Vince Guaraldi It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Definitive Edition)
Release Date: August 26, 2022
Label: Craft Recordings
Just in time for Halloween - previously thought to be lost to time - the original session reels for It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, including musical cues in show order (before television editing) and a selection of alternate takes, plus new expanded liner notes.
It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: Music from the Soundtrack features some of the most iconic tracks in pop culture, including the instantly recognizable “Linus and Lucy,” as well as the languid, lyrical “Great Pumpkin Waltz.” The music was recorded on October 4, 1966 at Desilu’s Gower Street Studio in Hollywood, California by Guaraldi (piano) and his longtime friends and trio sidemen - bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Colin Bailey - joined by Emanuel Klein (trumpet), John Gray (guitar) and Ronald Lang (woodwinds). The entire scoring process was overseen by composer, arranger and conductor John Scott Trotter, well known for a three-decade run as Bing Crosby’s music director and close friend.
The slowdown of the pandemic gave the Mendelson family (Lee Mendelson was the executive producer of the TV special) an opportunity to dig deep through their archives and they discovered what were previously thought to be lost to time: the original analog session reels for It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. What you will hear on most tracks of this new and improved “best” version of the album are the musical cues as recorded by Vince and crew before they were edited for the television special, in show order, as well as a selection of alternate takes.
Vince Guaraldi was an American jazz pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated television adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip, as well as his performances on piano as a member of Cal Tjader's 1950s ensembles and for his own solo career. His 1962 composition "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" became a radio hit and won a Grammy Award in 1963 for Best Original Jazz Composition. A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio is one of only two Jazz albums ever to be certified 5x platinum.