A Charlie Brown Christmas Redux ... and redux and redux
By Derrick Bang
It was so simple, once upon a time.
If you wanted the soundtrack, you bought the album ... as in LP, as in long-playing record, for those too young
to recognize the term.
No muss, no fuss. LPs served us well for decades. And, with the exception of Broadway revivals,
or classical music performed and interpreted by different orchestral ensembles, we'd rarely find more than one album
with the same music.
So it was, with the Vince Guaraldi Trio's score for the trend-setting CBS-TV special,
A Charlie Brown Christmas. Fantasy Records released an LP shortly after the show debuted on December 9, 1965;
it made an excellent companion piece to Guaraldi's other Fantasy album of Peanuts music, the soundtrack for
the never-aired TV special, A Boy Named Charlie Brown.
Although long forgotten by the general public, Peanuts fans and soundtrack collectors know that Guaraldi's music
also could be found on another album -- with the same title -- produced in the wake of that first TV special's 1965
debut: the Charlie Brown Record Company LP that condensed A Charlie Brown Christmas and turned it into the
equivalent of a radio experience, complete with 12-page storybook. With a running time of just under 20 minutes,
this LP retained the essential dialogue elements while -- sadly -- eliminating most of Guaraldi's musical interludes
(which is logical, since young listeners wouldn't have had any reference by which to imagine the action taking
place behind uninterrupted music). Indeed, purchasers of the LP wouldn't even know of Guaraldi's involvement;
the LP cover credits Charles M. Schulz but says nothing about the music. (Fortunately, the record label -- on the disc itself -- does
mention Guaraldi.)
The Charlie Brown Record Company produced a second, physically smaller version (7 inches) of this radio-esque
adaptation, probably designed for children who had those little hatbox-style phonographs that were incapable
of playing full-size LPs.
Guaraldi's full musical score, though, was available only on the Fantasy LP.
And so it was, for nearly two decades. Although avid fans knew the TV special had bits of music not included
on the LP, we couldn't do anything about it ... except watch the show each December, and/or record the audio
with a cassette tape deck.
To a great degree, the album's content was dictated by its form. The two sides of a long-playing record
could hold only so much music -- generally about 40 minutes -- and thus we proud owners of
the Charlie Brown Christmas LP grew quite familiar with the five tracks (songs) on the first side,
and the six on the second side.
Then, in March 1983, the compact disc arrived ... and suddenly it was a whole new ballgame.
Thanks in great part to this new medium's size, ease of use and greater storage capacity -- granting
performers more than 70 minutes of music per disc -- the transition from LP to CD took place pretty smoothly.
Oh, sure; some purists complain (and rightly so) that the CD sound is a bit too bright and lacks the warmth
of an LP, but they remain lonely voices in the wilderness.
Getting us to buy new CDs was easy; getting us to upgrade our existing LPs to CDs was a bit more of a struggle,
at least for the first few years.
So, in order to sweeten the deal -- and whenever they could -- music labels offered bonus tracks on older LPs
that were revived on CD. Fantasy Records was no different, and thus the first alternate state of the soundtrack
to A Charlie Brown Christmas arrived when the album debuted on CD. The existing 11 tracks were augmented
by a 12th: a longer, alternate take of "What Child Is This," rather coyly titled "Greensleeves," perhaps in the
hope of tricking unworldly purchasers into believing it was an entirely new song.
Since then, things have gotten ... well, rather crazy.
Guaraldi's original album now exists in many, many different states, having been re-released and re-re-released,
covered by other artists, and branded by the likes of Starbucks and Hallmark. This article was prompted by the 2006
holiday season's arrival of Fantasy's re-mastered version of the album, but that wasn't the only variation that
arrived that year.
But let me not get ahead of myself.
In the interests of knowing what were buying, what follows discusses the various differences -- if any -- between
the many new versions of A Charlie Brown Christmas that have arrived since early 1983.
So, returning to Fantasy's first CD release, in the 1980s...
The next change, many years later, came in under the radar and was prompted solely by Fantasy's decision to correct
its liner notes. Fantasy has long been notorious for its poor record-keeping and even poorer acknowledgments,
much to the dismay of jazz fans, who always want to know who plays what instrument on which track.
