A half-century ago, the Los Angeles-based jazz label Fantasy released an album that was essentially the soundtrack to a film that was never shown. It came out in a beautiful, full-color, double-gatefold jacket and included lots of additional color artwork – again, from that movie that wasn’t released. It didn’t sell all that well, but in that album was the genesis of a legendary recording that led to a masterpiece, which became a cultural icon and made the creator of that music a household word.
The album that was released in 1964 was titled Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. The music on it was intended to accompany a documentary film about the life and work of Charles M. Schulz, creator of Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts characters. It has now been released in a 50th anniversary edition by the Concord Music Group, which owns the Fantasy catalog, in a lovingly re-created LP package complete with orange vinyl and all the original artwork and liner notes, and also in a standard CD with extended liner notes. It’s now titled simply A Boy Named Charlie Brown.
The whole story is long and complicated in the way that only Hollywood stories can be. Short version: None of the TV networks wanted the Schulz documentary when it was completed, but Fantasy had a contract for an album, so pianist Guaraldi, bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Colin Bailey recorded the music, which included “Linus And Lucy,” that iconic track that also showed up on “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in 1965, and the rest is history.
All that shouldn’t overshadow the music, which is delightful piano jazz. Guaraldi was a solid and creative practitioner of cool West Coast jazz, although he was third choice for the project behind Dave Brubeck and Cal Tjader. He was little known by the public but respected in music circles, and his work on the Peanuts television specials brought him plenty of recognition and, one hopes, financial rewards.
In addition to that now ubiquitous “Linus And Lucy” theme, top attractions here include the lightly Brazilian-themed “Pebble Beach,” the classical-themed “Schroeder,” the ultra-cool “Blue Charlie Brown,” the swinging waltz “Baseball Theme” and the bouncy, saucy “Freda (With The Naturally Curly Hair).” Oh, and don’t miss the bonus track “Fly Me To The Moon.”
Producer/director Lee Mendelson talks about the making of the original special and how nobody involved with it thought it would ever succeed at all, much less lead to the making of 50 Peanuts-related television specials:
And an audio-only version of the splendid “Blue Charlie Brown” from the album:
Fantasy, 1964, 2014
