102 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: MIKE JAMES The Sound of Charlie Brown These days, the four siblings work together at the film production company their father founded. Glenn, Lynda and Jason have been there for years, while self-described black sheep Sean has recently joined the fold in a more prominent role. Jason, a filmmaker and attorney, cheerfully owns up to the opportunities that sprang from his father’s connections, but “I made a point my whole life—my whole adult life—to not work for my dad,” says Sean, a musician. That changed after Lee’s death from lung cancer in 2019, when they discovered a treasure trove of Vince Guaraldi’s original session recordings for Peanuts specials at the film production office in Burlingame. The tapes were in mint condition, Sean says, and contained masterful performances. It was back in 1963 that Lee talked the famed cartoonist into hiring the Bay Area jazz artist to compose and perform music for Peanuts. Charles (known as Sparky to his friends), wanted to use classical music, but “Vince really got the characters,” Jason says, pointing out that he composed “Linus and Lucy” for the documentary, not the Christmas PHOTOGRAPHY: ANNIE BARNETT ABOVE: (clockwise from left) Soundtracks from Vince Guaraldi's original session recordings; Sean, Lee and Jason Mendelson go to the Emmys; one of Lee's Emmy awards; Jason and Sean with Woodstock. PREVIOUS PAGE: (from left) Emmy winner Lee with a cutout of Charlie Brown in Burlingame on April 2, 1966; Jason (right) and Sean. show. That instantly recognizable melody became the signature sound of Peanuts. Vince kept composing and recording soundtracks for the steady string of Peanuts specials that followed and released an album, Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown, with songs from Lee’s illfated documentary. Vince was recording music for It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown in 1976 when he died at a jazz club in Menlo Park at age 47. Fast-forward several decades to the pandemic, when Sean and Jason got the idea to re-release the soundtrack album of It’s the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==