Vince Guaraldi - It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown / Charlie Brown's All Stars! (50th Extended and 60th Anniversary Editions) [Green]

Vince Guaraldi's final Peanuts score gets an anniversary release on green vinyl, pairing It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown with his breezy 1966 music for Charlie Brown's All Stars!

The Arbor Day sessions took place in San Francisco in early 1976, with Guaraldi back in a classic trio alongside bassist Seward McCain and drummer Jim Zimmerman. He died that February, before the special aired, which lends these loose, swinging performances a quiet poignancy. This set marks the first full release of the music.

"Young Man's Fancy" glides along on a bright, bouncing piano line, while "Flatten Patten (Baseball Theme)" puts a playful spin on the gang's endless ballgame woes. Two bonus alternate takes, including one of "Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown", offer a glimpse of the trio working through ideas in the studio.

The second side closes with the music from Charlie Brown's All Stars!, the second Peanuts special, recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Sextet. Guitar and a pair of trumpets add a sunnier, more expansive feel to cuts like the title theme and "Surfin' Snoopy (Air Music)", a fun counterpoint to the intimate trio material.

For Peanuts devotees and jazz piano fans alike, it's a bittersweet and sunny farewell from the man who gave Charlie Brown his sound, restored and gathered in one place at last.