Credit where due?

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Guaraldi’s first album of Peanuts music, Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, which debuted in December 1964. Next year, we’ll mark the same anniversary for the album soundtrack of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Half a century. As Charlie Brown himself would say, Good grief!

I don’t remember precisely when I bought both albums, but it likely would have been some time in 1966 or ’67. I still have both of those LPs, and they’re still in pretty good condition ... which is amazing, considering how many times they’ve been played.

Half a century. You’d think, by now, that Guaraldi’s essential collaborators — his bassist and drummer — also could be acknowledged properly, for both albums.

You’d think.

You’d be wrong.

Over the years, the most frequent Guaraldian queries I’ve fielded have concerned either the sidemen credits for one or both of those albums, or the degree to which the music on both albums does — or doesn’t — match what we hear when watching the corresponding short films. Attempting to suss out the credits remains a source of conflicting opinions to this day, as demonstrated by the recent squabble that took place behind the scenes of Guaraldi’s Wikipedia entry. (See this blog’s previous post for details.)

Comparing the albums to the actual scores, however, has been a long-gestating project delayed only by my awareness of the effort involved: a challenge that therefore sat on a back burner for several years. Gathering the resources certainly wasn’t a problem: Copies of the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas are easy to find, and the never-aired documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown is available on DVD, from the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

Now, thanks to considerable assistance on the part of my good friend and fellow Guaraldi fan Doug Anderson, it’s time to shed some light on both issues. What follows raises fresh questions (with respect to credits) and contains some intriguing surprises (with respect to how the music was used). I’ll divide the results of recent analysis into three posts, starting with this one, which will concentrate on who did — or didn’t — play what on which.

As Bette Davis comments in 1950’s All About Eve, “Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy night!”

Why I hate Wikipedia, Part One

Many concepts seem great in theory. Then people get involved, and the so-called “great idea” rapidly goes to hell.

Communism is a perfect example.

So is Wikipedia.

I applaud the premise behind Wikipedia: an expanding roster of experts supplying information about the topics they know best. What could go wrong?

Plenty, as it turns out.

Drummer Jerry Granelli, bassist Fred Marshall and Guaraldi, as captured on camera
for Ralph Gleason's documentary, Anatomy of a Hit. Guaraldi's trio was filmed during
its long run at The Trident, in the summer of 1963.

Wikipedia’s all-access submission model grants equal credence to anybody wishing to add, enhance or outright change an entry ... regardless of said individual’s actual credentials, and, most particularly, regardless of whether said individual might have an impish streak, or an axe to grind. Thus, some fantasy fan vexed over the omission of unicorns from a thorough discussion of equine history can simply add a reference to the horned critters, and hey, presto! An article of fact has been corrupted forever.

Okay, yes; I give Wikipedia’s “monitors” credit for modest efforts to weed out egregious examples of that nature. Unfortunately, most errors and fabrications aren’t that obvious, and therefore don’t get caught; Wikipedia simply doesn’t have the staff (or the inclination, in my humble opinion) to fact-check everything ... unlike, say, the folks behind centuries of The Encyclopedia Britannica, who do fact-check everything. Or even the editors at your local newspaper, who try their best to do the same. Information presented as authoritative deserves — nay, needs — to be vetted. Thoroughly.

Wikipedia authors, upon publication, don’t get vetted by anybody. Worse yet, mounting anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that the Wikipedia culture can be biased against efforts to correct untruths. Attempts to do so often anger those who posted the ludicrous blather in the first place, and they simply change it back. Make the attempt often enough, and you — the individual attempting to strike a blow for indisputable fact — risk getting branded a “troublemaker,” and subsequently blackballed.

Rather than a resource offering reliable information from that theoretical roster of experts, Wikipedia actually is an Internet outlet for those who shout the loudest and fight the hardest for “their” version of reality. Hardly the same.

And in the Internet age, bad information is much, much worse than no information at all ... because bad information spreads just as rapidly. Indeed, Wikipedia’s bad information spreads even faster, because this “resource” enjoys an undeserved reputation as an “authority.”

I’d laugh, if it weren’t so tragic.

Missing in action

I lament the ones that continue to elude me.