Fantasy's original LP failed to even mention Guaraldi's sidemen, although the information did surface on Fantasy's
Greatest Hits compilation of the jazz pianist's work, which of course included some of the Peanuts tracks.
According to that LP, Guaraldi was accompanied by Fred Marshall (bass) and Jerry Granelli (drums).
Fantasy's first CD issue of A Charlie Brown Christmas, however, cited Monty Budwig (bass) and Colin Bailey
(drums) as the musicians who complemented Guaraldi's piano.
Hmmm.
Writer Robert Wilonsky investigated this curious discrepancy in an article published in the weekly Dallas
Observer dated December 17-23, 1998. The article is a bit hyperbolic, and Marshall wasn't entirely happy with
the sensationalist tone added to what was, at worst, a minor controversy regarding proper credit. Happily,
history was set straight when Fantasy issued a slightly revised A Charlie Brown Christmas in August 1999.
The first 11 tracks -- which is to say, all the cuts from the original LP -- are properly credited to Marshall
and Granelli. The bonus version of "Greensleeves," added back in 1983, was made with Budwig and Bailey,
the two members of Guaraldi's original trio.
Why the two sets of sidemen?
Very simple: Guaraldi worked with one pair while laying down the tracks for the actual TV show, but teamed
with the other pair when recording the cuts for the Fantasy Records release. Fantasy, with its tendency toward
sloppiness, drew tracks from both sessions ... and didn't bother telling anybody (at first, anyway).
Although the musical content didn't change at all, when the 1983 Fantasy release was updated in 1999,
you can tell the two versions apart because the cover art changed; note the poses of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and Snoopy.
A few years later, two additional versions of the 12-track CD were issued, as Fantasy's way of testing
the market offered by so-called superior listening formats: Super Audio CD (SACD), on August 26, 2003; and
Monster Music, in November 2005. Both require different equipment; SACD CDs won't even play on standard CD
players, and Monster Music discs are designed for DVD players. To be precise, Monster Music isn't really a
new format; the music has been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS audio tracks -- as used for regular DVD
soundtracks -- and stuck onto a DVD without a video track. (Text displaying the name of the track appears
on the screen instead.)
Although theoretically reconfigured to take advantage of the supposed enhancements offered by these
two formats, the same 12 tracks were used ... although, rather perversely, the Monster Music disc presents
them in a different sequence (!). In both cases, I rather doubt most casual listeners could tell the
difference. Absent a $2,000 entertainment system, I defy anybody to distinguish a standard CD from an SACD.
In fairness, though, I'll let good buddy and fellow audiophile Scott McGuire weigh in with his thoughts:
Super Audio CD is a newer format that's capable of reproducing a wider range of sounds than regular CDs.
Due to the (relatively) limited technology and storage space available when CDs were created in the 1980s,
some modest compromises were made: Good as they are, CDs do not capture the widest possible range of sounds.
Super Audio CDs use more modern and advanced music digitization and storage techniques -- in computer terms,
more bits are used to store the music -- and in theory can produce better-sounding music.
But in practice, you'd need both very good equipment and very good ears to tell the difference between
a regular CD and a Super Audio CD.
The stated attraction of the Monster Music release is that the music is presented in surround sound,
to provide a more immersive listening experience. As with a good surround soundtrack on a movie DVD, the
music from A Charlie Brown Christmas has been remixed so that it appears to come from all around you.
In fact, the Monster Music disc actually is a DVD, which plays in regular DVD players. The package also
includes a CD that's essentially identical to the original Fantasy release, so we won't discuss it further.
The DVD presents the music in no fewer than four different ways. There are three surround sound versions, and one
"high definition stereo" version. Each surround sound track is available in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, the two
main DVD surround sound formats. (Some audiophiles feel that DTS
produces superior sound to the more common Dolby Digital.)
The three different surround tracks are intended to emulate three different
performance spaces: "On Stage at a Jazz Club," "On Stage at a Concert Hall" and "Front Row at a Theater."
They're supposed to sound like you're in one of these settings, listening to Vince and his trio perform
the music. But while modern movie soundtracks are designed and recorded with a surround experience in mind,
the music for A Charlie Brown Christmas, recorded in 1965, was not.
