PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 103 a wider audience, they teamed up with Craft Recordings to release the original Great Pumpkin soundtrack on records and CDs. But the rest of those pristine session tracks were too good to keep to themselves. The brothers found that while a TV special might have used a 40-second version of a song, the studio recordings often held longer versions. “In some cases, it's the greatest performance, but it was three seconds too long in 1966. So instead they did it again and again and again, and the one that hit the mark is now the one they had to use,” Jason says. Sean and Jason started producing new soundtrack records themselves. “We’ve been riding the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. “I wanted to make the Great Pumpkin record better than it was,” Jason explains. “The one that came out originally had some issues because they didn't use a really good source. I had no intention of releasing anything other than Great Pumpkin.” The brothers refer to it as a “holy grail” moment when they found the cache of Vince’s old session tapes in the office. “They sound amazing,” marvels Sean. “It sounds like they were recorded yesterday.” Like their father, Sean and Jason are huge fans of Vince’s music and proud that Peanuts specials are often a child’s first introduction to jazz. To bring the music they loved to GOOD GRIEF! PHOTOGRAPHY: ANNIE BARNETT / COURTESY OF LEE MENDELSON FILM PRODUCTIONS HASTY HOLIDAY SPECIAL Lee Mendelson and Charles Schultz came up with the outline for A Charlie Brown Christmas in one day, got the green light and had only six months to pull it off. Unable to find a lyricist on short notice, Lee penned the words to the song “Christmas Time Is Here” on the back of an envelope. The show broke all kinds of rules: it had children voicing the characters, an anti-commercialism message, a jazz soundtrack and a character reciting a Bible verse. But the creative team of Lee, Charles and animator Bill Melendez stayed true to their vision. Right before it came out, “Bill and Lee thought, ‘We killed Charlie Brown.’ They were convinced they’d screwed it up,” recalls Lee’s son Jason. Instead, they created a groundbreaking holiday classic.
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