During the early years of Guaraldi's long association with Lee Mendelson, the jazz pianist and composer worked on several projects outside the realm of Charles Schulz and his Peanuts characters. The most noteworthy was a 1965 documentary, Bay of Gold, which told (and I'm quoting here) "the dynamic history of San Francisco and the Bay Area." I discuss the film at some length in my book, and note that it's available for viewing here, thanks to the kind folks at the San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. Take a look, and enjoy Guaraldi's background score.

Aside from Bay of Gold, Guaraldi also scored a few short industrial films for clients such as Sunset Magazine and the Leslie Salt Company. I've never been able to find a copy of the latter, a 1966 film titled An Adventure with Spice Islands, which — according to Lee Mendelson's production index — existed in both a 26-minute and 15-minute format.

Here's the description, from the same Mendelson document:

An Adventure in Spice Islands is a documentary on the history and operation of the Spice Islands Company. A "typical housewife" who discovers the Spice Islands spices and herbs in her search to learn the art of good cooking is a humorous link which ties the shows together. On-camera interviews and an original music score enhance the entertainment value of this film.

Ah, the 1960s ... you gotta love it. The mind doth boggle, wondering how that "typical housewife" behaved on camera.

The Leslie Salt Company, once the largest private land owner in the San Francisco Bay Area, was absorbed by Cargill in 1978. Queries to the latter went nowhere, and from there the trail went cold. All that's known of Guaraldi's score is his "Spice Islands Theme," one of the tracks on his album Vince Guaraldi with the San Francisco Boys Chorus. (At least, I assume said theme is from the film in question. Seems too strong a coincidence to be otherwise.)

I did, however, just come up with this droll little squib from the Wisconsin Rapids (Wisconsin) Daily Tribune, published August 4, 1969, on the society page:

The film "An Adventure with Spice Islands" will be shown when St. Luke's Lutheran Ladies Aid meets at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, members to note change of time. On the hostess committee are Mrs. Leland Hagen, Mrs. Edgar Klingforth, Mrs. Elmer Lueck and Mrs. Carl Polansky Jr.

Okay, so it's clear that copies of the film were circulated, and we all know what that means: Somebody, somewhere, still has one. Needless to say, if any of this blog's followers can think of any leads, do let me know.

While we're on said subject, Guaraldi also scored at least a couple of 1966 TV commercials that Lee Mendelson produced. One was a 30-second spot — or perhaps a series of 30-second spots — for Granny Goose Potato Chips, to promote the company's new "Green Onion" brand of chips. The other was a 60-second spot for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company. Titled "Susan," this short film was designed (again quoting from the Mendelson document) "to generate interest in young women to seek employment as service representatives for the Telephone Company. This was accomplished by presenting — in a documentary manner — the friendly people, atmosphere and conditions that the company offers — through the eyes of a young woman employee."

As of this writing, YouTube offers one Granny Goose TV spot from the 1960s ... but clearly not the right one. The few Pacific Telephone spots I've been able to unearth from that era also offer no joy.

Once again, though, I remain hopeful. I'm sure they're out there someplace...

Saul Zaentz dies at 92

Depending on which artistic realm they inhabit, most people familiar with Saul Zaentz know him for one of two reasons: either as the producer of nine films from 1975 through 2006; or as the music producer and owner of Fantasy Records who got into several quite notorious legal spats with John Fogerty over the Creedence Clearwater Revival catalog.

In the former capacity, Zaentz took home an impressive three Academy Awards for Best Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1976), Amadeus (1985) and The English Patient (1997). His other films included The Mosquito Coast, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and animator Ralph Bakshi's 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings, decades before Peter Jackson tackled the same material.

As the head of Fantasy, Zaentz is known mostly for embarking on a series of shrewd acquisitions of small jazz labels, including Prestige (1971), Riverside and Milestone (1972), Stax (1977), Contemporary (1984) and Pablo (1987).

Additional details about his career can be found in this Variety obituary.

