[[wiki-architecture]] · [[Building Materials]] · [[ARCHITECTURE]] · [[000]] # It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown/Charlie Brown's All Stars! (soundtrack) It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown/Charlie Brown's All Stars!: Original Soundtrack Recordings is a soundtrack album by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi released on March 20, 2026, in the U.S. by Lee Mendelson Film Productions. The album presents the complete scores for the baseball-themed animated Peanuts television specials It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976) and Charlie Brown's All Stars! (1966), including two bonus alternate takes from the Arbor Day sessions. == Background == Following producer Lee Mendelson's death in December 2019, his sons Jason and Sean Mendelson began searching for original music recordings from the Peanuts television specials. During the COVID‑19 lockdowns, they uncovered a cache of long-missing Vince Guaraldi session tapes, which enabled a continuing series of archival soundtrack releases. It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown/Charlie Brown's All Stars! combines two baseball-themed scores recorded a decade apart: Guaraldi's soundtrack for It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976), preserved largely on surviving session tapes, and the music from Charlie Brown's All Stars! (1966), whose original session reels had not been located when the album was prepared. The pairing also marks the 50th anniversary of Arbor Day and the 60th anniversary of All Stars, while drawing attention to the development of Guaraldi's Peanuts scoring between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s. Both specials center on baseball, and both scores feature "Rain, Rain, Go Away". == Recording and production == === All Stars === Charlie Brown's All Stars! was recorded on May 13, 1966, at Sound Recorders in San Francisco, less than a month before the special's CBS debut on June 8. Guaraldi led a sextet for the session, with Jon Coppola and Frank Snow (trumpets), Eddie Duran (electric guitar), Eugene "Puzzy" Firth (double bass), and Lee Charlton (drums). The score expanded the ensemble heard in A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) the year prior and used a stronger horn presence. With little formal experience scoring to picture, Guaraldi recorded much of All Stars as extended studio-style takes rather than cues precisely timed to on-screen action. Consequently, most of the score is heard in the broadcast only in short excerpts, often fading or trailing off as scenes conclude. Mendelson later recalled that the session "had become undisciplined", a looseness that would be corrected on later specials with the arrival of composer, arranger, and conductor John Scott Trotter for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966). Trotter would ultimately bring greater structural discipline and a broader orchestral sound to the Peanuts productions. On the soundtrack release, "Surfin' Snoopy (Air Music)" is the only cue to appear in complete form as heard in the special; the remaining tracks generally reflect their incomplete faded broadcast presentations, except that the fragmentary uses of "Baseball Theme" were reconstructed into a medley-style track. The original session tapes for All Stars had not been located when the album was prepared. As a result, the audio is sourced from the special's three-stripe 35 mm negative television mono soundtrack music stems, and presented in lower fidelity than previous Peanuts soundtrack releases sourced from original stereo session tapes. The final release runs approximately eight minutes in length and is presented as a compact sequence. The session also predated John Scott Trotter's arrival later in 1966 as music supervisor for the Peanuts specials. === Arbor Day === The soundtrack to It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown was recorded at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco in early 1976, with sessions beginning in late January and concluding on February 6, 1976, the day of Guaraldi's death. The recording personnel consisted of Guaraldi (piano and keyboards), Seward McCain (double bass), and Jim Zimmerman (drums), a working trio drawn from Guaraldi's mid-1970s performing group. After completing the day's scoring work, Guaraldi and the trio performed at Butterfield's Nightclub in Menlo Park, California where he died suddenly of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm between sets at age 47. The score returned to a trio-based sound, with McCain back on double bass and the ARP String Ensemble used more sparingly than in several earlier 1970s Peanuts scores. Most of the soundtrack survives on the original stereo 2‑inch, 16‑track master session tapes and issued apart from the special's dialogue and sound effects. Like the All Stars soundtrack, one cue, "Rerun's Lament", was not located on the surviving session tapes and was instead sourced from the special's television broadcast mono soundtrack, then mastered to match the surrounding material. The sessions took place after John Scott Trotter's death on October 29, 1975. Trotter had joined the Peanuts production team in 1966 and served as music supervisor on later specials. == Composition and musical themes == === All Stars === The All Stars score is arranged for a sextet and makes prominent use of brass color, including brief trumpet fanfares that punctuate melodies and transitions. Notably, the program does not include "Linus and Lucy", which had