Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The Vince Guaraldi Trio swings on A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack

Yesterday, I discussed the pleasure I felt for an old Phil Spector Christmas album so it seems only natural that I bring up the soundtrack for 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.'

This is probably my favorite Christmas album. Propelled by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, the music put a memorable stamp on the cartoon and nicely fit the love and melancholy the storyline produced.

Among other things, one of the major statements the cartoon made (remember when cartoons actually had something to say?) was that commercialism was ruining Christmas. Keep in mind, the cartoon was made in 1965 so it really was ahead of its time when it comes to this subject.

As a boy, I quickly learned to love the Peanuts comic strip, as well as many of the films and television specials that came from this franchise.

I’ve written more extensively on this album before so if you are interested in reading more, please click here.

Obviously, this is an album you must own.

1 comment:

Joltin' Django said...

Vince Guaraldi's "Charlie Brown" LP is a masterpiece, as far as I'm concerned.

As a self-taught pianist, I'm proud to say that "Linus and Lucy" is one of, oh, a half-dozen tunes that I can play note for note.

I like Monk and Gould; but I love Guaraldi, indeed.