Given this quite famous individual's thoroughly professional bearing — check YouTube for clips of him at the aforementioned Oscar ceremonies — it can be quite jarring to see him scruffy and youthfully laid back, at left, in Ralph Gleason's Anatomy of a Hit. Zaentz gets a fair amount of screen time in this 1963 documentary about Vince Guaraldi and the creation, packaging and subsequent explosive popularity of "Cast Your Fate to the Wind." Indeed, Zaentz was a key player at Fantasy during the crucial decade when Guaraldi blossomed from sideman, primarily in various Cal Tjader combos, to leader of his own groups.

This March 1955 clip from Billboard Magazine announces Zaentz's having been named Fantasy's national sales manager; roughly a year later, he's the one who offered Guaraldi a record deal and three-year contract with the label. Zaentz then faded into the background, at least as far as Guaraldi's career at Fantasy was concerned; the pianist's life subsequently was ruled by label co-owner Max Weiss. That relationship soured due to Weiss', ah, complicated contracts, which eventually prompted Guaraldi to sue the label. The litigation might have continued for years, except for an intriguing coincidence: In September 1967, a consortium led by Zaentz purchased Fantasy and Galaxy Records from Max and Soul Weiss ... and, a few months later, the twin lawsuits between Guaraldi and Fantasy were dissolved, the pianist having won his freedom and a very substantial improvement in royalty payments.

Might Zaentz have helped orchestrate that favorable outcome for Guaraldi? After all, the two had known each other even before their shared involvement with Fantasy, back when Zaentz was a bookkeeper at Melody Sales, and also, later, as the head of sales at Mercury Records. Perhaps Zaentz respected Guaraldi and that long friendship. On the other hand, it's quite obvious — from the various lawsuits with Fogerty — that, as a businessman, Zaentz was tough as nails, and not known for cutting anybody any slack.

We'll never know the truth, but this much is certain: Zaentz played an extremely important role in Guaraldi's career.

A Celebration of Jerry

Jazz drummer Jerry Granelli has been in the news of late, as a result of his December 8 performances of music from A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's nice to see that media outlets recognized the importance of the publicity hook: one of Vince Guaraldi's sidemen, from way back in the day, mounting a seasonal tribute concert to his long-ago trio leader. Jerry's a great guy — and an ace drummer — and he certainly deserves the fresh exposure.

I sent him a congratulatory note, and also expressed the hope that he'd consider reviving the concept in 2014, and possibly touring it a bit farther than his current home in Nova Scotia.

His reply:

Thanks ... it was a really wonderful four shows ... also fun to approach [these songs] as new pieces for the stage. People really seem to want it again, and out west as well. Ciao!

The pre- and post-concert coverage deserves to be shared, so I've gathered the best bits here, for your enjoyment.

• In and Out (CBC Radio, December 7)

• The Joy and Melancholy of A Charlie Brown Christmas (CBC Radio, December 11)

• Granelli Shines on Reissued A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack (CBC New Brunswick, December 11)

Unless you happened to live in or around Ottawa or Halifax, you'd not have been able to join the appreciative audiences at the four concerts. And — alas! — none of the shows was recorded (at least, not officially ... we'll see what pops up on YouTube!). We do, however, have a few clips available to enjoy, courtesy of CBC News:

• Jerry Granelli warms up (posted December 9)

• Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown (posted December 9)

Finally, if you'd like to watch a lengthy 2002 piece on Granelli, In the Moment, you'll find it posted here.

**********

Just by way of a late reminder: Quite a few Guaraldi/Charlie Brown Christmas tribute concerts have been added to this earlier post, since it first was published on November 8; check out the complete list here. If you live in New York, Southern California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, Washington (state) or, yes, even Nova Scotia (again!), you still can have a very Merry Guaraldi Christmas!

A touch of brass and a bit of radio drama

The holiday season isn't merely an excuse for jazz combos to present their concert takes on Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas score, although we're seeing plenty of that action. (This year's "Jolly Guaraldi Holiday" post has been updated with numerous fresh entries since debuting November 4, so do keep checking back.)

It's also when we might expect a fresh cover of Guaraldi's album to drop, and we've been blessed with a rather unusual one this year: The Canadian Brass' Christmas Time Is Here.

