Varèse Sarabande will release [a,15545]Rod McKuen Performs and Conducts All His Songs From A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Selections from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Me Natalie and Joanna digitally and on CD June 23, 2015. The album includes liner notes written by Rod McKuen shortly before he passed away earlier this year.
"Writing music for films is hard work but an all-together lovely occupation," said McKuen. "Some of my most cherished moments have been spent in screening rooms timing scenes for cues and on Russian, British and Hollywood sound stages making music with many of the world's best musicians."
"I was engaged to write words and music to several songs for the first theatrical movie based on the comic strip A Boy Named Charlie Brown," said McKuen. "Lee had wisely hired Vince Guaraldi to provide the jazz-tinged score for the first and subsequently all of the TV specials that followed and he repeated that chore here." The film earned the team an Oscar nomination in the Best Song Score category.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown marked the feature film debut of the beloved Charles Schulz characters. In addition to the songs from A Boy Named Charlie Brown, the release includes songs from other McKuen film scores for the The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Me, Natalie and Joanna.