Vince Guaraldi

Even if you don’t immediately recognize his name, Vince Guaraldi (1928-1976) composed immediately recognizable music for the popular televised holiday cartoons based on Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip characters. Although Linus and Lucy is his most famous piece, Guaraldi was a Grammy Award winning jazz pianist prior to beginning the Peanuts project. He died at age 47 from a sudden heart attack not long after completing the soundtrack for It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.

--January 13, 2008 (Aaron Brask, horn)