Vince Guaraldi - The Man Behind the Music of Peanuts
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- A look at the musical career of jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi and how he created the unforgettable music of the Peanuts and Charlie Brown television specials.
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Music:
"Linus and Lucy"
"Happiness is ..."
"Cast Your Fate to the Wind"
"Oh Good Grief"
"Blue Charlie Brown"
"Christmastime is Here"
"O Tannenbaum"
"Skating"
"Christmas is Coming"
"Thanksgiving Theme"
"Great Pumpkin Waltz"
"Charlie Brown Theme"
"Little Birdie"
By Vince Guaraldi
"Vampires" by The Midnight
themidnight.ba...
It just isn't Christmas without Charlie Brown and Vince.
And most of all Jesus ❤
Peanuts & Vince Guaraldi make me cry. I can’t explain it.
Me too and I understand what you're saying.
I can. It takes us back and to a time when life was simpler. It's one of those things that you just can't let go, and never forget.
I'm the same way. I'm 61 now and feel very blessed to have grown up in the 60's and 70's. For me Charlie Brown Christmas was a staple of the season. I never miss it.
There's a poinance that's undefinable. A sad sweetness. A wistfulness.
Pure genius
Years ago I worked with a couple of people who actually hated this man's music. As you can guess they were completely soulless and joyless people.
A lot of people get severely depressed during the Christmas season - suicidal even - and his music could trigger bad memories.
On Halloween, I gave those people a rock.
❤
I didn't really like his other music, but the Peanuts stuff and the Christmas music is pure genius.
I don't hate his music, but I thought the soundtrack was a terrible fit. Sorry to be so joyless.
I went to school in the 8th grade with his Son. Will never forget the day he told me his Dad played the music for the Charlie Brown Cartoons.
Wow really, what his son name.
@@jarreauforney8107 David. Vince composed a song in his honor, "Little David".
Awesome 👍😎
im guess you're a 67 year old man then huh since thats how old David Guaraldi is now. but then again... i see this kind of comment everyday just to entice commenters to believe a white little lie just made up to get likes and shit.
I don't no how to add anything to what's already been said about this man Xmas would not be Xmas without this trust me their wasn't much besides either thanks
The power of music. Thank you.
How good is it that you would be remembered so fondly by generations of kids and adults 😊
I have loved the music of the Vince Guaraldi Trio for the majority of my life. I can put on the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas any time I’m feeling down and it never fails to restore my spirit. They had a wonderful gift.
Every year, we turn off all the lights except our Christmas tree and play O'tannenbaum. The tree poses and looks back at us. We both smile. 😊
🎄❤🎄
It is bizarre the way those tunes convey anticipation and melancholy at the same time.
I still listen and played for my kids and now grands every Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas.
The soundtrack to a Charlie Brown Christmas is the most perfect holiday album of all time.
“Christmastime is Here” will never fail to bring me to tears whenever I hear it, it’s so hauntingly melancholy.
Xmas is supposed to be festive or religious, not melancholy
@@CharlesCoderre-yv1cu Live a few decades longer (if you're lucky enough), then see if you still feel the same way.
Charles Coderre, my pastor, a conservative Presbyterian, understands why for me and many other Christians, Christmastime is a melancholy time. There is nothing wrong with this. The Lord Jesus Christ knew what melancholy was like.
@@bobtaylor170 the music is still trivial, the characters abominable
I agree… just thinking about it makes my eyes misty. I hope it never loses that feeling.
These specials would have not been the same without this music.
The last surviving member of the original group, the drummer Jerry Granelli has passed away today July 22 at the age of 80
RIP Jerry! Peanuts music was the soundtrack of my childhood.
RIP Jerry
😢
Saw him perform a few yrs back - a tribute to the cartoon. A very memorable evening.
I am so glad to hear Jerry Granelli trio, presented by the CBC on UA-cam the last couple of years. He knew exactly how to provide just the right amount of rhythmic sound without overpowering the trio.
