, particularly in the improv-laden bridges for “Linus and Lucy” and “Christmas Is Coming.” And although she once again follows Guaraldi’s piano lead at the beginning of “My Little Drum,” her quartet — bassist Roger Spencer (Mechem’s husband), guitarist Andy Reiss and drummer Chris Brown — lays down a pleasant, samba-hued percussive backdrop that gives the song a fresh atmosphere.

The “extras” include a lovely, lyrical cover of “Snowfall”; a gentle arrangement of “Winter Wonderland,” with percussive sleigh bells elements; and a playful handling of “The Christmas Waltz” that opens with a piano solo and then blossoms into a swinging toe-tapper that boasts solid work by the entire quartet. The additional Peanuts selection is a peppy arrangement of the "Charlie Brown Theme."

Mechem previously recorded half a dozen of these tunes on her 2005 holiday album, Brazilian Christmas, but the instrumentation and arrangements are new here: more of a traditional jazz combo approach, with (thankfully!) no strings. Very pleasant listening (although — of course! — no substitute for Guaraldi's original album).