Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits


Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits is a compilation soundtrack album by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi released by Fantasy Records in 1998. The album was the first of several posthumous releases containing a mix of previously released material in addition to nine previously unavailable songs featured in prime-time animated television specials based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz.

Background

Vince Guaraldi died of a sudden heart attack on February 6, 1976, at age 47, having composed music scores for 16 Peanuts television specials and the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Despite the wealth of material Guaraldi recorded for these specials, only three album's worth of Peanuts songs were released during his lifetime: Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Christmas and Oh Good Grief!.
After the 1996 tribute album Linus and Lucy: The Music of Vince Guaraldi by New Age pianist George Winston sparked renewed interest in Guaraldi's music, Fantasy Records assembled a compilation album in 1998, 22 years after Guaraldi's final Peanuts project.
Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits contains a mix of previously released material featured on the Fantasy releases Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Christmas plus unreleased music cues from Charlie Brown's All Stars!, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown. Several music cues were sourced directly from the television audio tracks and were licensed for inclusion from Lee Mendelson Film Productions.
Fantasy also inadvertently included one non-Guaraldi track, a composite of two music cues composed by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette for The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. The title bears no relation to the multiple renditions of "Joe Cool" composed by Guaraldi during his lifetime.

Critical reception

Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang commented that the newly released material "is a joy, although some of these cuts are a bit 'muddy', and they lack the polish and studio perfection of Fantasy's earlier releases; they have an unsweetened quality, and display the uneven volume, jump starts and slow fades that betray their probable origins from television audio tracks." AllMusic critic Cub Koda said the wealth of unreleased material was a "true goldmine" for fans.

Track listing

All songs written by Vince Guaraldi except where noted. Proper titles appear with mistitled tracks in parentheses.
Notes
non-Guaraldi track; song is a composite of two untitled music cues composed by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette for The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
sourced from television soundtrack of Charlie Brown's All Stars!
sourced from television soundtrack of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
recorded July 29, 1965
re-recorded for A Charlie Brown Christmas as "Christmas Is Coming"
vocal number sung by members of Glenn Mendelson's sixth-grade class; song is titled "Oh, Good Grief" but melody is taken from "Schroeder"
sourced from television soundtrack of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
composite edit of versions 2 and 3
sourced from television soundtrack of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
''Tracks 1−3 and 9−11 are sourced directly from their respective television soundtracks and appear in mono.''

Personnel

Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown – Vince Guaraldi Trio
Recorded on May 26, September 11, and October 26, 1964
Camptown Races and Track Meet – Vince Guaraldi Trio
Recorded on July 29, 1965
  • Vince Guaraldi – piano, arranger
  • Bill Fitch – congas
  • Benny Velarde – timbales
A Charlie Brown Christmas – Vince Guaraldi Trio
Recorded on October 26, 1964 and September 17 – October 28, 1965
Charlie Brown's All-Stars! – Vince Guaraldi Sextet
Recorded on May 13, 1966
  • Vince Guaraldi – piano, arranger
  • Eugene “Puzzy” Firth - bass
  • Frank Snow - trumpet
  • John Coppola - trumpet
  • Eddie Duran - guitar
  • Lee Charlton - drums
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown – Vince Guaraldi Sextet
Recorded on October 4, 1966
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – Vince Guaraldi Quintet
Recorded on August 20, 22, September 4, and October 1, 1973
  • Vince Guaraldi – acoustic piano, electric keyboards, vocals, guitars
  • Seward McCain – electric bass
  • Tom Harrell – trumpet
  • Chuck Bennett – trombone
  • Mike Clark – drums
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown – Vince Guaraldi Trio
Recorded on December 9, 17, 18, 23, and 30, 1974
  • Vince Guaraldi – acoustic piano, electric keyboards, guitars
  • Seward McCain – electric bass
  • Vince Lateano – drums