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Album reviews Music

Vince Guaraldi

Rating: NNNN


It’s strange to talk about Vince Guaraldi outside of December. His Charlie Brown Christmas, for my money, is one of the few seasonal albums that doesn’t suffer from the law of diminishing returns. It’s a jazz masterpiece that can stand alongside many of the great Davis, Coltrane and Bill Evans compositions.

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Peanuts Portraits, 10 tracks plus a tribute that take us, instrumentally, into the characters, doesn’t reach CB Xmas’s heights but comes enjoyably close. It begins with Linus And Lucy, which many mistake for the show’s theme song, and swings into Sally’s Blues before hitting the chill button on Blue Charlie Brown. Remember strong, silent Schroeder? Hear the tune he was always tinkering with while Lucy looked on longingly.

Guaraldi also lays down a short but funky vocal, perhaps his only one, on Woodstock’s jam, Little Birdie.

Top track: Little Birdie

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