Music Review: Vince Guaraldi Trio, Peanuts Greatest Hits

By Melissa Bratcher

Is there a more perfect marriage of image and sound than Peanuts and Vince Guaraldi’s music? Guaraldi’s loose, jazzy scores brought a rich dimension to Charles Schultz’s gang of cartoon kids, elevating the Peanuts TV specials beyond simple cartoons. They were fine art.

And they still are: they are timeless. Certainly, one of the reasons they hold up so well is the elegant work of the Vince Guaraldi Trio. The music Guaraldi created for Peanuts is collected on Peanuts Greatest Hits, and it is everything you want it to be: smooth, memorable, and evocative. In fact, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t separate the songs from their visuals that I’ve watched since I was a wee one. And that’s OK.

“Great Pumpkin Waltz” feels autumnal. Is it in the horns and flute, or is it because it’s so inexorably linked to the show in my brain? Is it the hint of melancholy, or is it Ronald Lang’s haunting flute line, low and glorious? “Thanksgiving Theme,” where Guaraldi plays kinetic piano and electric piano, captures the frenetic, with a stately repeated motif. Guaraldi’s music is so connected to the holidays, that it is impossible to uncouple them from warm memories and listen to them objectively.

They are gorgeous pieces. The vibrant and crisp “Christmas Is Coming” is driving before it loosens into an elegant, jammy trio. Perennial favorite “Christmastime Is Here” features the gently falling snow sound of Jerry Granelli’s brushed drums and Guaraldi’s piano—easy and a moment behind the beat—and Fred Marshall’s hushed, juddering bass. It’s affecting and gorgeous, sounding improvised and yet tight. The warm haze of nostalgia is overwhelming. Can you hear the blades whooshing across a frozen pond on “Skating?” The gentleness gives way to rambling bass and flitting piano that evokes falling snow—it’s utterly thrilling.

You can hear the force and verve in the way Guaraldi strikes the keys, but on tracks like “Oh, Good Grief,” the space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves. Arguably the most recognizable song of the Guaraldi oeuvre is “Linus and Lucy.” Colin Bailey’s drums and hi hat lay down the propulsive beat, while Guaraldi’s left hand adds to the locomotion. It becomes lush and beautiful, with an excitingly nimble piano break. To listen to it, remastered, on fine headphones feels like a miracle. “Little Birdie” is an anomaly on Peanuts Greatest Hits. Abandoning the simple jazz trio and embracing fuller instrumentation, it’s delightfully funky. Horns swell and the bassline bubbles, and Vince Guaraldi himself sings the track.

How could you not love Peanuts Greatest Hits? Vince Guaraldi’s brilliant music represented a first exposure to jazz for many people, making the genre accessible and non-bewildering. The tracks here are undeniable classics and it is fascinating to hear these incredible musicians at their playful finest.

Peanuts Greatest Hits was released by Fantasy/Concord on July 31.