Monster Music has gone back to the original source tapes for the
special's music, but it was originally recorded as three different
tracks (each track recording only certain instruments), and one generally
needs at least as many tracks as speakers to make an effective
surround sound mix. To make do with anything less requires some
digital trickery to spread the music from two speakers -- as used in a
normal stereo set-up -- to the five speakers (three in front, two in the rear)
used in surround sound set-ups.
When listening to the surround tracks on a surround sound system,
most of the music comes out of the front speakers, but reverb has
been added to make it sound like the music is echoing out of the rear
speakers. Inexplicably, the drums play on the rear speakers. If
you were watching the performers on a stage, why would the drums be
behind you? But I guess to make the soundtrack "enveloping," the
producers felt they had to put something on the rear speakers.
Distinguishing between the "Jazz Club" and "Concert Hall"
versions is pretty difficult; the "Front Row" version, where the
different instruments were separated between the speakers more
clearly, is somewhat more interesting.
The results aren't unpleasant, and the enveloping works to a degree, but I'm not convinced that the
results are better than listening to the new, remastered version of the Fantasy album on a decent two-speaker
stereo system. Also, the digital trickery required to make a surround version of this music -- since it never
was intended to be played on a surround sound system -- may offend some purists.
Speaking of the purists, the disc also includes a "high definition
stereo" version of the music meant to appeal to them. It's a regular
stereo mix, instead of a surround sound mix, but since DVD audio is
capable of reproducing a wider range of sounds than regular CD audio,
in theory this could result in a better-sounding soundtrack.
Remember that CDs were designed back in the 1980s; just as computer
graphics have advanced significantly since then -- think how video
games have changed -- audio technology also has advanced. But CDs still are
pretty good, and -- as mentioned above -- in practice you'll find it hard
to tell the difference between a regular CD and the
high definition stereo version presented here.
These two formats have been mentioned solely for the sake of completeness, and also because it's significant
that Fantasy selected Guaraldi's album for them; only a small percentage of the conventional CD library
has been re-released on either SACD or Monster Music, and I don't expect either format to survive in the
long run. (You can count the Monster Music releases on the fingers of both hands!)
For now, though, SACD is reasonably well-established. SACD is regarded as an official format -- much
like CD and DVD -- and SACD discs are made by multiple companies. As of January 2007, more than 4,000 SACDs
had been released.
But wait ... there's one more!
Analogue Productions, an outfit known for high-end restoration work, produced a re-mastered 45RPM vinyl
version from the original best-possible-case master tapes for A Charlie Brown Christmas. The finished
result best can be described as a high-end vinyl pressing -- an old-fashioned record album, in other words -- but
not technically an LP, since it plays at 45RPM, not 33-1/3. That means the original single platter has been
released on a pair of 12-inch 45RPM platters, because of course all the original music won't fit on a single
platter when played at that speed.
Why 45RPM? The grooves are deeper, and therefore you get a greater dynamic range.
Obviously, this is a specialty item; you won't find it in an average music store, and currently I don't
even see it listed at Amazon. But you can order a copy here, while
also reading testemonials about the pressing's finer points. Again, this isn't a casual purchase for mainstream
listeners -- for one thing, it's quite expensive -- but if you want the ultimate listening experience, this
sounds like the version to get.
The acknowledged popularity of Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas score also led to the album
being branded by both Starbucks (December 1997) and Hallmark (December 2000). Oddly, the Starbucks version
features only the original 11 tracks found on the LP; the bonus version of "Greensleeves" is absent.
Although the price was a bit more attractive than Fantasy's mainstream version of the disc,
the Starbucks variant is desirable only because it, too, uses fresh artwork ... otherwise, it's entirely superfluous.
[Alas, I cannot comment on the Hallmark versions track specifics, because I don't own one. If anybody
Out There does possess the disc, please get in touch.]
The same year that Hallmark branded Guaraldi's music, Atlantic Records released a rather unusual concept
album: jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut's homage to Guaraldi's original score, also -- and rather confusingly -- titled
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Atlantic 83366-2). Aside from three instrumental originals by Chestnut,
he and various guests re-interpreted Guaraldi's 1965 album. While it's not at all unusual for jazz artists
to cover each other's work -- that's the very nature of jazz -- I can't think of any earlier cases
where one artist did a deliberate, track-by-track re-imagining of a second artist's entire album ... from
the signature Peanuts themes ("Linus and Lucy" and "Christmas Is Coming") to the holiday standards
("The Christmas Song," "What Child Is This" and so forth) that Guaraldi and his trio gave such a distinctive
polish back in 1965.
