How This Pianist’s Music Became the Highlight of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

Published: December 23, 2025

peanuts, snoopy — Photo by Sandy Ravaloniaina on Unsplash

By Michaela Gordoni

It’s the 60th anniversary of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, which is just as memorable for its music as it is for the story animation.

“The music of Vince Guaraldi…is now ubiquitous with the holiday,” said Jason Mendelson, son of long-time Peanuts producer Lee Mendelson.

This year, Craft Recordings will release collectible vinyl reprintings of the A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS soundtrack, which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.

Guaraldi’s jazz music was “different than everything else that was out at that time, and remains that way and remains ubiquitous,” Jason said. “It’s instrumental jazz that has permeated society and the world.”

Before A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, Lee had gotten Guaraldi to score an unreleased documentary, A BOY CALLED CHARLIE BROWN.

“Vince jumped all over it. Of course he wanted to do it, because he loved Peanuts, and he knew exactly from that first moment what the sound should be for those characters and those little vignettes they did for the documentary,” Lee said. “The irony is, the only thing that came out from that documentary was his album. It was a huge hit.”

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He was the perfect man for A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, too.

“He knew what fit for all of those scenes,” Jason said. It was a fast-paced project from the get-go, and the collaborators “didn’t have time to mess it up and they trusted each other,” he added. “They all worked together until the day they died.”

Guaraldi died at the age of 47 from a heart attack, a decade after A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS aired.

One of Guaraldi’s friend’s said, “He wanted, in a very profound way, to be a success, and to be remembered for the happy quality of his music. And I think he succeeded.”

Jason says one of his earliest memories was recording the voices for Rerun Van Pelt and Peppermint Patty in the studio with his dad. He didn’t understand how special that was until he was older. As an adult, he’s produced several Peanuts specials.

“I’m the luckiest person in the world with my brother and the rest of my family that we get to continue to work on and celebrate this stuff for now 60 years,” he said.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS “brings us back to a feeling of nostalgia and childhood, but also it is completely timeless,” he said, “It’s for children, right? But it’s not really for children. It’s for everybody.”

The special is currently available to stream on Apple TV and Prime Video.

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