Charlie Brown fans and jazz lovers, two groups first brought together in 1965, will unite once again on Dec. 4 in Centretown for a night of original jazz music and scenes from a Christmas television classic.
The Ottawa Jazz Festival will host the Jerry Granelli Trio as the musicians perform the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas at Dominion-Chalmers United Church. Granelli, a drummer from San Francisco and Canadian resident since 1988, is the last surviving member of the original trio that created the soundtrack to the beloved TV program.
Just shy of the show’s 50th anniversary, Granelli, 73, along with pianist Chris Gerstin and bassist Simon Fisk will treat Ottawa residents to a behind-the-scenes look at the popular animated program.
Charles Schulz, an American cartoonist, created the famous comic strip Peanuts in 1950.
Suzan Zilahi, the festival’s marketing director, says the night will consist of performances from the soundtrack as well as explanations of different parts of the TV special.
“Every once in a while Jerry will stop and give recollections, his memories, explain how this great piece all came about,” she says.
After years of people expressing the joy they have gotten from the soundtrack, Granelli decided in 2013 to take the show on the road. His first show was in Ottawa for the International Children’s Festival.
“It was really overwhelming,” he says. “I was lucky I didn’t cry my way through that show. It was actually hard to play the drums for a minute with the overwhelming feeling of joy. It was done as a real genuine thing without any hype. The whole show kind of has that quality to it.”
This year Granelli has even bigger plans.
“We’re going all the way across the country this year,” he says, with eight shows planned. Granelli hopes that the show will grow each year. “In my wildest dream, I would like for it to become a real Christmas celebration,” Granelli says.
The Cross Town Youth Chorus will also perform alongside Granelli, the choir’s second year performing with his trio. Kurt Ala-Kantti, artistic director of the chorus, says the children are excited about the upcoming performance.
“Especially the ones that did it last year. The new ones aren’t quite sure what they’re in for yet,” he says.
With a sold out show last December at the International Children’s Festival, Ottawa Festivals, an organization delivering initiatives to help build a stronger festival scene in the nation’s capital, discovered the performance was not only geared for families, but jazz lovers, too.
Zilahi says she was surprised at how many jazz fans came to the shows. December geared “At that time, it was decided that this would be an obvious performance for the Jazz Festival,” she says.
This year, the show will have a larger choir as well as an additional choir piece. Granelli says he plans for it to be a longer show, but has “no idea what will happen until it happens.”
A Charlie Brown Christmas made its North American debut on CBC on Dec. 9, 1965. With television networks having no expectation that the show would draw many viewers, beverage maker Coca-Cola paid for the airtime. Ultimately, though, half of the viewing audience in North America watched it that night, making it an instant hit.
“If there’s magic in it, it’s because everybody did it so simply and honestly. I think that is what human beings respond to,” says Granelli.