The song Linus and Lucy was written by Vince Guaraldi, It was released on December of 1964, on the album “A Boy Named Charlie”. This could be considered as Vince Guaraldi’s most recognizable song, and is featured on almost every Charlie Brown Special. It was first broadcasted on television, on the charlie brown special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. This song has been heard all around the world, but very few people actually know the title of this song. Almost anywhere you go you can play this song and people would recognize the song. Almost anyone who knows who Charlie Brown is will be able to recognize this song. This song has even been played all over the world, even in outer space on the STS-123 mission, But very few actually know the name …show more content…
When Charles M. Schulz died, the creator of the Charlie Brown comic strip, Benoit wrote an album devoted to him. This shows how much Benoit was influenced by the Show. The song Linus and Lucy is a Jazz composition played on piano, and David Benoit is a Jazz pianist. So for him to write an album for the creator of Charlie Brown shows that the song must have influenced him. Along with Charlie Brown Leonard Bernstein also influenced David Benoit. George Winston was also a fan of Charlie Brown. He would watch every new Charlie Brown special to hear Vince Guaraldi’s music. When the special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” aired on television, George Winston bought the Album that went with that special the next day. George Winston became a successful pianist as he grew up, he even won a grammy for one of his albums “Forest”. Winston wrote an album called “Linus and Lucy The Music of Vince Guaraldi”. This album had many of the songs heard on the Charlie Brown Specials including the song “Linus and Lucy” Ever since Winston was 16 years old Charlie Brown has influenced this very successful pianist. “Linus and Lucy” is one of the main songs on the first T.V. special that George saw. Given this information you can see that “Linus and Lucy” was a major influence for George Winston wanting to learn to play the piano. Winston even said “I love his melodies and his chord …show more content…
He was born on July 17, 1928 in San Francisco California. He began playing at weddings, and high schools when he was in college. Guaraldi was a Jazz pianist his first serious performance was when he filled in for, another Jazz pianist, Art tatum. Later he formed a trio made up of a piano, bass, and drum. With this trio he had his most successful achievement; Writing songs for the Charlie Brown specials. After the famous special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Guaraldi’s Fame rose higher than ever before. This was his first special to perform, but it wasn’t his last. He later did 15 more Charlie Brown specials. His last television special to feature his music was “It’s Arbor Day Charlie Brown” It was broadcasted a few weeks after his death. Guaraldi died of a heart attack at age of 47 on February 6, 1976 in a motel room. He had just finished the last recording for the T.V. special that very same day. when he died they had to find someone else to make the music for the show, but nobody was able to compose music the same. He was the signature theme for charlie brown specials. Many people liked his music and looked up to him. They couldn’t see another person playing for Charlie Brown, because Guaraldi made his music so different from everyone that it was difficult to replicate. A future artist, George Winston, would watch Charlie Brown as a kid just to hear him play. Guaraldi’s Personality somehow