To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the
Peanuts
comic strip,
Concord
assembled this compilation of
Vince Guaraldi
compositions that the pianist recorded for the soundtracks to various
television specials, some of which were previously issued on his
Fantasy
albums, plus a few alternate takes and songs that have never previously appeared on disc. A pair of songs recorded by
George Winston
for
Windham Hill
were also licensed for inclusion.
Guaraldi
, who earlier in his career had worked as a sideman with
Cal Tjader
, recorded a few albums of his own, and won a Grammy for his composition
"Cast Your Fate to the Wind,"
earned lasting fame for his infectious piece
"Linus and Lucy,"
a piece that became so famous for its opening vamp alone that it is instantly recognizable to any fan of the
cartoon specials. Some songs have aged better than others. The pieces utilizing electric keyboards sound dated, particularly
"Peppermint Patty,"
"Charlie's Blues,"
and
"Joe Cool,"
though trumpeter
Tom Harrell
is part of the band on the latter two tracks, but he doesn't solo. Alternate takes were located for
"Frieda (With the Naturally Curly Hair)"
"Schroeder,"
while the campy
"Little Birdie"
features a rare vocal by the pianist, though the muted trumpet and backing band (aside from the rhythm section) are uncredited.
recorded a number of television soundtracks after the success of
A Boy Named Charlie Brown
, though his premature death from a heart attack at the age of 47 in early 1976 saddened both
and jazz fans. Since this collection focuses on pieces that are portraits of characters within the strip, and many of
's
-themed songs were previously issued on the
CD
Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits
, the label would have been left with a rather abbreviated album, unless it chose to license tracks from
's sole
Warner Bros.
LP,
Oh, Good Grief!
, or recordings by other jazz artists for other labels. It is surprising that two tracks recorded by new age pianist
(who recorded an album of
songs for
in 1996) were included to get this collection to at least LP length.
Winston
, who has frequently been savaged by jazz journalists (especially the late
Martin Williams
), plays with a little more gusto than on his own pieces in
"The Masked Marvel"
and a reprise of
though his playing has a mechanical feel to it and his improvising skills are not at the level of a jazz pianist.
Derrick Bang
's detailed liner notes give extensive background to each of the characters portrayed. The number of previously unavailable tracks will make
Peanuts Portraits
of interest to fans of
, though it falls short of being an essential CD by the late pianist. ~ Ken Dryden