@@DougMcDave yes he was a very talented person.
Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Possibly the best sound track ever recorded. As relevant today as when I first watched it as an eight year old.
I watch Charlie Brown Christmas every Christmas Season. It's a joy.
As James Lileks said, the Charlie Brown Christmas music makes you feel old and young and happy and sad, all at the same time.
wow. that's very true.
My mom had read about this brand new Christmas cartoon and was excited to see it with me, I was six I think, it was the most incredible thing I ever saw, we only had a black and white tv but it was still great, I don't remember if my dad was home, working in the post office he would get home late some nights, I miss those Christmases my parents and grandparents, it's just me and my two sisters now, they're older than me and live 2000 miles away, me in NJ and them in Colorado. Merry Christmas to all in 2021!
Have a Merry Christmas, Peter!
Peter - Great memories of a simpler time. Stay healthy! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I could have written this!
Except I am the oldest. It was wonderful to watch with the family....even on that old black and white Zenith!
Merry Christmas to you brother!
My Father, and later me, worked at the Post Office. NJ also!
Peter - I was four years old when this was first broadcast in 1965, and I haven't missed it since. The music is timeless, and it always takes me back to Christmas during my childhood.
He made jazz cool to me. When I was a kid I didn’t get it. As an adult, I like jazz with or without peanuts. But thank you peanuts, and thank you Vince.
Maybe you didn't get ibut I massively enjoyed Vince's music as kid!! Don't underestimate kids!
I already had jazz in my DNA and didn't know it until this special came on, which I watched the first time it aired in 1965. I started playing drums in a garage, self-taught rock & roll, and soon switched to jazz as soon as I found a professional instructor who taught me how to PLAY drums instead of BANG on them.
Wow, it just hit me that I thought I only got into jazz in college, discovering to Miles Davis (Bitches Brew, On The Corner) or Coltrane (Love Supreme) etc, but I've been a fan of Charlie Brown's soundtrack since I was 5. So maybe I've been a fan of jazz much longer than I thought!
There would be no one ever like him again and never will be period
It’s sad that Vince didn’t consider himself a “great pianist”. He was the person most responsible for my love of Jazz music. It all stems from these Peanuts specials.
Indeed. I fell in love with jazz before I knew what it was called when I was a child watching the Charlie Brown specials.
And countless others ❤
Yes. Vince’s and Dave Brubek’s Christmas music is the only kind I listen to.
Just listening to this music tears at my childhood heartstrings, and makes this 61 year-old yearn to be a kid again, just for a little while. :/
Me too John. If only to skate like Snoopy!
Vince Guaraldi is, was, and always will be one of the most criminally underrated jazz pianists.
Uh? No. He's universally recognized as a great jazz pianist. What planet are you from?
Oldcountryman: don't be a dick. No one knows jazz musicians. Other than you, no one would be able to name who scored Peanuts.
@@firstlas9647 lmfao!
Truth
According to you buddy boy. Compose piece that gets played yearly at Christmas and live like fucking king on royalties.
Annoying when you amateur critics go on and on about "underrated" this or that. Annoying as click bait titles and race hustlers
Sadly, he didn't get the recognition of a rockstar but will live forever in this work!
Jazz Artists never get the recognition and adulation that pop and rock stars do, because people seem to like simple catchy beats or guitar riffs. Jazz is appreciated by people that understand complexity and feel of tge instrument/s. They like to hear the individual talent that is the signature sound of the artist, especially when they improvise. That also goes for the Jazz vocalist.
I believe that people that enjoy jazz, and classical music are people that think and feel things deeper than most people.
@@guerralg63 Awesome comment. I agree.
When Guaraldi composed the music for Charlie Brown & The Peanuts Gang, he never thought his music would raised 5 generations and counting.
He always said he wanted to write Standards, not just hits. He did, but the shame of it is he wasn't with us long enough to see it happen.
To me, “Skating” is the essence of childhood innocence. It is an innocence that many yearn for during the holiday season. Whenever I hear it, I cry tears of joy.