Needless to say, this is rather novel instrumentation for a recording initially conceived and performed by a jazz trio of piano, bass and drums. The Canadian Brass is fronted by a quintet of horns — Chris Coletti, trumpet/flugelhorn; Eric Reed, French horn; Chuck Daellenbach, tuba; Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone; and Caleb Hudson, trumpet/piccolo trumpet — and backed by some orchestral elements, and the result brings new meaning to the term "droll."

(No surprise: The instrumentation and arrangements remind me strongly of French hornist Aaron Brask's The Guaraldi Sessions album. Which you should dig up, if you've not yet heard it.)

As you might expect, the Brass don't really "swing" in any jazz sense, and their arrangements of Guaraldi's up-tempo numbers — notably "Christmas Is Coming" — are likely to raise eyebrows. But the horns work surprisingly well when carrying the melody of "Skating," and their handling of "My Little Drum" builds to a pleasantly dramatic finish. The Brass also covers the traditional carols Guaraldi included on his album; "O Tannenbaum" and "The Christmas Song" are particularly gentle and sweet, while "What Child Is This" offers something perilously close to jazz noodling during the bridge.

As befits the ensemble's classical leanings, the album also includes Christopher Dedrick's "The Angel Choir and the Trumpeter" and a blend of Bach's BWV 29 and Leontovych's "Carol of the Bells," titled "Bach's Bells," along with a few more contemporary carols: "Frosty the Snowman," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (and the less said about the vocals that conclude the latter, the better).

Rather oddly, the Amazon entry lists only 14 tracks on the disc, which (incorrectly) suggests that the additional four tracks are available solely via download, or as some sort of bonus. This is simply untrue; the CD includes all 18 tracks.

But enough with the mere facts; let's rate this album on the "Guaraldi scale" I established last year, when discussing other covers of A Charlie Brown Christmas. On that basis, this Canadian Brass release gets 25 points for featuring all five of the traditional songs Guaraldi arranged on his album, and 25 points for including "Fur Elise" ... but only 15 points (out of 20) for covering Guaraldi's original compositions. Rather oddly, the Brass skip "Linus and Lucy." Finally, their track sequencing is nowhere close to that of Guaraldi's album, so no points at all in the fourth category. The final tally: 65 points, which is quite respectable.

*******

I'll be discussing A Charlie Brown Christmas and other aspects of Guaraldi's career during a live radio chat this Friday morning, December 6, on WFAE 90.7 FM, the National Public Radio station in Charlotte, North Carolina. I'll be featured from 9 to 10 a.m. (EST) on "Charlotte Talks, with Mike Collins," so West Coasters will need to get up early. WFAE offers a live stream here (click the "Listen Live" button, in the upper left), and I'm told the audio will be available later as both a podcast and download, with the additional possibility of a replay on Christmas Day. Sweet!

Memories from Marin

Artistic immortality depends on many factors, not the least of which requires the ongoing involvement of a devoted fan base. But if a musician (for example) is to remain relevant with time, his work must remain available. If access disappears or becomes difficult, that musician's mainstream penetration will fade as his original fans grow older. Subsequent generations, lacking the necessary awareness, won't even realize that Somebody Cool has dropped from sight.

Guaraldi has been luckier than many, thus far; his entire Fantasy Records catalog has remained in print ever since each album debuted in the 1950s and '60s. More recent Fantasy/Concord CDs also are readily available, as are most of the discs issued by Vince's son, David. (A few of the latter are easier to find as MP3 downloads.) The same is true of almost all the albums he recorded as a sideman with groups fronted by Cal Tjader and others. The only "problem children" are Doctor Funk's latter two Warners albums, The Eclectic Vince Guaraldi and Alma-Ville. Their distribution always has been spotty, and it hasn't gotten better recently. As I type these words, the Wounded Bird CD release of Eclectic is easy to find, but the same label's CD release of Alma-Ville is virtually unavailable (unless one gives serious consideration to the individual selling a copy for $90 via Amazon).

All things considered, though, one can assemble an impressive library of Guaraldi's music with very little trouble, and (for the most part) at reasonable cost.

But that's only half the battle.

