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Lost Cues From The Charlie Brown TV Specials Vols 1 & 2

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A cool little box set – one that features both volumes of 70s music from the Charlie Brown cartoons – all played by Vince Guaraldi with a fair bit of electric piano in the mix! First up is Volume 1, sides from the period when Peanuts was hipping things up a bit – and Vince's music definitely shows that trend – bringing in bits of funk, slight electric moments, and other sweet touches that take the music a long way from Charlie Brown Christmas! Most of the groups here are either trios or quartets – and alongside Vince's work on piano and keyboards, other players include Mike Clark of the Headhunters on drums and Tom Harrell on trumpet. Vince also sings a bit on two numbers – "Joe Cool" and "Little Birdie" – both in a raspy style that's almost a bit like that of Bob Dorough or Jack Sheldon on Schoolhouse Rock! Other tracks include "Play It Again Charlie Brown", "Motocross", "Incumbent Waltz", "Peppermint Patty", "African Sleigh Ride", and "There's No Time For Love Charlie Brown". And despite the fact that the title says "cues", the tunes here are all full-length jazz numbers! Volume 2 features some of Vince Guaraldi's funkiest tunes ever recorded, all issued here commercially for the first time ever! These sides are studio recordings that Vince did for the Charlie Brown cartoons during the hippest years of the series – and the music here is often a fair bit more soulful than Guaraldi's Peanuts recordings from the previous decade – which is saying a lot, considering how great most of that already was! Most numbers here feature Vince on electric piano, working in trio format – all with a beautiful sound that's as crystal-clear, open, and laidback as some of the best keyboard work on CTI at the time. The main difference here, though, is that many of these tunes are quite short – just a couple of minutes, as the music was used as cues in the cartoons – often cut down even more to accompany a short scene. The brevity hardly gets in the way of the tunes, though – as Vince packs more ideas into a few short minutes than most players can get into a single album side – and the set also features one slightly longer track from another 70s recording session apart from the cartoons. Titles include "Cops & Robbers", "Sally's Blues", "It's A Mystery Charlie Brown", "Snoopy & Woodstock", "Woodstock's Dream", "Bus Me", "Little Birdie (inst)", "Joe Cool (inst)", "Linus & Lucy", "Nobody Else", and "Is It James Or Charlie".  © 1996-2013, Dusty Groove, Inc.