(Booker T and the MGs came close with their 1970 album, McLemore Avenue, an homage to The Beatles' Abbey Road,
which covers 13 of the 14 songs in that classic 1969 release, arranged as four suites. But it isn't a complete
re-do.)
The results on Chestnut's album are intriguing. Chestnut's approach to the piano is quite spiritual; his interpretations
of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "My Little Drum" (a riff on "Little Drummer Boy") are slow, somber
and absolutely gorgeous. He's equally adept at the up-tempo stuff; his covers of "Linus and Lucy" and
"Christmas Is Coming" are marvelous. Vanessa Williams and the Boys Choir of Harlem also contribute a lovely
reading of "Christmas Time Is Here," with further instrumental backing from tenor saxman Michael Brecker.
But some of the stylistic choices are puzzling. I'm no fan of jazz harmonica, and it's absolutely not
the instrument of choice for "Skating"; a harmonica simply does not say ice skating to me.
Perhaps worse, the otherwise tasty vibes used in "What Child Is This" are obscured by the Manhattan Transfer's
gawpy background la-la-la punctuations, which sound more like something hijacked from a Lawrence Welk
disc. What a waste of that talented vocal quartet ... surely they could have been put to better use!
In 2002, Little Simon -- an imprint of the Simon & Schuster children's publication division -- released a
new hardcover storybook adaptation of A Charlie Brown Christmas. The text is adapted by Justine and Ron Fontes
from the TV special, with new artwork by Creative Associate's Paige Braddock (also known for her own comic strip and
comic book series, Jane's World). The book comes with a 15-minute audio CD that includes four tracks from
Guaraldi's original Fantasy release of A Charlie Brown Christmas: "Christmas Time Is Here," "Skating,"
"Linus and Lucy" and "Christmas Is Coming" ... although, perhaps echoing Fantasy's sometimes sloppy liner notes,
those four tracks are recorded in an order that doesn't match what's printed on the CD!
In 2005, history repeated itself when jazz pianist and current Peanuts music
torch-bearer David Benoit and a similar assortment of friends got together for yet another re-interpretation
of Guaraldi's 1965 album. The occasion was the 40-year anniversary of that original jazz LP, and thus
the title, appropriately enough, is 40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas (Peak Records PKD-8534-2).
It should be noted that the version of this album sold at Target stores contained two additional tracks
not present if you purchased it anywhere else ... a glaring example of this obnoxious -- and, sadly,
increasingly common -- marketing practice.
Benoit's album once again covers all the Guaraldi themes and traditional Christmas songs used
in A Charlie Brown Christmas, but the results are mixed, to say the least ... and less satisfying
than Chestnut's album. Jazz purists will lament Benoit's frequent use of strings and vocal wah-wah accents,
and the percussion is too heavy at times, particularly on "O Tannenbaum," where the disco-style beat
overwhelms Gerald Albright's lush sax work.
But many of the cuts are quite nice, starting with Benoit's punchy, swinging cover of "Christmas Is Coming,"
which gets the album off to a great start. Smooth jazz stalwart Dave Koz delivers an equally lively reading
of "Linus and Lucy," trumpet player Rick Braun supplies a solid rendition of "My Little Drum," and Vanessa
Williams brings heart-breaking poignance to the one new song, Benoit's "Just Like Me," which will be adored
by anybody who makes watching A Charlie Brown Christmas an essential part of the season
Hello, little tree,
Kinda looks like me.
Standing all alone,
Like its been disowned.
On the other hand, Toni Braxton destroys "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" -- a song not
even in A Charlie Brown Christmas -- with a breathy, microphone-swallowing delivery that sounds
as if each word is bursting between her lips during the height of sexual passion. And as bad as Braxton's
delivery is, Chaka Khan is even worse on "The Christmas Song": outrageously overwrought, her harsh,
unappealing voice building to a (literally) shrieking climax. Somebody should have muzzled her.
As for The Rippingtons' gawdawful cover of "Red Baron" -- which turns Guaraldi's lively keyboard
instrumental into a soggy, half-baked disaster on guitar -- the less said, the better.
