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I received an e-mail the other day from Amity Pictures producer Bipasha Shom about a documentary they are producing on jazz pianist and composer Vince Guaraldi for Warner Bros.

Guaraldi became a mainstream musical icon through his compositions and recordings for the Santa Rosa-based cartoonist Charles Schulz's "Peanuts/Charlie Brown" TV specials. While tunes penned and performed for "Peanuts" (such as "Linus & Lucy") have become aural Americana trademarks, Guaraldi's musical legacy was planted long before the 1965 debut of first "Peanuts" TV show, "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

A native San Franciscan, Guaraldi started playing professionally in college and worked his way up the Bay Area circuit of gigs, eventually performing with Cal Tjader and Woody Herman in the 1950s. He received a Grammy for his 1962 album "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus," which debuted in the film "Anatomy Of A Hit," and appeared on the TV show "Jazz Casual" (both for jazz critic and producer Ralph Gleason) in 1963. Guaraldi also wrote a choral Eucharist for Grace Cathedral in 1964.

A working musician till the end, Guaraldi died on February 6, 1976, in between sets at Menlo Park's Butterfield's nightclub. He was 47 years old.

I forwarded the contact information Bipasha requested for bassist Seward McCain, drummer Colin Bailey, guitarist Eddie Duran, bassist Dean Reilly and drummer Vince Lateano, but I didn't have any info for Reverend Charles Gompertz. If you are one of the many great musicians or producers in the Bay Area who worked with Vince Guaraldi, please contact me so I can put you in touch with Bipasha for this wonderful (and long overdue) biography.

The film-makers are looking to finish the documentary as part of the bonus content for a new "Peanuts" DVD collection from Warner Bros.

And, in related Guaraldi news, Ralph Gleason's son, Toby Gleason, is also involved in another Guaraldi documentary, videotaping interviews with people who knew or worked with Guaraldi or recorded his music. Gleason has found unreleased archival audio and video material of Guaraldi that will be included in his documentary, which is tentatively set to be finished up in June 2009 for a fall TV broadcast and winter DVD release.