'SMOOTH JAZZ' MUSICIAN PAYS TRIBUTE TO SCHULZ.

Byline: Karissa S. Wang Special to the Daily News

LANCASTER - David Benoit grew up in Hermosa Beach, where it was cool to be a surfer. But serendipity found the self-professed ``scrawny kid'' who thought he'd become an architect and instead made it cool to be in a genre called ``smooth jazz.''

Cool also describes the musician himself. Framed James Bond memorabilia and martini glasses decorate the Rolling Hills Estates office of the jazz pianist, whose friendship with the late ``Peanuts'' creator Charles Schulz got him to begin recording the ``Here's to You, Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years'' CD more than a year ago.

``Ever since I was a little kid, watching the (``Peanuts'') shows, I was very influenced by that music,'' said Benoit, 47. ``It was cool. It sounded cool and at that time I was starting to get into jazz piano.''

The recently released tribute CD features guests such as Take Six and Al Jarreau singing ``Happiness.'' The album stays true to the original sound and music of Vince Guaraldi, who scored the ``Peanuts'' television specials. In fact, the song ``Linus and Lucy'' features the actual track of Guaraldi playing piano.

``It was kind of weird. It was supposed to be a celebration CD of the 50 years of Charles Schulz's strip,'' Benoit said. ``After we finished it, I got a call from (Schulz producer) Lee Mendelson who said that Charles Schulz was very ill and it could be a tribute CD.''

Benoit had worked with Schultz in the past, scoring four animated specials, including the yet-to-be-released ``It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown.''

``I had a meeting with Sparky (Schulz) two years ago,'' Benoit said. ``He was in great health and Sparky had hired me to write the music for `It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown.' I think the high point of our relationship occurred when I invited him to one of our concerts with the San Francisco Symphony and invited him on stage.''

Benoit began his early years in Bakersfield, but when the family moved to its house on Longfellow Avenue in Hermosa Beach, the Benoits bought a piano. His mother, a teacher, played piano. His father, a counseling and guidance professor at California State University, Los Angeles, who played jazz guitar, taught Benoit.

By his senior year at Mira Costa High School, he scored the musical ``Tom Jones,'' after the school could not get the musical rights from the Broadway show to use for its production.

Benoit first got noticed when he would play at empty studios around Los Angeles for fun.

``Some guy said, 'Hey, you're good, do you want to play on a movie?' '' Benoit said. ``It was Richard Baskin, heir to Baskin Robbins.''

At age 19, Benoit dropped out of El Camino College in Torrance and moved to where he thought all the action was - Hollywood Boulevard and Western Avenue, where he lived for 10 years. He played piano for Lainie Kazan at gigs at the old Playboy Club in Century City.

``One of my early gigs was at the Parisian Room on Washington Boulevard and La Brea (Avenue),'' Benoit said. There, he accompanied r&b singer Gloria Lynne. He was mentioned in her biography that was published earlier this year.

``It was flattering, it talked about being a young kid and going on to becoming famous,'' Benoit said of the book reference.

Someone from the now-defunct record label AVI heard Benoit playing as a session musician on someone else's album and asked him whether he wanted to record his own.

After three albums, his career stalled in 1981, long before he helped create the now-ubiquitous smooth jazz genre. But Benoit didn't realize that at the same time, he became a superstar in the Philippines and found himself playing in front of 3,000 fans.

``It was weird,'' Benoit said. ``I was struggling and playing in sessions and I get put in a Mercedes limo and they had 'David Benoit' in 10-foot-high letters. I met Mrs. (Imelda) Marcos. She came to the concert and when the regime toppled, I introduced Eimee Marcos, their daughter, in concert, and I almost got booed off the stage. Another time Mrs. (Corazon) Aquino invited me to the official palace.''

By 1987, Benoit's ``Freedom at Midnight'' album put him on the map in America and paved the way for other jazz musicians, creating a new genre of ``smooth jazz.''

On that album is his most popular song, ``Kei's Song.'' It was written for his wife, who he met on an airplane island hopping in Hawaii 17 years ago. At first, critics panned it, calling it ``soft jazz.''

``They said it was good background music to have (with) brie and champagne,'' Benoit said. ``I'm not apologetic, I like playing for 5,000 people.''

Benoit's musical goals are simply for people to have fun and his concerts reflect that sense of partying. Since then, Benoit has scored movies such as Sally Field's ``A Christmas Tree,'' the new theme for ABC's ``All My Children,'' the NBC series ``Sisters,'' ``Garfield'' cartoons, as well as the Clint Eastwood documentary ``Carmel.''

But Benoit still tours, with 90 dates a year. And no matter how far from home, it's his Southern California roots that infused his sense of cool. ``Hermosa was a party environment - cocktails and martinis at 4 o'clock,'' Benoit said. ``It wasn't cool at first. It was cool to be a surfer. But once I got a band, it was really cool.''

THE FACTS

Jazz pianist David Benoit and an 18-piece orchestra will perform a tribute to Charles Schulz at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, 750 W. Lancaster Blvd. Tickets are $36 for adults and $18 for children. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

Jazz pianist David Benoit pays tribute to ``Peanuts'' creator Charles Schulz on his latest CD ``Here's to You, Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years.''

Box: The Facts (see text)