''Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits'' is a compilation album by jazz pianist

Vince Guaraldi Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...

(credited to the Vince Guaraldi Trio) released by

Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its inves ...

in 1998. The album was the first of several posthumous releases containing a mix of previously released material in addition to nine previously unavailable songs featured in prime-time animated

television specials A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

based on the ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

by Charles M. Schulz.Vince Guaraldi at ''concord.com''. Retrieved 5 April 2020
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Background

Vince Guaraldi died of a sudden heart attack on February 6, 1976, at age 47, having composed music scores for 16 ''Peanuts'' television specials and the feature film ''

A Boy Named Charlie Brown ''A Boy Named Charlie Brown'' is a 1969 American Animation, animated musical film, musical comedy film, produced by Cinema Center Films, distributed by National General Pictures, and directed by Bill Melendez. It is the first feature film base ...

.'' Despite the wealth of material Guaraldi recorded for these specials, only three album's worth of ''Peanuts'' songs were released during his lifetime: ''

Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown ''Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown'' (stylized with quotation marks as ''Jazz Impressions of "A Boy Named Charlie Brown"'') is the sixth studio album by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi (credited to the Vince Guaraldi Trio), re ...

'' (1964), ''

A Charlie Brown Christmas ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' is a 1965 animated television special. It is the first TV special based on the comic strip ''Peanuts'', by Charles M. Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez, the program made its debut on C ...

'' (1965) and ''

Oh Good Grief! ''Oh Good Grief!'' is the 10th studio album by Vince Guaraldi, released in the U.S. in May 1968. The album was the artist's first release with Warner Bros.-Seven Arts after leaving Fantasy Records in 1966. Background Vince Guaraldi's final three ...

'' (1968). After the 1996 tribute album '' Linus and Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi'' by New Age pianist George Winston sparked renewed interest in Guaraldi's music, Fantasy Records assembled a compilation album in 1998, 22 years after Guaraldi's final ''Peanuts'' project (''

It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown ''It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown'' is the 15th prime-time animated television special based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts''. The subject of the special is Arbor Day, a secular holiday devoted to planting trees. ''It's Arbor Day, ...

'' (1976)). ''Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits'' contains a mix of previously released material featured on the Fantasy releases ''Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown'' and ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' plus unreleased music cues from the latter as well as '' It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'' (1966), ''

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving ''A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'' is the tenth prime-time animated television special based upon the popular comic strip ''Peanuts,'' by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network on November 20, 1973, and won an Emmy Award the ...

'' (1973) and ''

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown ''Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown'' is the 13th prime-time animated television special based on the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. In the United States, it debuted on CBS on January 28, 1975. The special received an Emmy nomination ...

'' (1975). Several music cues were sourced directly from the television audio tracks and were licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions. Fantasy also inadvertently included one non-Guaraldi track ("Joe Cool"), a composite of two music cues composed by

Ed Bogas Edgar Noel "Ed" Bogas (born February 2, 1942), sometimes credited as Edward Bogas, is an American musician and composer whose work has been featured in films, animations, and video games. Career Bogas' contributions span four decades and sev ...

and

Desirée Goyette Desirée Goyette-Bogas ('' née'' Goyette; September 10, 1956) is an American singer, composer, lyricist and voice-over artist. She has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and has voiced such characters as Betty Boop, Barbie, Nermal, Petunia ...

for '' The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show'' ( CBS, 1983-85). The title bears no relation to the multiple renditions of "Joe Cool" composed by Guaraldi during his lifetime.

Critical reception

Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang commented that the newly released material "is a joy, although some of these cuts are a bit 'muddy', and they lack the polish and studio perfection of Fantasy's earlier releases; they have an unsweetened quality, and display the uneven volume, jump starts and slow fades that betray their probable origins from television audio tracks." ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' critic Cub Koda said the wealth of unreleased material was a "true goldmine" for fans.

Track listing

All songs written by

except where noted. Proper titles appear with incorrectly titled tracks in parenthesis Tracks 1−3 and 9−11 are sourced directly from their respective television soundtracks and appear in

mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

Personnel

*Vince Guaraldi – piano, electric keyboards *

Monty Budwig Monte Rex Budwig (December 26, 1929 – March 9, 1992) was a West Coast jazz double bassist, professionally known as Monty Budwig. Early life Monte Rex Budwig was born in Pender, Nebraska, on December 26, 1929.His full birthname was Monte Rex Bu ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

("Charlie Brown Theme", "Great Pumpkin Waltz", "Linus and Lucy") *Fred Marshall – double bass ("Christmas Time Is Here") *Puzzy Firth – double bass ("Air Music") *Seward McCain – electric bass ("Heartburn Waltz", "Charlie's Blues", "Thanksgiving Theme") * Colin Bailey – drums ("Charlie Brown Theme", "Great Pumpkin Waltz", "Linus and Lucy") *

Jerry Granelli Gerald John Granelli (December 30, 1940July 20, 2021) was an American-Canadian jazz drummer. He was best known for playing drums on the soundtrack '' A Charlie Brown Christmas'' with the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Early life Granelli was born to Jack ...

– drums ("Christmas Time Is Here") * Mike Clark – drums ("Thanksgiving Theme") *

Vince Lateano Vince Lateano (born 1942) is an American jazz drummer who has toured with numerous great jazz musicians over the years, including Cal Tjader, Woody Herman, Vince Guaraldi, and Stan Getz. Lateano was born in Sacramento, California in 1942, and w ...

– drums ("Heartburn Waltz") *

Eddie Duran Edward Lozano Duran (September 6, 1925 – November 22, 2019) was an American jazz guitarist from San Francisco. He recorded often with Vince Guaraldi and was a member of the Benny Goodman orchestra during the 1970s. Career Duran started on p ...

– guitar ("Air Music") *John Gray – guitar ("Great Pumpkin Waltz") *Tom Harrell – trumpet ("Thanksgiving Theme") * Emanuel Klein – trumpet ("Great Pumpkin Waltz") *Chuck Bennett – trombone ("Thanksgiving Theme") * Ronnie Lang – woodwinds ("Great Pumpkin Waltz") *Bill Fitch – congas ("Camptown Races") *Benny Velarde – timbales ("Camptown Races")

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits 1964 soundtrack albums 1965 soundtrack albums 1966 soundtrack albums 1973 soundtrack albums 1975 soundtrack albums 1998 compilation albums Albums arranged by Vince Guaraldi Vince Guaraldi albums Vince Guaraldi soundtracks Cool jazz soundtracks Mainstream jazz soundtracks Peanuts music Television animation soundtracks Vince Guaraldi compilation albums