True immortality comes when one's music becomes firmly associated with the era in which it first appeared, and, therefore, gets resurrected as a means of "setting the stage," so to speak. I was delighted to hear the Guaraldi Trio's cover of "Since I Fell for You" employed as source music in the film An Education, which was set in the early 1960s; I was even more pleased when that track appeared alongside others by Ray Charles, Percy Faith and Mel Torme on the soundtrack album. That's massive, because it's a key means of attracting new listeners who wouldn't necessarily pick up a Guaraldi album otherwise.

The goal, then, is to have one's music appear in other contexts, thus broadening exposure to the greatest possible degree.

I therefore was delighted to learn about The Marin Project, thanks to Paul Liberatore's delightful article in the November 7 edition of the Marin Independent Journal. Liberatore wrote a wonderful article about my Guaraldi bio last year — and the layout looks even better on the printed page than via the online version — and he's equally gracious about this quite eclectic album.

It began as a vanity project by Marin-based financial relations consultant John Liviakis, who wanted to produce an album of music that resonated with memorable moments of his life while growing up in Northern California. He's not in it for the money, by any means; he spent $90,000 assembling a cadre of Bay Area session musicians, and any profits from album sales will be donated to the Salvation Army and Marin's Homeward Bound.

The reason why this topic is even being discussed here? Because Liviakis' rather unusual (to say the least!) song list includes two Guaraldi tracks: "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" and "Star Song," covered in a manner — by design — that sounds, as much as possible, just like the original recordings. (You can hear a portion of "Star Song" at the album's web site.) That's an intriguing approach, as Liberatore acknowledges; jazz artists always make a point of putting their own distinctive stamp on cover arrangements. But "distinctive" wasn't Liviakis' intention, as he explains: "These are historic, classic works, iconic in some cases. I didn't feel I should start changing things around."

Slavish re-creations often raise eyebrows, but you'll just have to get the album and judge for yourself. I can say this much with certainty, however: We'll never again find two Guaraldi jazz compositions on an album that also includes works by Mozart, Erik Satie, Roger Eno and Booker T. & The MGs!

A Jolly Guaraldi Holiday 2013

Christmas is coming — to borrow the title from one of Guaraldi's well-known tracks in A Charlie Brown Christmas — and I know this because decorations and holiday-themed gifts began to appear in stores well before Halloween. Linus and Charlie Brown complained about Christmas getting too commercial all the way back in 1965; I've no doubt they'd be horrified these days!

But music fans can put a more positive spin on this seasonal rush, because it does give us time to anticipate the growing roster of musicians who take a decidedly Guaraldi-esque approach to the holidays. As has become quite the tradition across the country, an impressive number of Charlie Brown Christmas-themed concerts will be offered during the closing weeks of the year, so fans will have plenty of opportunities to celebrate the season in true Peanuts style.

I traced the history and growth of this delightful tradition last year, which I encourage the curious to read. Meanwhile, this post will serve as a clearinghouse for any and all late 2013 concerts that come to my attention. I'll add to this schedule as new information becomes available, so do check back on occasion.

This year's most visible news concerns Concord recording artist David Benoit, above, who has been touring his ambitious Charlie Brown Christmas show for several years. This year's schedule kicks off November 30 in Sherwood Park, Alberta, and concludes December 22 in Danville, California, with stops along the way in Oregon, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, Florida and several California venues. We caught the 2011 performance in Livermore, California, and I can report that it's a great show. It's also tremendously sweet, since Benoit and his team work with a children's choir that is local to each stop. Check his website for details.

Benoit's December 15 booking in Saratoga, California, is different than the others; he'll be performing the music live to a theatrical presentation of A Charlie Brown Christmas. But don't scramble; this event is already sold out. (As Charlie Brown would say, rats!)

Benoit certainly will grab the lion's share of headlines in the States, but our Canadian friends are hosting this season's most historic booking. Drummer Jerry Granelli, right, who worked as a member of Guaraldi's trio in the 1960s, will headline a performance of the music from A Charlie Brown Christmas twice on December 8 — at 2 and 8 p.m. — at the Spatz Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia (the province where Granelli lives). This will be the first time Granelli has played this music in a public concert setting; he'll be joined by Simon Fisk (bass), Chris Gestrin (piano) and the Vivace Children's Choir. Check the JazzEast website for additional information (and note that the matinee and evening performances are listed separately).

