Pasadena show has ‘Peanuts’ flavoring

Pianist Vince Guaraldi probably never imagined, when he received the assignment in 1965 to compose the music for the first “Peanuts” cartoons -- “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” followed by “A Charlie Brown Christmas” -- that he would wind up creating some classic Christmas music. But he did, producing tunes so durable that they have become staples of the holiday season, with pianists George Winston and David Benoit among their more visible interpreters.

On Saturday night at Travis Auditorium in Pasadena, pianist John Campbell offered his brightly enthusiastic Guaraldi renderings in the final program of the Pasadena Jazz Institute’s second season.

Campbell, who spent a few years as accompanist to Mel Torme, led a trio that also included bassist Bob Maize and drummer Colin Bailey, a Guaraldi associate from the early ‘60s. In the first half of the program Campbell applied his brisk, boppish style to a group of familiar Christmas numbers -- “Winter Wonderland,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and (appropriately, since it was composed by Torme) “The Christmas Song.”

After the intermission the music was all Guaraldi, embracing “Peanuts” numbers such as “Oh, Good Grief,” the lovely “Christmas Time Is Here” and an item from a different holiday, “The Great Pumpkin Waltz,” as well as his non-”Peanuts” hit, “Cast Your Fate to the Winds.”

Although Campbell’s style, with its airy, open qualities, differed from the rhythmic groove-orientation of Guaraldi, the spirit of the music -- especially in the holiday numbers -- was the same, an engaging expression of jazz at its communicative best.