Vince Guaraldi on Vinyl: Where to Start with the Peanuts Scores

Vince Guaraldi was born in San Francisco's North Beach in 1928 and spent the 1950s as a working Bay Area pianist: a tour with Woody Herman's Third Herd, two stints in Cal Tjader's groups, a trio of his own by mid-decade. Fantasy Records signed him, dropped him, then took him back in 1962 for the album that landed. He was a club player first and a soundtrack composer second, and that order explains how the Peanuts music sounds.

That record was Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, and the original tucked onto the B-side of its single, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind", is what got him on the radio. Television producer Lee Mendelson hired him off the back of it, which led to A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965 and work spanning sixteen Peanuts specials.

Guaraldi died in February 1976 at 47, having finished scoring sessions that afternoon and played the first set of a club date that evening. For decades most of the later scores existed only as television audio. Then the Mendelson family turned up the session tapes during the 2020 lockdowns, and the archival series that followed is why the shelf here looks the way it does: one 1962 jazz album, the 1965 classic, and a run of 1970s scores nobody could put on a turntable until recently.

Vince Guaraldi Trio - Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (Deluxe)

Start here for Guaraldi the jazz musician, before Guaraldi the Peanuts composer. Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus came out on Fantasy in April 1962, cut at a San Francisco television studio with Monty Budwig on bass and Colin Bailey on drums, reading the Brazilian songs from the film through a West Coast piano trio. "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" took off on radio, and later Fantasy pressings printed that title across the cover, so you will sometimes find this album shelved under the wrong name.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The 1962 trio session that made everything after it possible.
• "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" and "Alma-Ville" in their original settings, not later television cues.
• A deluxe edition, with extra session material.

Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas (60th Anniversary Snowstorm Color)

The record that made a jazz piano trio part of December. A Charlie Brown Christmas was cut between September and October 1965 for the first Peanuts special, moving between Guaraldi originals, a bossa nova "O Tannenbaum" and a children's choir from a church in San Rafael. The credits have never been settled: Fred Marshall and Jerry Granelli are the listed rhythm section, though the LP's "Linus and Lucy" take dates from 1964 with Budwig and Bailey. The Deluxe Edition is on the shelf too.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The most recognizable jazz piano record in the holiday canon, in a 60th anniversary pressing.
• Snowstorm color vinyl, a gift object as much as a record.
• "Linus and Lucy" and "Christmas Time Is Here", written under the title "Snow Waltz".

Vince Guaraldi - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (45RPM)

The 1966 Halloween special got a bigger band. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown was cut in one Hollywood session in October 1966 by a sextet: Mannie Klein on trumpet, John Gray on guitar, Ronnie Lang on woodwinds, Budwig and Bailey again, John Scott Trotter orchestrating. No album release existed until Craft Recordings issued one in 2018, reissued in 2022 once the session reels surfaced.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The seasonal companion to the Christmas album, scored for a sextet.
• "The Great Pumpkin Waltz", "Graveyard Theme" and the World War One medley behind Snoopy's flying ace.
• Cut at 45RPM, giving the horns and Bailey's cymbals more room.

Vince Guaraldi - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Indie Exclusive Pink Jelly Bean Color)

By 1973 Guaraldi had plugged in. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was recorded that autumn at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco by a quintet: Seward McCain on electric bass, Mike Clark on drums, Tom Harrell on trumpet and brass arrangements, Chuck Bennett on trombone, Guaraldi across piano, electric keyboards, clavinet and guitar. He sings "Little Birdie" himself. There was no album until 2023, when Lee Mendelson Film Productions opened its archival series with it. A jellybean green pressing is here too.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The electric Guaraldi, Harrell's brass pushing the band past the trio sound.
• "Thanksgiving Theme", "Peppermint Patty" and that "Little Birdie" vocal.
• From the 1973 sixteen-track masters: studio score, not television audio.

Vince Guaraldi - It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown (Magnifying Glass Clear Color)

This special aired in February 1974, the first Charlie Brown special Bill Melendez did not direct; Phil Roman took the chair. Guaraldi recorded It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown across December 1973 and January 1974 with Tom Harrell on trumpet, Seward McCain on bass, Mike Clark and Eliot Zigmund splitting the drum chair, handling piano, electric harpsichord and guitar himself and whistling the "Joe Cool" line. Five cues surfaced on a 2008 compilation; the complete score is the newest arrival in the series.

Why it's worth purchasing

• The most recent Guaraldi score to reach vinyl, and the least heard.
• "Mystery Theme", "Cops and Robbers" and "Sally's Blues", complete and in studio form.
• Magnifying glass clear vinyl, cut to suit the story.

Vince Guaraldi - It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (Original Soundtrack)

Days after the Mystery sessions Guaraldi was back at Wally Heider for the Easter special, aired April 1974. It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is a quartet date with McCain on bass, Robert Claire on flute, Glenn Cronkhite and Eliot Zigmund on drums, and the flute gives it a lighter, more pastoral feel than the Thanksgiving record. It arrived in March 2025 as a Peanuts 75th anniversary edition built from the recovered tapes.

Why it's worth purchasing

• A flute-led quartet, the gentlest record in the 1970s run.
• "Woodstock's Dream", the "Easter Theme" and the harpsichord Bach cue.
• A 2021 bonus medley reuniting McCain and Clark with pianist David Benoit.

Vince Guaraldi - Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (Red Heart Shape)

The strangest looking record in the catalog, and one of the most interesting. Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown was recorded in December 1974 by a trio of Guaraldi, Seward McCain and Vince Lateano, with Fender Rhodes, ARP String Ensemble, harpsichord and guitars stacked over the piano, the most synthesizer-forward thing he put his name to. The recurring theme is the "Heartburn Waltz", and "Freddie's Mood" turns a Chopin nocturne into a bossa nova. A standard black pressing is here if a heart-shaped disc is not for you.

Why it's worth purchasing

• Guaraldi at his most electric, ARP String Ensemble across the whole record.
• "Heartburn Waltz", "Paw Pet Overture" and bossa nova Chopin.
• Pressed as a heart-shaped disc, an object as much as an album.

Where else to look

Two albums sit just outside this list: Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown, from 1964, where "Linus and Lucy" was first recorded, and the 1969 feature A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The archival series is still working through the 1970s tapes, so expect more.

If You Like Vince Guaraldi

• Dave Brubeck: the other West Coast piano trio leader of the era, nearest relative to Guaraldi's rhythmic sense.
• Ahmad Jamal: space, restraint and a light touch, the qualities that make the Peanuts cues work.
• Chet Baker: West Coast cool from the horn side, melodic and unhurried.
• Bill Evans: for the harmonic end of Guaraldi's writing, the ballads and waltzes.
• Thelonious Monk: sharper and more angular, same gift for melodies that stick immediately.

Our Jazz and Lounge collections hold the rest of this world, and the Film Soundtracks on Vinyl starter's guide covers wider score collecting. For every Guaraldi title we carry, pressings included, browse the full Vince Guaraldi collection.