Tribute albums always run the risk of tainting pleasant memories of the original material, and it's sad,
but true: The contributions by Braxton, Khan and The Rippingtons are so dreadful that they overshadow
the rest. That makes 40 Years an uneven novelty item, much like Chestnut's equally puzzling cover
of the same material. Neither poses any threat to the strong sales posted every year by Guaraldi's original recording.
And, speaking of which...
Great things happened a few months ago, when Fantasy released its own remastered version of Guaraldi's original album.
CDs have become much more firmly established since their debut back in 1983, and record companies have lost
most of the sales momentum that resulted from the first-round transitions from LP to CD. As a result, labels
looking to make new money from old material have, more recently, been milking a rather clever scheme: the
remastered CD. Spend a little time back in the mixing studio, and plenty of fans can be suckered ... ah,
persuaded ... into purchasing a second (third?) copy of an album that they probably already
re-purchased when upgrading from LP to CD.
Many remastered albums aren't sufficiently improved to justify the additional out-of-pocket expense,
but Fantasy's 2006 re-release of A Charlie Brown Christmas (FCD-30066-2) is worth every penny.
It's a magnificent remastering job, and kudos go to Cheryl Pawelski (producer), Stephen Hart (remixing)
and George Horn (remastering).
Bravo to Fantasy, and all involved with this CD. Even the packaging and enclosed booklet are A-plus efforts.
I'd be embarrassed to admit how many times I've purchased this album over the years, in one format
or another; I mention that only by way of explaining that I know these tracks inside out and sideways.
And my admiration comes from the fact that, despite the jargon, this really isn't a remastering, per
se ... several of the tracks are completely different takes, which for a jazz purist is absolute gold.
I'd have to call this a different album entirely.
You can tell right away, because the opening cover of "O Tannenbaum begins" with a quick piano filigree
and cymbal brush that aren't present on the original album. (Its not an alternate take; we're simply hearing
more of Guaraldis original recording ... see below.) Similarly, this new version of the ubiquitous
Peanuts theme, "Linus and Lucy," boasts an entirely different second improvisational bridge, and Guaraldi's
other original composition -- "Christmas Is Coming" -- is, as well, an alternate take.
This new version of "Linus and Lucy" also solves one of the great mysteries of Peanuts music: the
source of the lively instrumental interlude that is heard while Snoopy dances about on Schroeder's piano,
before slinking away in embarrassment. We now know that this snippet of music is the aforementioned second
improvisational bridge in this previously unheard version of "Linus and Lucy."
(Speaking of obscure bits of music, I probably should answer another frequently asked question: The
music playing behind Snoopy, as he decorates his doghouse, is a portion of a composition titled "Air Music" when
Guaraldi originally wrote it; the piece can be found, misleadingly titled "Surfin' Snoopy," on the Fantasy CD Charlie
Brown's Holiday Hits.)
The listening experience of Fantasy's remastered CD is sharper and brighter throughout, which allows us to hear many more of
the subtler jazz riffs that have made the album a seasonal classic since its 1965 release.
Want specifics? Here you go (notes from Fantasy's Web site):
Track 1: "O Tannenbaum" -- the original LP version cut off the introduction to the song,
which has been reinstated on this new CD;
Track 5: "Christmas Time Is Here" (instrumental) -- the original LP version fades out at the end
of the song, almost losing the last chord, which can be heard quite clearly on this new CD;
Track 7: "Skating" -- the original LP version fades during the bass solo at the very end,
whereas this remastered CD allows the song to run to its conclusion, which adds about 10 seconds to the track.
These freshened versions are supplemented by four bonus tracks, which grant fans yet more alternate takes of The Christmas Song, Greensleeves, Christmas Is Coming and Christmas Time Is Here.
Unfortunately, the folks at Fantasy -- apparently in response to unhappy patrons who wanted the tracks
to sound just like they did on the 1965 LP -- have decided to "correct" the "mistakes" that were made
on "Linus and Lucy" and "Christmas Is Coming" ... horrors!
Again, from Fantasy's Web site:
Some of you may have noticed that the new remixed, remastered version of A Charlie Brown
Christmas had two mishaps ... these are as follows:
Track 4: "Linus And Lucy" -- the original LP version was an edit of two different takes, whereas
in the remix for the new CD we ran one of the takes in its entirety. New pressings of the CD will
revert back to the original stereo mix.
