Page 14 - aruba-today-20221206

A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 6 december 2022
Jazzy ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ swings on after 57 years

By DAVID BAUDER the task, but the deadline
AP Entertainment Writer was too daunting.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Men- So Mendelson sat in his
delson family would love to office and did it himself:
find the envelope where “Christmas time is here,
their father, Lee, scribbled happiness and cheer...”
some lyrics to jazz musician “I’ve always loved the mu-
Vince Guaraldi’s compo- sic and the melody, but I re-
sition “Christmas Time is ally didn’t understand how
Here” for an animated TV beautiful the lyrics were un-
special featuring the “Pea- til I recorded it,” said Norah
nuts” gang in 1965. Jones, who included her
The producer always said it take on the song on a disc
had taken less than half an released last year.
hour to write, and he likely “The version with the chil-
tossed the scrap of paper dren singing is so special,”
away. He was in a rush. she told The Associated
Everything was rushed. No Press. “There’s something
one even knew, once the very unique and heart-
special aired, whether it warming about children
would ever be seen again. singing.”
Instead, “A Charlie Brown The St. Paul’s Church Choir
Christmas” became an in- from San Rafael, California,
delible holiday tradition was hired to sing “Christmas
and so, too, has Guaraldi’s Time is Here” and “Hark, the
music perhaps even more Herald Angels Sing.” Pro-
so. ducers infuriated the choir
“Christmas just doesn’t This image released by Peanuts Worldwide shows promotional art for the 1965 animated TV special director by choosing a
feel like Christmas without “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The soundtrack has sold more than five million copies. slightly out-of-tune version
hearing that album in the Associated Press of the carol; they thought
background,” said Derrick mas” has aired every of Southern California and It all started in the San Fran- it captured an innocence
Bang, author of the biogra- year since 1965, although co-host of the “Switched cisco area, home base for they were seeking, said
phy “Vince Guaraldi at the that tradition is about to on Pop” podcast. Guaraldi, as it was for Men- Bang, who wrote liner notes
Piano.” change. During the 1960s, jazz was delson and Schulz. Mendel- for the box set.
The special itself was a bit The special’s run on broad- closer to the mainstream son’s popular documen- Some at CBS were nervous
of an oddity: a cartoon sto- cast television ends this and more likely to be tary on Willie Mays Schulz’s before the special aired.
ry of the meaning of Christ- year. Apple TV+ bought the played alongside pop mu- favorite baseball player Executives wondered if

mas soundtracked by a rights, and will stream it ex- sic, he said. convinced the reclusive viewers would accept their
sophisticated, mostly instru- clusively starting next year. The music Guaraldi cre- cartoonist to participate favorite comic strip charac-
mental jazz trio of piano, While a recognition of tele- ated for the soundtrack in a “day in the life” film ters come to “life” with voic-
bass and drum. vision’s new direction, will is ambiguous and more about his work. es and movement. Schulz’s
Yet it worked. Guaraldi’s that reduce the chances complex than most holiday One of Mendelson’s fa- insistence that the show
cascading piano evokes of new generations of chil- music, Sloan said. Tied to vorite songs was Guaral- quote from the Bible gave
both motion and lightly fall- dren happening upon the warm feelings for illustrator di’s breezy hit, “Cast Your it a religious focus that tele-
ing snow on “Skating.” The story and music? Charles M. Schulz’s classic Fate to the Wind,” so the vision entertainment typi-
driving melody of “Linus “I just remember, back in comic page characters, jazzman was recruited for a cally steered clear of. But it
and Lucy” is the eternal the days of three chan- time has made it traditional soundtrack. was a hit, winning Peabody
backdrop to a swinging nels and scheduled pro- holiday music. In the days before cable and Emmy awards, and
party. “O Tannenbaum” gramming, that was one The list of people who have and streaming, Mendelson never went away.
shifts from the tradition- of those things we were recorded “Christmas Time couldn’t sell the documen- Guaraldi never had the
al carol to a bass-driven excited about because we is Here” is long and varied. tary, so it went unseen. chance to see his music
groove. A children’s choir knew it was coming on and They include John Legend, After the popularity of age into standards. He
adds charm to “Christmas we were familiar with it,” Alicia Keys, Gloria Estefan, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed died of a heart attack in
Time is Here.” said Harry Connick Jr., who Mariah Carey, Mel Tor- Reindeer” in 1964, a spon- 1976, only 47 years old.
The soundtrack has sold covered “Christmas Time is mé, Dave Brubeck, Sarah sor asked Mendelson if “He’s the best-known jazz
more than five million cop- Here” for his own holiday McLachlan, Stone Temple he’d considered making a musician whose name you
ies. Its nostalgia-fueled disc just out. Pilots, Chicago, and Toni “Peanuts” Christmas spe- don’t know, because the
popularity has only grown, “It was actually an amaz- Braxton. Similarly, the un- cial. He lied that he had. music from the Christmas
getting a crucial boost in ing opportunity for music expected places where Schulz agreed to outline a special has become so
1998 when Starbucks be- like that to be heard by a the melody to “Linus and story, and Guaraldi came ubiquitous,” Bang said.
gan selling it in stores, and lot of people,” added Con- Lucy” have appeared tes- aboard, too, recycling Lee Mendelson died at
fed steadily by new prod- nick, a jazz devotee even tifies to how ingrained it is “Linus and Lucy” from the 86 in 2019 — on Christmas
ucts. The latest, a box set of as a youngster. “It was not in American life. Michelle documentary. Day. Jason is reluctant
outtakes released this year, necessarily the kind of mu- Obama played it on the Animation is time-consum- to say how much money
came when Jason Mendel- sic that would be played piano when returning to ing, so the team had a his father earned from his
son, one of the late produc- on regular radio.” her childhood home in the tight deadline to make it few minutes of writing the
er’s four children, discov- That’s even less likely now, “Becoming” documen- onto television. It was Men- “Christmas Time is Here”
ered tapes of Guaraldi’s as jazz recedes into the tary. Foo Fighters included delson who decided that lyrics. Here’s one hint: The
recording sessions in a Los history books or the back- it in a rocking “Saturday “Christmas Time is Here” song makes enough mon-
Angeles warehouse while ground of dinner parties, Night Live” holiday medley. was missing something ey, every year, to pay for
looking for something else. said Nathaniel Sloan, mu- Prince banged it out during without lyrics. He asked sev- all of the extended family’s
“A Charlie Brown Christ- sicologist at the University his last concert. eral songwriters to take on holiday shopping. q