There’s no doubt the Charlie Brown soundtracks overshadowed the rest of Guaraldi’s career: the vast majority of his oeuvre isn’t on streaming services, and on the cover of the 2009 compilation The Definitive Vince Guaraldi – which delays breaking out Charlie Brown until CD 2, devoting the first to Guaraldi’s experiments with Latin American music – he’s pictured alongside Charlie Brown’s piano-playing chum Schroeder. From the official press release for this new edition, we learn, quote, “the original 11-track album has been upgraded with a new stereo mix from the original two- and three-track sources by the GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer, Paul Blakemore.

Christmas Time" hits the needle and my heart starts to flutter a bit and a tear wells up in the eye.Disc one features the new stereo mix of the album, plus the original remastered 1965 mix, while disc two through four offer more than 50 never-before-heard outtakes from five recording sessions, as Guaraldi and his bandmates craft cues like “Christmas Is Coming” and “Skating. Il vinile verde è molto particolare, non è un valore aggiunto secondo me (nelle altre foto c'è il classico disco, queste versioni trasparenti e colorate non mi fanno impazzire ma forse è questione di abitudine). As much as I love my trusty SACD edition (albeit with its curious alternate cover art), I still had dreams of scoring a nice vinyl copy for the collection. He was an expansive, even boundary-breaking artist: around the time Miles Davis was attempting to widen his audience by sharing bills with Neil Young and appearing at the 1970 Isle of Wight festival, Guaraldi was up on stage in San Francisco, jamming with Jerry Garcia; he also had a fair claim to be the artist who did the most to introduce young audiences to jazz during the 60s and 70s. So the outside cover is gold, but the actual vinyl is available in a number of coloured vinyl variants, depending on retailer.

To clarify all that, I reached out directly to Craft Recordings, who confirmed the new mix was indeed made from the original tapes, which were transferred to hi-res digital at 24-bit/192kHz. Indeed, with this new remix of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” now available, Christmastime is truly here. Thus, the new vinyl lacquers were cut from that digital source (and more on that point in a moment). This audiophile edition of the album has been cut by George Horn at Fantasy Studios and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP. The super deluxe, 2LP and single CD editions follow on 2 December (was 14 October), via Craft Recordings.The overall sense of room presence and the feel of the instruments have been improved, delivering a greater sense of air and dynamics around Jerry Granelli’s drums in particular. I’m just giving you an honest heads up on that point, just in case any level/increment of that kind of thing is an annoyance to you as a listener.

This new edition of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” takes the listener just that extra bit closer to being there in the studio with the musicians who recorded it. When the great jazz critic Nat Hentoff belatedly wrote an essay about him in 2010 – 34 years after Guaraldi’s sudden death, aged 47 – it was in the context of rediscovering a lost figure, noting that Guaraldi had never been on the list of nominees for the Jazz Hall of Fame, and comparing him to the largely forgotten swing-era trombonist Jack Jenney.Though much of his legacy is tied to his association with the PEANUTS animated specials, Guaraldi had already made a name for himself in the jazz world with his 1962 LP, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus , by the time he was tapped to score A Boy Named Charlie Brown . Most importantly, the album sounds like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” should sound, but with a clearer sense of studio presence and gently richer dynamics, especially on the drums and Vince Guaraldi’s piano. The instrumental version feels like a long, depleted exhalation, compounded by Guaraldi’s piano frequently playing just behind the beat.

For items that are dispatched using our standard service, we ask that you wait 14 days from the date of dispatch before reporting any items as undelivered. A great pressing, although surface noise is a bit frequent (I can only assume this is due to the lo-fi production of the album), although spindle holes are a bit too small, the color of the record isn't too appealing (but for anyone who prefers any color over an average black it's totally fine), and I feel like the packaging could be a bit better. Certainly, executives at the CBS network were horrified: at its pace, its simple animation, Shulz’s refusal to include the then ubiquitous canned laughter, and at Guaraldi’s soundtrack.And, with that latter sentiment in mind, I — and all of us here at AnalogPlanet — send each and every one of you best wishes for a very happy holiday season!