The Vince Guaraldi Trio was a jazz group fronted by pianist and composer Vi… Read Full Bio ↴The Vince Guaraldi Trio was a jazz group fronted by pianist and composer Vince Guaraldi. Most well-known in its acoustic piano-drums-bass configuration, the trio provided music for a number of animated productions of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strips. Guaraldi's distinctively breezy, bluesy, and melancholy jazz has become an indelible part of Peanuts' timeless legacy. Their soundtrack for the 1965 Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, is one of the biggest-selling and most critically successful Christmas albums of all time.
The San Francisco-based trio was first formed around 1954, then in a piano-guitar-bass configuration. Starting with the release of the group's self-titled debut album on Fantasy in 1956, Guaraldi would remain on the label for some time. Guaraldi's early recordings were decidedly low-key and morose compared to the work for which he would become famous, but his trademark melancholy and distinctive instrumental voicings, including his deep basslines, were indelible parts of his aesthetic framework from the very beginning.
Influenced by the Brazilian film Black Orpheus (1959)--whose soundtrack was a large part of the impending Bossa nova craze--the trio recorded the album Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962), having by this point settled into their now familiar piano-bass-drums lineup. The album featured renditions of songs from the film, as well as a number of originals; one such song was "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" which would, within a year, become one of the most commercially successful jazz instrumentals of its time, notably winning a Grammy for Best Instrumental Song. Several vocal versions (with lyrics by Carel Werber) would also achieve significant success.
It was thanks to Guaraldi's hit song that he was discovered by Lee Mendelson who wanted him to write music for Peanuts animation. Guaraldi's first Peanuts assignment was the music for the ill-fated Schulz documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Though the special was never aired and remained unavailable to the public for several decades, the music was released as the album Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964). For later reissues, the album was retroactively renamed after the documentary.
Despite a troubled production process, 1965 saw the premiere of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Guaraldi's ground-breaking amalgamation of Christmas music and his own unique brand of jazz was an inexorable part of the special's unforeseen success; the soundtrack, featuring originals alongside Guaraldi's interpretations of standards, continues to amass impressive sales even now. One of the songs from the special, "Linus and Lucy" (featured in the special's famous "dancing scene"), would become the de facto theme of Peanuts animations, often mistakenly referred to as the "Peanuts Theme". Another song on the soundtrack, "Christmas Time Is Here" (with lyrics by Mendelson), has become a Christmas standard in its own right.
With the passing of the '60s, Guaraldi began experimenting more and more with different sonic textures for his music, having all but replaced his acoustic piano with various electronic keyboards, most notably the Fender Rhodes. Consequently, Guaraldi would, less and less, perform and record within the context of a trio. While it was never "officially" disbanded, and Guaraldi still used this configuration from time to time, the group inevitably dissolved upon Guaraldi's untimely death in 1976.
Peanuts specials made subsequent to his death often reuse Guaraldi's recordings, or original music inspired heavily by Guaraldi's iconic scores; a testament to his importance to the identity of Peanuts. More importantly, generations of people have cited Guaraldi's inventive and playful jazz as their formative experience with the genre, imbuing a spark of the love of jazz in untold numbers of listeners that only seem to increase the more time goes by.
The San Francisco-based trio was first formed around 1954, then in a piano-guitar-bass configuration. Starting with the release of the group's self-titled debut album on Fantasy in 1956, Guaraldi would remain on the label for some time. Guaraldi's early recordings were decidedly low-key and morose compared to the work for which he would become famous, but his trademark melancholy and distinctive instrumental voicings, including his deep basslines, were indelible parts of his aesthetic framework from the very beginning.
Influenced by the Brazilian film Black Orpheus (1959)--whose soundtrack was a large part of the impending Bossa nova craze--the trio recorded the album Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962), having by this point settled into their now familiar piano-bass-drums lineup. The album featured renditions of songs from the film, as well as a number of originals; one such song was "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" which would, within a year, become one of the most commercially successful jazz instrumentals of its time, notably winning a Grammy for Best Instrumental Song. Several vocal versions (with lyrics by Carel Werber) would also achieve significant success.
