Every December since 2013, the Carpenter Center has invited Grammy-nominated jazz pianist/composer/producer David Benoit to perform the soundtrack to “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the holiday animated classic featuring the iconic jazz soundtrack composed and performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.
As 2020 has indefinitely caused every theater to go dark, Carpenter Center decided to carry on with what is arguably their most popular annual concert with a very special, very intimate and very free livestream, Saturday, Dec. 5.
Since hearing Guaraldi’s soundtrack in his youth, Benoit has said how influential the jazz pianist and his work was to his own career and musical style. Now considered to be Guaraldi’s heir, Benoit has spent the last 20 years recreating for audiences what is one of the most loved, contemporary Christmas albums, picking up where the late composer left off, as musical director and performer for later animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip, such as the feature film, “The Peanuts Movie.”
For this year’s livestream performance, audiences can expect to hear the classic Peanut songs along with a few other holiday jazz numbers thrown into the mix straight from Benoit’s new album “It’s a David Benoit Christmas.”
Saturday’s event will be hosted by smooth jazz trumpeter Rick Braun from his home, where he films his ongoing web series “Rick’s Cafe,” with special guest, jazz vocalist James Tormé with his jazz trio.
David Benoit’s “Tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas” can be watched, again, for free, on YouTube Saturday, Dec. 5. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. Click here for a direct link. And for more information, visit the Carpenter’s Center website, here.