It's late Monday evening, but before the Toxic Tuesday Gargoyle arrives, here's a genre-crossing Jazz tune that led to a cultural change. (Isn't that a broad statement to be making about a mere Pop tune?) Well, there is a straight line from here to "A Charlie Brown Christmas," "Linus & Lucy," and musical immortality for this former associate of Cal Tjader's. Ease on into the work week (or out o...
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While not technically a musical post, I know this soundtrack is featured heavily on many Moggers holiday playlists. Enjoy!
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Why does someone with thousands of records in his apartment need to spend hours digging through crates of vinyl?Because picking up new/old music is filling holes in an on-going, and ever-expanding, narrative. You find an LP you've never seen before, something called "Gillespiana" on Verve, and realize that it's a collaboration between Dizzy Gillespie and Boris ("Lalo") Schifrin. All the songs w...
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I've seen this animated feature every year since it first appeared on TV in 1965. I have it on DVD and play it when skies get grey and rainy. (No snow in Hawai'i unless you climb 10,000+ ft/3Km high mountains after a winter snow storm.) But I didn't have the official soundtrack music CD in the collection until this year. So, on Black (Ink) Friday eve, here's Vince Guaraldi, playing "O Tannenbau...
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Here's my x-mog post to you my pals. Happy whatever you're celbrating.Christmas music is funny. You'll find yourself listening to traditional tunes by artists you'd normally hire a hitman to eliminate, given the chance. Often you'll wish the ditty of the moment was the version on those scratchy but dear LPs that came out of the closet around Thanksgiving when you were a child. They could have b...
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An individual at Coca-Cola's ad agency proposes the idea of a Charlie Brown Christmas Special, with music by Vince Guaraldi. And a new American institution was born...Put yourself in Lee Mendelson's position for a moment. Imagine it's 1963 and you're a television documentary producer driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, thinking about the film you're developing in collaboration with the creat...
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Although the name Vince Guaraldi might not mean anything to you, I can almost guarantee that you've heard his work. His piano is the magic behind the music of Peanuts, that timelessly classic cartoon featuring Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and the gang. All together, Guaraldi produced the music for 15 network Peanuts cartoon specials, and in doing so, assured his place in pop culture. Most proba...
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