It was thanks to Guaraldi's hit song that he was discovered by Lee Mendelson who wanted him to write music for Peanuts animation. Guaraldi's first Peanuts assignment was the music for the ill-fated Schulz documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Though the special was never aired and remained unavailable to the public for several decades, the music was released as the album Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964). For later reissues, the album was retroactively renamed after the documentary.
Despite a troubled production process, 1965 saw the premiere of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Guaraldi's ground-breaking amalgamation of Christmas music and his own unique brand of jazz was an inexorable part of the special's unforeseen success; the soundtrack, featuring originals alongside Guaraldi's interpretations of standards, continues to amass impressive sales even now. One of the songs from the special, "Linus and Lucy" (featured in the special's famous "dancing scene"), would become the de facto theme of Peanuts animations, often mistakenly referred to as the "Peanuts Theme". Another song on the soundtrack, "Christmas Time Is Here" (with lyrics by Mendelson), has become a Christmas standard in its own right.
With the passing of the '60s, Guaraldi began experimenting more and more with different sonic textures for his music, having all but replaced his acoustic piano with various electronic keyboards, most notably the Fender Rhodes. Consequently, Guaraldi would, less and less, perform and record within the context of a trio. While it was never "officially" disbanded, and Guaraldi still used this configuration from time to time, the group inevitably dissolved upon Guaraldi's untimely death in 1976.
Peanuts specials made subsequent to his death often reuse Guaraldi's recordings, or original music inspired heavily by Guaraldi's iconic scores; a testament to his importance to the identity of Peanuts. More importantly, generations of people have cited Guaraldi's inventive and playful jazz as their formative experience with the genre, imbuing a spark of the love of jazz in untold numbers of listeners that only seem to increase the more time goes by.
Blue Charlie Brown
Vince Guaraldi Trio Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Vince Guaraldi Trio:
Autumn Leaves The falling leaves drift by the window The autumn leaves of…
Camptown Races Well, I came down there with my hat caved in Oh…
Cast Fate to the Wind A month of nights, a year of days Octobers drifting into…
Christmas Is Coming Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all that …
Christmas Song Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at yo…
Christmas Time Intro Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all that …
Christmas Time Is Here (instrumental) Christmas Time Is Here Written by Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendel…
Christmas Time Is Here (Intru Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all that …
Christmas Time is Here (vocal Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all tha…
Christmas Time is Here Song Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all that …
Greensleeves Alas, my love, you do me wrong, To cast me off…
Hark The Herald Angels Hark the herald angels sing Glory to the newborn king Peace …
It's De-Lovely The night is young, the skies are clear So if…
Moon River Moon river, wider than a mile I'm crossing you in style…
O Tannenbaum O Christmas Tree O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree! How ar…
Oh Good Grief Oh you've lost 900 baseballs games. And we kids all love…
On Green Dolphin Street It seems like a dream, yet I know it happened A…
Sweet & Lovely Sweet and lovely Sweeter than the roses in May Sweet and lov…
The Christmas Song Chestnuts roasting on an open fire Jack Frost nipping at you…
Yesterdays Yesterdays, yesterdays Days I knew as happy Sweet sequeste…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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tomnatr
This bass player is blowing my mind with his feel and the melodic-ness of his note choices in his walking bass lines. It's like he's choosing non-chord tones for targets and resolves them right as I'm about to fall out of my chair. Over and over again.
OMG It's Freeking Brilliant!
Buster Coins
The combination of Vince Guaraldi and the Charlie Brown characters touched a generation of people.
Logen Vestfold
Multiple generations.
Tami S.
Absolutely LOVE his music. Doesn't get any better than this! =)
Modern Midern Town
-8
charles brown
The Peanuts music is some of my favorite Jazz!
Mr. Brown
THIS ALBUM IS PRICELESS!!!!!!!
Gomek2
Wow! The way he hung that chord at 5:20!! DEEP!!!
Stevie D. Scarlet Soul
Vince...in my mind,is a HUGE rockstar!
fkslfjsldkf
Somebody should just take Guaraldi's music and build a movie around it. Some kind of love story. Maybe there'd be a magic pianist with a big 'stache who'd pop up here and there in the background. It's time to give "cool" back to the people.