Granelli discusses the concert, and Guaraldi, in nice articles in the Ottawa Citizen and the Halifax Chronicle Herald.

The Eric Byrd Trio also has made a cottage industry of Guaraldi's Christmas music, going so far as to cover most of the album in a 2009 release. Byrd's combo has taken its Charlie Brown Christmas Show on the road for several years now, mostly in Maryland. This year's gigs begin in Germantown, MD (December 7), and conclude in Westminster, MD, on December 22. Check his website for details.

The Heather Pierson Quartet has expanded its bookings this year, with a total of nine shows devoted to A Charlie Brown Christmas. They kick off December 6 in Eaton, New Hampshire, and conclude December 23 in Bridgton, Maine. Check her website for details.

The Cartoon Christmas Trio doesn't concentrate solely on music from A Charlie Brown Christmas; they also pepper their performances with tunes from other animated holiday shows, such as Frosty the Snowman and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. (Their album is a kick; give it a listen.) They have a busy touring schedule this year, starting in Wilmington, Delaware (December 5) and continuing through Phoenixville, Pennsylvania (December 20). Check their website for details.

The Joe Cool Trio — drummer John Milham, pianist Chris Spies and bassist Chris Servin — will join trumpeter James Andrews and saxman Christopher Spies for their fifth annual series of Charlie Brown Jazz Christmas Concerts. They have three dates booked, starting December 6 in Meridian, Mississippi, and concluding December 21 in Mobile, Alabama. Check their Facebook page for additional details.

Pianist Jim Martinez is "getting ready for another Christmas season of fun jazz music," although full details have yet to be clarified. Last year found him in Michigan and North Carolina, in addition to several venues in California. Thus far, he's starting with a gig Tuesday, November 19, in Sun City, Lincoln Hills, Northern California. Details are here. Also announced is a performance on Monday, December 16, at the Steinway Piano Gallery in Roseville, California; check here for details. Beyond that, check his website for additional dates (and I'll also post them here, as I find out).

The Ornaments, a jazz trio based in Nashville, Tennessee, waited a bit to announce this year's mini-tour information, possibly because leader Jen Gunderman has been busy as a member of Sheryl Crow's touring band (great gig, if you can get it!). The combo — Gunderman, James Haggerty and Martin Lynds — is doing a week's worth of gigs at The Family Wash in East Nashville, with shows each evening from Monday, December 16, through Saturday, December 21, and an additional Saturday matinee at the nearby Belcourt Theater. Details. 

Other groups also have gotten into the act, and I'll cite them below: 

• The Music of Charlie Brown and Peanuts, with the Donovan Johnson Sextet (Richard Payne, bass; Frank Prince, guitar; Bucky McCann, sax; Lee Gambrel, drums; and Michael DeLuca, percussion); Saturday, November 30, at The 402, Omaha, Nebraska. Details.

• The Music of Charlie Brown and Peanuts, with the Donovan Johnson Sextet (Richard Payne, bass; Frank Prince, guitar; Bucky McCann, sax; Lee Gambrel, drums; and Michael DeLuca, percussion); Sunday, December 1, at The 402, Omaha, Nebraska. Details.

• Charlie Brown Goes to the Nutcracker, with the Ron Legault Jazz Quartet (Legault, Wilson Winner, Kalin Capra and Ryan Elwood); Friday, December 6, at Everyday Joe's, Fort Collins, Colorado. This program will feature both Guaraldi's music and a jazz arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Details.

• It's a Jazzy Christmas, with the Peanut Gallery Jazz Trio (David Gleason, Mike Lawrence and Pete Sweeney); Friday, December 6, at the Massry Center for the Arts, at The College of Saint Rose, Albany, New York. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Jose Gonzales Trio (Gonzales, piano; Michael Marcus, bass; and Lionel Kramer, drums); Saturday, December 7, at the Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater in Snohomish, Washington. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Michelle Schumann Trio; Sunday, December 8, at Antone's, in Austin, Texas. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Jose Gonzales Trio (Gonzales, piano; Michael Marcus, bass; and Lionel Kramer, drums); Monday, December 9, at Town Hall in Seattle, Washington. Details.