Track 9: "Christmas Is Coming" -- the original LP version and the version on the new CD are entirely
different takes. This is an unintentional mistake (those keeping close score will note that both
versions are identical in length, thus confusion ensued during the final master assembly). Our sincere apologies.
Fantasy apparently intends to return these two tracks to their original versions, in subsequent pressings;
dissatisfied customers already are being encouraged to send in their "defective" discs to obtain a corrected replacement.
But -- and here's the irony -- Fantasy didn't make a mistake! The fact that the second bridge
in "Linus and Lucy" matches the onscreen music in the TV show proves that this is the correct, single
take. To put it the other way, the original LP -- and all the CD releases up to this point -- used the wrong
version. Fantasy finally got it right ... but now will return to having it wrong.
Ah, well. I know, I know; I'm picking nits.
All that said, this remastered Charlie Brown Christmas probably isn't a necessary purchase
for casual listeners, who may not notice the difference between this and previous versions, and may
not care that much about the four bonus tracks. But Peanuts fans and jazz buffs who live for the differences
of alternate takes -- where the instrumental riffs really are unique, from one take to the next -- will want
this album on their must-have lists ... particularly since the first-edition remastered CD has
become an endangered species. According to a Fantasy press release dated December 20th, the masters
have been changed, and all discs produced from this point forward will return "Linus and Lucy" and "Christmas Is Coming"
to their original versions. No doubt some of the first-edition remastered discs are still
out there ... but, of course, there's no way to tell until you buy it and bring it home.
But that's still not all. Late 2006 also brought us another branded version of Guaraldi's Peanuts Christmas music,
a United States Postal Service exclusive available only at your local Post Office, and titled A Very Special
Charlie Brown Holiday Collection. This compilation is produced by Gregg Field and released through Concord
Records (which recently absorbed Fantasy).
At first blush, this new CD appears to be a random collection of tracks from Guaraldi's original album
and Benoit's 40 Years A Charlie Brown Christmas ... the equivalent of a greatest hits collection,
and therefore a non-essential purchase. But that's not quite true. In addition to the repeated tracks,
you'll also find two entirely new cuts: the David Benoit Trio's lively covers of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
and "Jingle Bells." And no, these tracks aren't from either of Benoit's two earlier albums of Christmas music;
they appear here for the first time. Granted, neither song is used in A Charlie Brown Christmas, but Benoit
and his trio seem to have tried hard to approximate the Guaraldi trio's 1965 sound.
But this USPS disc is strange for another reason.
One would expect that the Guaraldi tracks from A Charlie Brown Christmas would be drawn uniformly
from either the original (1983) CD or the re-mastered (2006) version. But no: "Linus and Lucy," "Christmas Time
Is Here" and "Fur Elise" definitely are taken from the new, re-mastered CD ... while "Skating," "The Christmas Song"
and "Greensleeves" come from the older album.
That's just weird. Why mix them up like that?
It's also worth mentioning that the USPS disc was produced at an unnecessarily loud volume: too loud,
in fact, since volume seems to have sacrificed some of the music's clarity in spots. If you're curious enough
to do the sort of disc-to-disc comparisons that fueled this article, don;t be fooled: Louder doesn't mean better.
On the other hand, the bewildering mix of sources makes A Very Special Charlie Brown Holiday Collection
somewhat more valuable, since it's a second shot at obtaining the corrected version of "Linus and Lucy."
Although this USPS disc was pulled from circulation after the 2006 holiday season, perhaps it'll return when
future holiday seasons roll around.
And there you have it ... far more than you ever needed to know about one of our favorite albums,
which has remained in print -- and sold steadily, year after year -- since its debut more than 40 years ago.
Indeed, it posted among 2006's Top 10 holiday albums by sales, competing against mostly new albums ... a pretty
impressive feat, for an album four decades old!
We know why, of course: Guaraldi's touch and musical approach are timeless. His arrangement of "O Tannenbaum,"
for example, has become fixed so firmly in my mind that I judge all other versions by how closely they adopt
Guaraldi's approach ... which I realize is completely daft, but it's beyond my control.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go play that re-mastered CD again. I'm still trying to nail down
some of the distinctions between alternate takes...