The way they drew the kids dancing to the jazz in the Charlie Brown Christmas special has always looked so incredibly hip to me. 🥰 love ❤️ it
Hip is right. There is a slice of pop culture in that scene, as one of the kids is doing the 'Frug', and one is doing the 'Slop'.
We would do the peanuts dance at work every Christmastime. I had a great boss.
Yes another product of the fabulous 1960s. So glad to have lived thru it.
Magical my dear !! just pure magic .
The basic "Running Man" is there too.
There are very few perfect works that have ever been produced by mankind, but A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of them, and Guaraldi's part of it is simply amazing.
When people ask me who my favourite artist is, Guaraldi is usually one of my top artists. The way he crafts these beautiful songs, it brings more emotion to me than almost any other music I've ever heard. The sheer power and brilliance of his playing, the subtlety of the trio, the variation is musical styles, it inspires me to play piano more than any other pianist alive or dead. This was an excellent video, and hopefully people will learn who this wonderful man was, and what he did for jazz and for music in general, and in the mean time, listen to some wonderful jazz.
@Magnus Man, thanks for putting down this guitarist's thoughts about this musician so clearly and with so much love, that we all feel for him. Vince just seemed to be able to hit that, yes, CHORD in me. It's funny, when you're watching, say, "Charlie Brown Christmas, the music does just what it is supposed to do and we don't give it much thought (unless you're a musician, then you can't help iit)...but put on your headphones and listen to LINUS AND LUCY and for me the biggest goose bump inducer of them all, "CHRISTMAS IS COMING"...these two pieces are a tour de force one-two punch to your deep feelings. You might smile and bop along, or you might, like I do, well up with emotion mined from a DEEP place...but excavated with ease by this genius, Vince, who we lost far too young.
@@1060michaelg You need to check out his work with Bola Sete, there's a couple songs of theirs. Days of Wine and Roses is so good.
@@1060michaelg Christmas is Coming has always been one of my favorites. It's so evocative, you can just feel the anticipation.
@@mescko Evocative, great description, my friend! And the anticipation, as you said---it's genius to create longing with an opening chord...and that's what Vince does. It finds me as that 5 year old who even in 1965, would hum that music for months after I first heard it!
@@gallifreyandefense Also a track called ‘Star Song’ (with Bola) is pretty awesome. Contains all the things mentioned in this string. Just a lovely, chill, bossa that stirs emotions and propels you to a happy place.
makes me bust out crying now.
Charlie Brown Christmas will forever be one of my favorite albums. Driving around in the snow with this album on in the car it’s like you’re in a winter wonderland!
I do the very same thing.
The Charlie brown Xmas soundtrack is one that gets played every year. Its my favorite Christmas album.
It's not Xmas! It's Christmas! Don't X-out, Christ! "Jesus is The Reason For The Season!"
To bad you are talking to an Atheist lol. Also the "reason for the season" was the church being unable to stamp out pagan holidays and religions. Can't beat them? Incorporate them. In the case of Christmas, winter solstice holidays like Saturnalia where many Christmas traditions come from. Actually most evidence in the Bible lead to Jesus being born is spring not winter.
So wonderful, and so sad his life was cut short.
He seemed to be a chain smoker. Perhaps this contributed to his early and untimely death. Such a loss to the world!!!
Vince and Bola played at my dad's nightclub ( the "Trois Coleur" ) in Berkeley in the early-ish 60s .
I grew up loving Vince's music in the Charlie Brown Christmas movie. Decades later as an adult, and being a single father of 3, feeling very lower middle class. Christmas is always a stressful and depressing time for me. I try to give my kids a good one each year, and I try to put on a happy face, but I think the melancholy spreads amongst the ranks, regardless. Vince's music has always spoken to me. Until you said it had sadness in its tones, I had never placed that. If I'm giving it a serious listen, I get a little choked up, possibly a little tear in my eye. I love this music and it makes me feel things against my will.
