Charlie Brown Christmas drummer at home in Halifax

The beloved music from A Charlie Brown Christmas has a Canadian connection.

The only living member of the Vince Guaraldi Trio has been a Halifax resident for more than two decades.

Jazz drummer Jerry Granelli wasa member of pianist Guaraldi's group for onlya few years in the 1960s, but he helped create the memorable music behind several Charlie Brown holiday specials.

The 69-year-old percussion player said he had a simple motto in approaching the music: "keep it simple, stupid."

"And you know, don't make any mistakes."

Although it was 45 years ago, Granelli recalls many details of that time.

Born in 1940 in San Francisco, Granelli grew up in that city's flourishing jazz scene. He hung out in famous local nightspots including the Blackhawk, the Jazz Workshop and Jimbo's Bop City. Eventually, he learned drums from Dave Brubeck percussionist Joe Morello.

In the early '60s, Granelli heard that Guaraldi needed a drummer. Guaraldi was a hot name at that point, having penned the Grammy-winning hit Cast Your Fate to the Wind.

Then in his early 20s,Granelliwent out to Sacramento to audition.

"I knew, man, I had to play my ass off this was my chance," he said, recallinghow he competed against more experienced musicians.

"In all honesty, it was do or die for me. And I think I played way over my head. The music overlords were good to me."

Granelli landed the gig and became a full-time member of the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

Granelli initially didn't think much of it when Guaraldi first mentioned the idea of writing music for a Charlie Brown TV special, which made its debut in 1965 and has aired every year since.

"It was another gig for us," he said. "What it became and how it came about were two different things."

Linus and Lucy, likely the most famous original song on the soundtrack, was built around a deceptively difficult piano melody with Granelli's percussion giving it "the Latin and the swing feeling" that makes the music so memorable.

After Guaraldi (who died in 1976) penned the music, the trio rehearsed the tunes every night in jazz clubs. They had the basic framework of the Charlie Brown Christmas songs and would improvise within that "so that you didn't just want to blow your brains out" playing the same songs every night, Granelli explained.

When it came time to record, Guaraldi's trio couldn't actually see the cartoon and didn't have concrete times for how long to let the tunes run, which is why the music fades in and out.

A Charlie Brown Christmas was an immediate hit and the music and special have endured.

The album version of the soundtrack which also includes Christmastime is Here, Skating and Christmas is Coming has been re-released again and again, most recently in 2006. And the TV special is still primetime appointment viewing for millions each year.

Despite its success, A Charlie Brown Christmas hasn't translated into a fortune for Granelli, as he doesn't get royalties for the soundtrack unless it's appropriated for something new.

"I didn't get paid what I should be paid for that. And for years, I never thought it was very important, in a very arrogant way. Because I was on to other things. I always think the next thing I'm doing is the most exciting to me, forget about the past.

"But people would always hear it and like it. And over the years, I think I began to be grateful for that, that gee, you made something that touched somebody. A lot of somebodies. Millions of somebodies. Generations of somebodies."

Granelliwent on to play with a long list of impressivemusicians, including Charlie Haden, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lou Rawls, Sly Stone, Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Mose Allison and John Handy.

He moved to Halifax in 1987 andfounded the Creative Music Workshop, a two-week intensive music program that he runs each summer in conjunction with the Atlantic Jazz Festival.

This year, he decided to record his first solo drum album, 1313, released by Divorce Records.