Vince Guaraldi (July 17, 1928 - February 6, 1976) was a jazz musician and pianist best known for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip.

He was born in San Francisco, California. He was an Army cook in the Korean War.

In his first serious gig, he had to fill in for Art Tatum.

His first recording came in 1953 when he played on the Cal Tjader Trio release Vibratharpe. By 1955, Guaraldi had put together his own trio with Eddie Duran and Dean Reilly .

He wrote many pieces for the popular animated Peanuts television holiday specials; his most-recognized tune is "Linus and Lucy" from A Charlie Brown Christmas

One of his well-known pieces is "Cast Your Fate to the Wind."

While searching for just the right music to accompany a planned Peanuts Christmas special, Charles Schulz, (creator of the Peanuts comic strip) heard a live club performance of Vince Guaraldi's trio on the radio while traveling in a taxicab in San Francisco, CA. He demanded to be taken to the club immediately and introduced himself to Mr. Guaraldi after the set. He proposed the idea of Mr. Guaraldi scoring the upcoming Peanuts Christmas special and Mr. Guaraldi enthusiastically took the job. He went on to compose scores for numerous Peanuts television specials.

He died of a sudden heart attack at age 47 between sets at Butterfield's in Menlo Park, California.

In 2004, a here-to-fore unknown live performance of the eight-part "Charlie Brown Suite" was released, restored from tapes in private collections.

External links

• http://www.vinceguaraldi.com/ (requires Macromedia Flash for all content)
• http://www.peanutscollectorclub.com/guaraldi.html