True story, I had to buy two copies of the soundtrack to Charlie Brown Christmas because I actually wore out the first one to the point it wouldn't play anymore. That was in the days before MP3 and streaming music. Now I have it in multiple formats in multiple places so I will never be without my favorite Christmas album of all time. It is the first and last album I listen to for the season and, truth be told, all year long.
Peanuts cartoon soundtracks were never the same after Vince Guaraldi died.
Doug Shoemaker Agreed!
I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say music has not been the same. Vince Guaraldi was unique and I don't think there will ever be anyone else quite like him.
After Vince Guaraldi died, “It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown” was the first “Peanuts” TV special with a different music director and a more updated and upbeat jazzy sound.
Well, *who* could fill those shoes??
@@Musicradio77Network Thats very ironic considering that is one of the most depressing ones they ever did.
i grew up with it. i listen to it every year.
I'm 61. Peanuts is my favorite childhood memory. The Great Pumpkin and A Charlie Brown Christmas still amazes me today.
Timeless music...i can still remember just sitting in my car at work listening to the christmas album on cold winter days...it was my lunch hour pass time i didnt even eat sometimes 😅
Rest In Peace to Peter Robbins who died in January 2022. He was the first child voice actor who played Charlie Brown for the Christmas and Halloween specials. He had the perfect voice for good old Charlie Brown. So sad😢
In 1965 I sat down to what I thought was a Christmas classic. Merry Christmas Charlie Brown! it was decades later I learned that I wasl actually watching the debut. It was magic for a five year old. In many ways these shows defined our childhoods of the time. I am so grateful for what Vince Guaraldi and Charles Shultz created.
I can't explain why but after all these years of ups and downs, crisis and disasters,
Peanuts is still my favorite. I love you Charlie Brown!
I had no idea he did the vocals for Little Birdie. I love that song. For some reason it just never occurred to me it could be Guaraldi. As a kid growing up in the 70s I loved the Charlie Brown specials and especially connected with the song Linus and Lucy and to this day it is still one of my all time favorite pieces of music.
Having been born in ‘64… this is my childhood and yes, it makes me reminiscent of the past to have my eyes tear up, remembering how happy this music and shows made me feel and still do!!! If only the generation of today had the same…
I enjoyed this so much❤️As a Mom of Autistic Children now Adults. I recall sitting in front of the TV to watch Charlie Brown Christmas Special. When they were 5 and 6 years old I bought the CD for them to listen to. And to this Day, they now Vince's songs go hand in hand with good ol' Chuck❤️🥰
How many people did this man effect with his music? Might as well begin counting the grains of sand on all the beaches in the world. I still get shivers listening to it.
I’ve walked this earth everyday as the physical embodiment of Charlie Brown with how he thought about life and how he dealt with it with all the highs but many lows. Vince practically saved my life with everything mentally I was dealing with at the time and still currently dealing with as of now. His music like many wonderful songs the genre of jazz music has to offer is the music I consider represents everyday life in a nutshell. But regardless of the many talented artists who’ve paved the way and made a mark In the industry, I firmly believe no one did it better then Vince, I know that may be a hot take, but I personally believe his music was like no other out there, though died relatively young he was truly one of a kind and the definition of uniqueness in his craft. So much so that when designing my pages for my very own yearbook for my senior year, I had to put him in my top tier musicians that got me through school. So thank you Vince and wherever the heck you’re at now I hope your still playing your tunes.
His sound is so distinctive. The Charlie Brown Christmas album is an all-time great jazz record, both commercially and critically.
testify
Can you imagine the jam session going on right now??! 😎☃️
I feel you brother! Same here…my wife and I had a piano trio play our wedding with a heavy focus on “Peanuts” music, Linus and Lucy was our walk in song😁✌🏼…and by the way, I proposed while we were “Skating”😁
I was just telling people that Christmas Time (Is Here) is one of my top 3 favourite Christmas songs. I love the mellow, relaxing pace, minor key mood, and later the complex improvisations. I think that it reminds me a bit of the brilliant background compositions on Mister Rogers Neighborhood.
