There are artists, we’re told, who dread the postshow meet-and-greet, paying only perfunctory attention to the ritual pressing of their fans’ flesh. Jerry Granelli, however, is not one of them. Reached at home in Halifax, where he’s taking a short break from touring his seasonal Tales of A Charlie Brown Christmas show, the veteran jazz drummer tells the Straight that meeting people who have been touched by his music is a big part of why, at 75, he’s still crisscrossing the country by plane and van.

“It’s really cool, because in one sense it has nothing to do with me,” he explains. “It’s what all the people bring to the show—and they bring this wanting to hear it, which is great. And, afterwards, I meet all these people in the lobby, and it’s really fantastic to hear all their stories. You might be tired, you might be sick, you’re on the road—and all that dissolves.”

Listeners bring more to the after-party than just their impressions of the concert they’ve just heard. Yes, Tales of A Charlie Brown Christmas is as much of an adventurous jazz performance as a Yuletide confection, with Granelli—who learned his craft playing with everyone from Bill Evans to the Kingston Trio—joined by Vancouver-based pianist Chris Gestrin and Calgary bassist Simon Fisk.

“They’re both beautiful players, and capable of playing as ‘in’ or as ‘out’ as you want to go,” the drummer says. “So each night it’s different.…There’s always the possibility for it to be completely fresh, otherwise I couldn’t do it.”

But it’s that possibility of discovery, the ever-adventurous musician adds, that has allowed him to happily revisit music he recorded just over 50 years ago: pianist Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack for the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas. Cartoonist Charles Schulz’s tale of warm winter harmony has been rebroadcast every year since—and the show’s quadruple-platinum soundtrack album, Granelli notes, is the best-selling jazz record of all time.

Asked why both the music and the TV show have endured, Granelli has a ready answer. “It was really done honestly, and it’s good,” he says. “And it’s real. Music either touches someone, or it doesn’t—and this music touched a generation so deeply that they decided to share it, and move it on through their family.

“It just touched people in their hearts, and it wasn’t manipulative,” he adds. “It was just a group of artists all doing something really good and genuine. That’s all it is—and even 51 years later a thousand people a night show up to hear this music, and hear a real jazz band. For some people, it’s their first jazz concert ever!”

For others, viewing Charlie Brown on TV was their introduction to jazz—a story the drummer hears on a nightly basis while on the road. Playing with Guaraldi, whose sturdy melodies benefit from Granelli’s playfully elastic sense of time, didn’t bring the San Francisco–born performer riches or fame—he didn’t even get credited on the original LP release, a mistake that went unrectified for almost 30 years. But A Charlie Brown Christmas did put Granelli in touch with jazz royalty—Miles Davis was a fan—and helped kick-start a career that shows little sign of slowing down. Next up for the eternally hip percussionist? Recording an R&B tribute album at Vancouver’s Armoury studios, with guitarists Robben Ford and Bill Frisell in his band, followed by a week at New York City’s John Zorn–curated nightclub, the Stone.

“As an artist, you try to bring the same openness to each project,” Granelli says. “Charlie Brown is part of me, but so are these other things—it’s all the same guy!”

The Coastal Jazz & Blues Society presents Tales of A Charlie Brown Christmas at the Kay Meek Centre on Friday (December 9).