not yet become a standard musical identifier for the Peanuts television specials in 1966. Several cues rework earlier material originally recorded for Guaraldi's inaugural Peanuts album, Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964), while using the expanded ensemble for emphasis and contrast. "Pebble Beach" returns alongside "Baseball Theme", with the latter shaped by trumpet highlights and a swing-oriented bridge. "Oh, Good Grief" is reimagined as a slow blues and New Orleans-style strut, with an increased focus on improvisatory keyboard work. "Charlie's Run" functions as a percussion-driven chase cue scored only for bass and drums without Guaraldi. It is followed by a brief title theme "Charlie Brown and His All-Stars" built around a subdued melody and short trumpet punctuations. The official soundtrack release preserves the first 10 seconds "Charlie Brown and His All-Stars", while a longer 19-second version survives in the original Dolly Madison and Coca-Cola sponsorship segment from the inaugural television broadcast, which is not included in the version of All Stars commonly circulated today. "Surfin' Snoopy" is a retitled version of Guaraldi's "Air Music", anchored by a walking bass line. (The same piece was later used in rebroadcasts of A Charlie Brown Christmas to underscore a short sequence in which Snoopy decorates his doghouse.) "Rain, Rain, Go Away" is presented as a soft jazz waltz used in the special's final scene featuring Charlie Brown and Linus standing on the pitcher's mound in the rain; an expanded arrangement later appeared on Guaraldi's album Oh Good Grief! (1968). The cue also appears in Arbor Day in the same key and is used only in these two baseball-centered scores. === Arbor Day === The score for Arbor Day is primarily straight-ahead jazz, written largely for piano trio and shaped by a generally reflective tone. In contrast to several earlier Peanuts scores from the 1970s that favored electric bass, the score features Seward McCain on double bass, reinforcing an acoustic trio sound (piano, bass, drums). Several cues are connected through shared thematic material. "Seeds for Thought" develops material from "Joe Cool" in You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown (1972). "Flatten Platten" reworks "Baseball Theme" at a quicker tempo, and "Lucy's Home Run" shares some of the drum patterns heard in "Charlie's Run" from All Stars. "Rain, Rain, Go Away" appears in both scores. In Arbor Day, the cue returns in a subdued performance in the same key as the earlier All Stars version. Recorded several hours before Guaraldi's death, the Arbor Day rendition opens with restrained, clipped phrasing before broadening into a more sustained and lyrical statement, with left-hand arpeggios, a gently shaped right-hand melody, and light bass-and-drum accompaniment that creates a delicate, raindrop-like texture. Several Arbor Day cues are built from the same gentle, underlying theme performed in 34 waltz time, including "Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown", "Rerun's Lament", "Laughter in the Library", "Young Man's Fancy", "Jay Sterling Morton Jazz", "We're the Visiting Team", and "Don't Forget the Shovel". "Snoopy at Bat" uses a Latin bass groove and side-stick drumming, and closes with a brief, high-register interpolation of "Linus and Lucy", representing the last known Guaraldi recording of any portion of the Peanuts theme before his death. == Release == It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown/Charlie Brown's All Stars! Original Soundtrack Recordings – 50th Anniversary Extended and 60th Anniversary Editions was released on March 20, 2026, in digital formats and as physical editions, including CD and 12-inch 33 RPM BioVinyl LPs in black and forest green-colored variants. A Record Store Day exclusive vinyl edition is scheduled for April 18, 2026. This will be a first-for-the-franchise 45 RPM two-disc set, consisting of a 10-inch clear, baseball-shaped LP of Arbor Day and a 12-inch brown, baseball glove-shaped LP of All Stars. == Track listing == All tracks are written by Vince Guaraldi except where noted. === It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown === === Charlie Brown's All Stars! === Notes ^[a] mono audio sourced from three-stripe 35 mm negative television soundtrack music stems; original master recordings believed to be lost ^[b] not included on Record Store Day exclusive vinyl edition ^[c] previously released on Charlie Brown's Holiday Hits (1998) == Personnel == Credits adapted from liner notes. === All Stars (1966) === Vince Guaraldi Sextet Vince Guaraldi – piano Eugene "Puzzy" Firth – double bass Eddie Duran – guitar John Coppola – trumpet Frank Snow – trumpet Lee Charlton – drums === Arbor Day (1976) === Vince Guaraldi Trio Vince Guaraldi – acoustic piano, electric keyboards, ARP String Ensemble Seward McCain – double bass Jim Zimmerman – drums == Production and release personnel == Sean Mendelson – producer; liner notes Jason Mendelson – producer; liner notes Derrick Bang – liner notes Megan Rible – layout art Clark Germain – mixing (Arbor Day) Vinson Hudson – restoration; mastering == See also == Lee Mendelson Bill Melendez Peanuts filmography Melendez Films A Charlie Brown Christmas (soundtrack) (1965) It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (soundtrack) (1966) A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (soundtrack) (1973) == References == == External links == Lee Mendelson Film Productions – Official Site Vince Guaraldi at Concord Records Sean's Music Factory