Learning that he was from San Francisco and of his latin music influences totally make sense to me now. He kind of has that smooth Jobim groove, and San Francisco in the 60s and 70s was about that cool, mellow, artistic vibe on a rainy or foggy day. His sound is very SF.
I did not know that much about Vince Guaraldi before this video. Thanks.
Great post. ❤️
Yes. Many of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood's melodies were played by Pittsburgh Jazz artist, Joe Negri.
Yes, Vince was part of the west coast "Cool Jazz" scene.
Thank you for bringing this wonderful memory associated music to Life with recognition of whom was behind it. Born in 61, I welcomed it in 65!
I remember the excitement of being a little kid in the days before cable T.V., waiting for the moment each year when they would air the Charlie Brown specials again. Miss it, and you had to wait an entire year again to watch it. Now, I have them all stored digitally on my hard-drive and can watch them whenever I want as much as I want, and it's just not the same.
Yep. Younger generations will never understand that feeling.
Wonderful video! Thank you so much for making it!
Jerry Granelli, the drummer for the Charlie Brown Christmas album was my neighbor for the last 12 years. He passed this i July last year. He was an awesome musician and kind person and a great friend.
Charlie Brown Christmas is still my favorite holiday album, and has been since I was a child. It never grows old.
Probably the most recognized soundtrack in the last 50 plus years.
Vince Guaraldi and Johnny Costa were two major influences that introduced kids to piano jazz.
Tremendously underrated.
Costa was a beast. Those Mister Rogers end of show outros were incredible. Never met anyone who didn't dig Guaraldi's stuff.
Also, Jerry Granelli with his brushes which grabbed me by the collar and froze me in place! Wow!!!! This group was like the Beatles in which the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Each one individually was great but as a combination, they were fantastic!
Vince Guaraldi was an absolute treasure.
Probably the best known and loved jazz compositions in the world.
'Take 5' is the only jazz piece I can think of that comes close to 'Linus and Lucy' in terms of being well known and loved by fans of the genre.
The "Charlie Brown" comics were not just funny gags, they were Philosophy for 9 year olds. Good grief was a signal to me that something good may turn out to be bad, right or wrong, love or sorrow. The way of the world brought down to my childhood level or thinking. When he retired, he was one of the most famous storytellers in the world. Thank you Mr. Schultz.
He like some before him and many after him, will live on thru his music. Almost 50 years later he is heard in these now legendary cartoon specials. Thanx Vince. RIP.
Vince has a sweetness in his playing that nobody else really has. He was obviously a Bill Evans fan.
This was the first jazz most of my generation ever heard. I didn't even realize that until I was 25 or so.
It's just not Christmas until I hear "Christmas Time is Here." I don't find it melancholy at all. It sounds like a fireplace full of friends, to me.
So, I watched it again for the millionth time and paid special attention to the music. Truly a masterpiece.
It takes me back to when times were so much better being a kid. I'll never grow up!😊
Started me to playing piano. Back. then I learned Linus and Lucy in C from the first published book.Later I got my hands on the actual music and this mans Genius. THANK YOU Mr Guaraldi.
Guiraldi's peanuts recording are sublime. the best music ever done for any animated television show.
My wife was a student at College of San Mateo in the 70's, and she told me years ago about being in a choral group (or taking a choir class) there and the director, I think his name was Galen Marshall, knew Vince Guaraldi and had him come in to speak to his class. She says the one hour class turned into an all day performance!
Vince's music coming out of the radio on KSFO way back in the early 60's fit our foggy San Francisco days like a glove. I fell in love with it at 4 yrs. old.
As a Portlander in the 1950's and 60's, San Francisco was our Paris. Vince Guaraldi and Charles Schulz were reminders to us that not all art is handed down from the Northeast Corridor or Sunset Blvd. Bravo for this concise video reminder.
