TRANSCRIPT:
Hi, I am Mark Rapp and this is Rapp on Jazz.
How many of us had our first taste of jazz while watching A Charlie Brown Christmas? The now classic program debuted in 1965 and featured a groundbreaking score by pianist Vince Guaraldi.
The producers sought a new, unconventional sound for the children’s program. Guaraldi penned the classics, “Linus and Lucy” theme and “Christmas Time is Here,” which became a holiday standard. Guaraldi also adapted traditional tunes, “Oh Tanenbaum” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” for the special.
The soundtrack became a Christmas classic and went platinum with sales of 5 million copies. It was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.
This has been Rapp On Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and SC Public Radio, made possible in part by Layman Poupard Publishers, producers of the Literary Criticism Series and the Dictionary of Literary Biography.