If you grew up watching the Peanuts during Christmas, this CD takes you back to that place in your childhood Christmas heart.


What Christmas is all about (for me)   December 9, 1999
 40 out of 40 found this review helpful

A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the few Christmas shows that actually got it right. The music that Vince Guaraldi recorded for it has taken on a life of its own. Christmas Time Is Here has become a standard now and deserves to be. Sadly, Vince left us in the mid 70's before the cartoon and the music really became a cherished classic and I hope he knows how special this recording is to me and many, many others. Skating is like a 3 minute trip to another world and his version of The Christmas Song is among my top 3 favorite versions. This is the most relaxing beautiful Christmas music you could ever want to hear. You can forget about the overblown tripe that the so called "music elite" puts out now, this is the real deal.

And please, everyone remember Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts gang, in your prayers tonight. He was recently diagnosed with cancer and needs our support. Get well soon Sparky.


Put 5 stars for Guaraldi on the top of Charlie Brown's tree   December 5, 2002
 37 out of 39 found this review helpful

It wasn't only the wonderful humor of Charles Schulz and the adorable child voices that made "A Charlie Brown Christmas" such an enduring holiday favorite. The score by Vince Guaraldi was sophisticated and sensitive and stands alone as one of the best holiday albums ever. Frankly, we play it all year long, yes, Christmas in July or June or whenever.)

The original compositions ("Skating", "Linus and Lucy", "Christmas is Coming") are brilliant, quirky and humorous, yet are far from childish. They are jazz compositions of real merit, and Guaraldi must have been a true "Peanuts" fan because he really was able to interpret Schulz's characters in musical form.

The score also has Guaraldi's interpretations of favorite Christmas carols. In "Greensleeves" in particular, you can hear how Guaraldi flavors this English classic with snippets of the Charlie Brown music--very clever and makes the score hang together as a unit and not just a patchwork of holiday tunes.

Sometimes the sound is a bit fuzzy on this recording (made originally in 1965), but that doesn't detract much from the pure pleasure of the score. This is a CD we play frequently and I must say, it never palls. I hear new things every time.


An all-time Christmas classic!   November 30, 2000
 19 out of 19 found this review helpful

Thanks (so much) to the timeless annual television special which delights us each December, it's difficult to find a collection of songs which touch the inner child in quite the way A Charlie Brown Christmas does. The late Vince Guaraldi's brilliant interpretations of these holiday standards are borderline genius---tailor-made to reflect the Peanuts characters' pursuit of integrity and meaning as adults trapped inside little children. As good a true jazz piano record as anyone will find, this treasure chest echoes of many happy Christmases past, and warms the heart and soul like nothing before or since.

There simply aren't enough positive adjectives to describe this soundtrack. I wholeheartedly recommend it to all---those who fondly remember the TV special and look forward to its return every year; those who desire to add a slightly different flavor to their yuletide music collection; and those who enjoy fine jazz, by an artist whose immense talent was barely realized, but fortunately captured here. And pardon the cliche', but like a fine holiday wine, this one only betters as it ages. Drink it in as it rekindles your most joyous childhood memories.

STAR TRACKS: Classic carols "O Tannenbaum," "What Child Is This" (extended later on the album as its traditional "Greensleeves"), and "The Christmas Song" each are delivered in a style unlike any holiday chestnuts, but "My Little Drum," a lovely interpretation of "The Little Drummer Boy," is a far more stirring rendition than the famous original it borrows from. "Christmas Is Coming" and the ebullient "Linus and Lucy" are spirited, youthful celebrations guaranteed to raise a smile on anyone, anywhere, at anytime. But for pure imagistic splendor, the beautifully desolate "Christmas Time Is Here" (performed twice, once with a small children's choir) and the colorful "Skating" may be the album's most evocative numbers, transporting the listener into the story's animated world which every one of these enchanting songs so perfectly support.


An American Tradition   November 26, 2007
 19 out of 20 found this review helpful

While the late pianist Vince Guaraldi had a huge hit in 1962 with "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," the man will forever be associated with Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang, especially for the score to the TV special A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS.
Airing on network television every year since its 1965 premiere, A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS is one of the few holiday programs highlighting the true meaning and worth of the Christmas season, and has become an American institution. It has also served another purpose: introducing generations of kids to the thrill and magic of jazz music.
In addition to updating some of the best traditional classics ("O Tannenbaum," "What Child Is This," "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing," "Greensleeves"), as well as an instrumental version of Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song" (that actually is most popularly known in its Nat King Cole version as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire"), and a smidgen of Beethoven's "Fur Elise," Guaraldi put together some elegant and uplifting arrangements:

-"Skating" is an evocative piece that takes the listener out gliding across the ice, through a light snowfall.
-"Christmas Is Coming," a wonderful hybrid of bossa nova and California cool, which goes far in interpreting the Season's excitement and anticipation.
-The soft, lullaby-like "Christmas Time Is Here," which, in my opinion, happens to be one of the most soothing songs in the history of popular music.
-And, of course, "Linus and Lucy." Easily one of the most recognizable tunes the world over.

Vince Guaraldi would score a total of 15 Peanuts specials, most of them with TV producer Lee Mendelson. Passing away in 1976, at the age of 47, Guaraldi never truly realized the enduring appeal of his scores or their influence on fellow jazz musicians like David Benoit (who continues Guaraldi's work for Peanuts' features), Dave Brubeck, Wynton Marsalis, and Christian McBride--all of whom have made concept albums based upon Peanuts' themes and characters.