Love love love love his music
Little birdie is one of the funkiest, jazziest songs of all time .
It's not possible to properly describe the smile on my face throughout the video tribute. These simple sounds are an indelible feature of my childhood reminding me of simpler days, of innocence and sweet melancholy.
Definitely this music sparked my interest in jazz.
Still a favorite of mine!! 💜☃️⭐️
He and Costa from Mr Rogers where huge to my childhood.
This is where I fell in love with the sound of the brushes on the drums. Still one of my favorite sounds, quite magical.🥰
December 2, 2023
Loved your background info on the work of Vince Guaraldi.
my grandad loves peanuts so much and so do the whole family and we watch the christmas special every year
Thank you Mr G for introducing me to jazz back in the 60s…I just didn’t realize it at the time😍😍
Love me some Guaraldi!!!! Cast Your Fate to the Wind!
I graduated with a BA in music compositionj from SF State Univ. Guaraldi is a legend there.
Used to watch the specials on boomerang. The music always meloncholy most of the time, and really set the mood. And now, thanks to you Matt, I now know the name of the man who composed this iconic soundtrack. Thanks.
My pleasure! I absolutely love Guaraldi's music, so I thought it would be nice to highlight him this month.
Vince Guaraldi's music is pure genius. I have listened to the Charlie Brown Christmas album thousands of times and it never gets old. I'll always remember seeing the cartoon Christmas special in 1965, such a happy memory of a classic production.
My mom told me once that we watched A Charlie Brown Christmas together when I was 9 months old in 1965. She said I was moving my hands to the music. I've been a fan all of these 58 years since. It's just not Christmas without it.
Because of the music in the Charlie Brown specials is why about 18 years ago is why I started to looking into Mr. Guaralaldi's work and absolutely love it! I have two of his LP's one being A Boy Named Charlie Brown by his VG Trio that is a green record and came with Peanuts trading cards. Best purchase ever.
Simply genius.
Charlie Brown Christmas is so beautiful and the music for it is just lovely. I need to check out his other albums
Check out _Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus_ and _In Person._
@@Alaprine thanks for the recommendations
@@galedribble9535 You're welcome. I'm curious to hear your Impressions (lol) of these albums!
I'm in my sixties and have always loved this music but never realized that it might well have been the reason why I was receptive to jazz later on. Thank you for putting a face to this music. I am embarrassed to say that though I have heard this name before in jazz circles I didn't know he was also the musician behind this timeless music.
His music captures the essence of Peanuts.
Fantastic artisric expression in art and music. Unforgettable
The score practically narrated the movie on its own. So many moods and all of them as smooth as silk.
I Went To A Jazz At Lincoln Center Concert And Wynton Marsalis Said, "My Dad And Vince Served In The Korean War Together, And They Were Pretty Tight. My Dad Would Tell Me, 'Vince? Yeaah, He's Alright, Man.' '' Love You Vince.
I would love to have heard Vince and Ellis play together
Would Have Made An Awesome Trio :)
The critical observations in the narration are incredibly intelligent and thoughtful. Nice work!
The first jazz I was exposed to and still love!
Beautiful tribute to one of the most soulful, melancholic and joyous soundtracks of childhood ever written. Thank you
Lovely documentary... Great narration 🎉
Thank you. I always loved the Peanuts soundtracks but now I gave a deeper understanding. These songs will be the base of my childhood.
Brilliant composer! I bet his music was the introduction to Jazz for many people...
I have loved Vince Gauraldi my whole life. Thanks for this interpretation
Sneaking great jazz into a childhood cartoon laid the trap for many to rediscover the adult sound later in life. Brilliant.
The smooth , beautiful piano styling of Vince Guaraldi will forever remain with us
Very interesting; nicely done!
Thank You so much Vince Guaraldi for making my childhood growing up with Peanuts so wonderful AND my love of Jazz! - They will be dancing in paradise with you there!
A sheer Christmas delight. His genius should be trumpeted from very hill!