Wheels within wheels!

This 75th Peanuts anniversary year gets better and better!

On top of which, this also marks the 50th anniversary of You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, which won an Emmy Award after its debut back on October 28, 1975. It was the 14th Peanuts special to feature a Guaraldi score.

The special's story, inspired by Schulz's son Craig's then-interest in motocross, finds Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty competing in a charity motocross race, trying to overcome the challenges of crashes, mud and the antics of a strangely familiar Masked Marvel.

By way of celebrating that double-anniversary Lee Mendelson Film Productions has announced that Guaraldi's complete soundtrack will be released on July 11, 2025.

The album features the 14 tracks that make up Guaraldi's full score, along with a bonus track of unused cues originally intended for the special's beginning (but were left behind when something else was inserted instead).

But — as the saying goes — that's not all, folks!

The album also includes four tracks of music that Guaraldi composed, and his trio performed, for Bicycles Are Beautiful, a now quite obscure 1974 non-Peanuts film — also produced by Lee Mendelson — that promoted bicycle riding and safety.

The performers on Good Sport are Guaraldi (piano, electric piano, clavinet, ARP String Ensemble, and Rhythm Ace Drum Machine), Seward McCain (bass) and Mark Rosengarden (drums and guiro). The Bicycles are Beautiful tracks feature Guaraldi (electric keyboard), McCain (bass) and Glenn Cronkhite (drums). 

The album was produced by Sean and Jason Mendelson; mixed at WonderWorld Studio by Grammy and Emmy Award-winning mixing engineer Clark Germain, and restored and re-mastered by Vinson Hudson (who has mastered all the LMFP releases). All tracks have been mastered from the original session tapes.

The soundtrack will be available on CD, vinyl and digitally, and can be pre-ordered from Amazon and other sources now.

The vinyl version is particularly special. The LP is a Zoetrope album: a picture disc with animated scenes from the cartoon, which come to life as the record spins. (You may need special lighting for best results; the album includes a QR code that'll take you to instructions for viewing the Zoetrope effect.) It's totally cool.

Initially only a Zoetrope vinyl was announced, but later LMFP added a plain black vinyl option as well.  However, it will not be available until September 12.

The physical albums feature rare photographs; track-by-track analysis by album producer Sean Mendelson; notes from album producer Jason Mendelson; an essay giving historical context by my own self; and a short essay by Craig Schulz, who discusses the special's inspiration.

Additional information:

• The full You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown press release

• The Lee Mendelson Film Productions webpage for the album

• Short preview samples for several tracks on Soundcloud

• The complete "Motocross" track on YouTube

The track list:

You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown

1. Motocross

2. Peppermint Patty

3. You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (Centercourt)

4. Fanfare / Fanfare (Alternate Take) / Hospital Scene / Hospital Scene (Bonus)

5. Bass Blues

6. Linus and Lucy

7. Motocross (Reprise)

8. You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (Unused Opening Cues)

9. The Great Pumpkin Waltz

10. Motocross (2nd Reprise)

11. Motocross (3rd Reprise)

12. Motocross (4th Reprise)

13. Motocross (5th Reprise Extended with Additional Piano)

14. Lunch Theme / Motocross (6th Reprise)

15. You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (Reprise)

Bicycles are Beautiful

16. Bicycles are Beautiful (Reprise)

17. Bicycle Ballad (Medley)

18. Bicycle Bounce (and Reprise)

19. Bicycle Wizard (and Reprise)

I know, I know ... July is too far away, right?

Anticipation always makes the eventual purchase that much more exciting!

As for what might be next ... keep watching this blog!

Birthday greetings

Dr. Funk would have turned 86 today: a ripe old age, but certainly not prohibitive, in terms of further sharing his talent. Plenty of jazz elder statesmen have continued to record and perform well into their 80s; it's nice to think, in an alternate universe somewhere, that Guaraldi is doing the same.

Concord/Fantasy hasn't let the moment pass; the label has acknowledged this birthday milestone with a spanking-new vinyl release of Guaraldi's career-making album, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus. The LP jacket front is virtually indistinguishable from the album's later re-christening as Cast Your Fate to the Wind, following that song's chart-rising success and Grammy Award. Even the catalog number is identical: Stereo 8089/Fantasy 3337 ("High Fidelity").

The jacket back also appears the same, down to the "other Fantasy albums of interest" listed beneath Ralph J. Gleason's liner notes. Closer scrutiny, however, will reveal the Concord Music Group address in tiny print at the very bottom, along with a new catalog number (OJC-437) at the upper right.

The LP contents are identical to those pressed in 1962, and — unlike other recent LP re-issues of Guaraldi albums — the vinyl is basic black. (Alas, no fun color.)

AllAboutJazz.com has cited Guaraldi as its "Jazz Musician of the Day," and you can check out this honor here. The AllAboutJazz page, in turn, links to an essay I wrote many years ago, long before I decided to embark on a full-blown biography; you'll also find a modest selection of photos.

That appears to be it, in terms of acknowledgment by the wider world ... unlike last year, when KMUW 89.1 in Wichita, Kansas, devoted an installment of its award-winning show, Global Village, to Guaraldi. (I guess an 86th birthday isn't quite as exciting as an 85th. Those multiples of 5 always seem more significant.)

As for my own sentiments, on this day ... I can't really do better than what I wrote a year ago, so I'll refer you back to that post.

But I will add this: We can take enormous pleasure in the fact that Guaraldi's music continues to resonate just as much, 365 days after his previous birthday. Indeed, there's no shortage of fresh news about our favorite Italian leprechaun, as followers of this blog know. Nor does Concord show any signs of slowing down, in terms of CD and LP re-issues.

I recall being told, by drummer Mark Rosengarden, that Guaraldi's tipple of choice, during the latter part of his life, was Courvoisier. Acknowledging that this brand of cognac is something of an acquired taste, I nonetheless encourage the faithful Out There to raise a glass of the stuff, and join a heartfelt toast to the man whose small hands belied his massive jazz chops. May his celestial star ever brighten.