• The Music of Vince Guaraldi, with the JazzArts Initiative (Chad Lawson, Mark Stallings, Lovell Bradford, Bill Hanna and Charles Craig); Tuesday, December 10, at the Blumenthal Booth Playhouse, Charlotte, North Carolina. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas: A Little Jazz and Joy, with the Vancouver Chamber Choir; Friday, December 13, at Ryerson United Church in Vancouver, British Columbia. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Sheridan College Jazz Combo and the Sheridan County Children's Chorale; Friday, December 13, at Sheridan College, Sheridan, Wyoming. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Marc Sabatella Trio (Sabatella, piano; Drew Morell, bass; and Jill Fredericksen, drums); Saturday, December 14, at Dazzle Jazz, Denver, Colorado. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Sheridan College Jazz Combo and the Sheridan County Children's Chorale; Saturday, December 14, at Sheridan College, Sheridan, Wyoming. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas: A Little Jazz and Joy, with the Vancouver Chamber Choir; Sunday, December 15, at Ryerson United Church in Vancouver, British Columbia. Details.

• A Tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Joey Altruda Trio; Tuesday, December 17, at Grand Performances, Los Angeles, California. Details.

• The Music from A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Kodama Trio (Robert Muller, piano; Jeremy Bleich, bass; Milton Villarrubia III, drums); Thursday, December 19, at the Second Street Brewery on the Railyard, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Details.

• The Music of Vince Guaraldi: Selections from A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Duck Soup Trio (Adam Bravo, piano; Anthony Shadduck, bass; and Sam Webster, drums); Friday, December 20, at the Cal State University Long Beach Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall, Long Beach, California. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with Christine Smith (piano), Gary Gyekis (drums) and special guests The Three Kitties; Friday, December 20, at the Elk Creek Café + Aleworks, Millheim, Pennsylvania. Details.

• Jeffrey Butzer & T.T. Mahony Perform Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas; Friday, December 20, at The Earl, Atlanta, Georgia. Details.

• Jeffrey Butzer & T.T. Mahony Perform Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas; Saturday, December 21, at The Earl, Atlanta, Georgia. Details.

• A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the New York Pops, the New York Theatre Ballet, TADA! Youth Theater, Essential Voices USA and narrator John Tartaglia in a concert version of the TV special; Saturday, December 21, Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, New York, New York. Details.

• Good Grief! A Charlie Brown Christmas, with the Kirk Reese trio (Kirk Reese, Steve Meashey and Jason Hoffheins); Saturday, December 21, at the Holy Hound Taproom, York, Pennsylvania. Details.

• Charlie Brown Christmas Special, with the John Lander Trio (John Lander, piano; Ray Cetta, bass; and Faron Tillson, drums); Saturday, December 21, at Greenwich House Music, New York, New York. Details.

• The Charlie Brown Christmas Jazz Songbook, with the Dave Wild Trio; Saturday, December 21, at the Valley Mills Wineyards, Waco, Texas. Details.

• The Piano Starts Here: The Music of A Charlie Brown Christmas, with musicians Tim Kennedy, Dawn Clement, Chris McCarthy and Michael Stegner; Sunday, December 22, at the Royal Room, Seattle, Washington. Details.

• A Holiday Concert of classics from A Charlie Brown Christmas and the Great American Songbook, with Andrew Boudreau (piano), Devon Henderson (bass) and Will Fisher (drums); Saturday, December 28, at Roadside Willie's Smokehouse, Bible Hill (Truro), Nova Scotia, Canada. Details.

Vuckovich rides again!

Blog readers will recall the good time my wife and I had back on July 14, when veteran jazz pianist Larry Vuckovich led a quintet in an afternoon concert of songs from Guaraldi's longtime repertoire: both tunes that Dr. Funk wrote, and some (by other composers) that he was known to have performed during his career. I detailed that delightful afternoon in an earlier post, and concluded by expressing the hope that Larry would be successful with his desire to repeat the experience.

That hope has become reality. Larry will lead the same combo — Josh Workman, guitar; Seward McCain, bass; John Santos, Latin/Brazilian percussion; and Akira Tana, drums — in a concert taking place at 8 p.m. Monday, December 9, at Yoshi's Jack London Square, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland, California. Ticket details and other information can be found here.

Judging by the event description on Vuckovich's website, the program will be similar (if not identical) to what took place in July, at Silo's in Napa, California. Larry will chart high points in Guaraldi's career, following a chronological order, with this quintet delivering items from Dr. Funk's early Fantasy albums, along with hits such as "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" and selections from the Black Orpheus soundtrack. It also sounds like Larry and his group once again will share their arrangement of "Blue Lullaby," an unreleased Guaraldi original.

Sadly, I won't be able to participate this time, as I was back in July; Monday is a long day for us working stiffs, and there won't be enough time to make the drive — in the midst of Bay Area rush-hour traffic — after my shift concludes. But I'll be in there in spirit!

I'll leave you, and further whet your appetite, with another photo of the quintet's July performance in Napa. Expect more of the same!

A different sort of gold record

Record Store Day, now an international "holiday" celebrated on the third Saturday of April, began with a modest proposal back in 2007: that something should be done, along the lines of Free Comic Book Day — which began in 2002 — to call attention to the old-fashioned, Mom 'n' Pop retail music outlets that were vanishing from the landscape, thanks to the pernicious effect of Internet sellers.

The first Record Store Day took place in 2008; the event has since blossomed into a Very Big Deal that involves special appearances and performances by hundreds of recording artists, who meet and greet their fans at the surviving record stores across the country and around the world. The biggest attraction, however, likely is the release of special vinyl and CD singles and albums: many available only on the day in question, and only at these vintage brick-and-mortar stores.

In 2010, recognizing a promotional opportunity, the folks behind Record Store Day aligned their activities with what has come to be known as "Black Friday": the day after Thanksgiving, which is — for better or worse — recognized as the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. Dubbing their piggy-back event "Back to Black Friday," the Record Store Day team encouraged their North American brick-and-mortar record store clients to participate just as noisily in Black Friday activities. The sweetener: yet another round (albeit more modest) of artist appearances and vinyl/CD releases.

Which brings us to this year, and the question undoubtedly percolating just behind your lips: What, if anything, does this have to do with our beloved Dr. Funk?

Ahem. By now, you must have noticed the image above.

This year's Back to Black Friday celebration will take place on November 29, the day after Thanksgiving. A few of the special vinyl and CD releases will be keyed to the holiday season, and one of them will come from Fantasy Records: a faithful recreation of their 1964 Vince Guaraldi Trio single — "Linus and Lucy" on the A side, "Oh, Good Grief" on the B side — with a new picture sleeve. 

And the disc will be pressed onto gold vinyl.

Pretty cool, eh?

(My allegiance to historical accuracy compels me to point out that the original 1964 single in question, Fantasy 593X, came from the album Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, as opposed to the later soundtrack album for A Charlie Brown Christmas, as this gold vinyl re-release implies. Indeed, "Oh, Good Grief" isn't even on the Christmas album. Had Fantasy really wanted to be authentic, they'd have granted this special treatment to the single that did come from the Christmas album, Fantasy 608X, with "Christmas Time Is Here" on the A side, and "What Child Is This" on the B side. But I digress.)

Now, you can't order this special Guaraldi single online; the whole point is to bring warm bodies into old-style record stores. You can find the closest participating outlet here, and while you're visiting recordstoreday.com, you'll also want to check out the Back to Black Friday FAQ. This is important, because not every store will stock every special release; most probably will base their orders on customer requests. That's why you're reading these words now, as opposed to a month from now: It's up to you to visit your favorite music store and ask them to bring in a copy of Vince's disc. Or two, or three, if you're thinking of gifts to other deserving jazz fans. Or if you simply wish to hoard a few, against the inevitable rise in value a few years down the road.

Viewing the entire list of anticipated releases, I also note holiday offerings from the Blind Boys of Alabama, John Denver & The Muppets, and Ernie Kovacs (gotta get that one!). Guaraldi's disc, however, seems to be one of very few jazz releases.

So, what are you waiting for? Hopefully, you already know where to find your local music store, because you're a regular customer. If not, check the online resource, take a little trip, introduce yourself and ask for this spiffy Guaraldi special. 

The person-to-person eye contact will do you good.