Well dear readers it's almost that time of year again. I write to you from the front seat of our Infinity as we make our annual Christmas quest to the carpet capital of the world (that's right THE Dalton, GA). It is the time of year for commercials galore that are interrupted briefly by the cheesy Christmas specials that would make anyone say "Bah Humbug!" (ABC Family I am looking directly at you!)
But I digress, no matter how badly the new Christmas specials are there are a few which will always, no matter how Blue of a Christmas you may be having, make you be of good cheer. The greatest of these being "A Charlie Brown Christmas", a holiday staple since it was first released in the late 1950's. It is not just the story which makes it a classic of Charlie Brown's search for the true meaning of Christmas but also it's outstanding soundtrack.
The Vince Guaraldi Trio is able to paint a picture of the first snowfall, glistening evergreens, and a glowing christmas tree covered in lights and decorations with every song. It is a perfect connection of music and visuals as every slide of the piano is intertwined with the cartoon landscapes of Charles Schultz.
The album begins with "O Tannenbaum", an old christmas favorite brought into a new cool jazz swing to which it that will forever be connected to the image of aluminum trees as Charlie Brown searches for "The perfect tree". It begins slowly and reverently but quickly diluges into a upeat tempo as Guaraldi slides up and down the keyboard giving the listener a view of his winter wonderland where Christmas is not about the hectic last minuet shopping or frenzy of commercials but being together around the fireside unwrapping presents while the snow lies in banks outside.
The album also showcases Guaraldi's own songwriting abilities as he imagines the Charlie
Brown universe in his own original way. "Christmas is Coming" and "Skating"are two such examples of this where Guaraldi's songs though intended for background music jump out in their own right. In "Skating" Guaraldi tickles the ivory so that we are given the unmistakable
image of snow falling but it is not a
blizzard, it is a light flurry in which you try to catch the
snowflakes on your tounge."Christmas is Coming" gives you a view of childlike anticipation of Christmas. Where you just can't seem to go to sleep and restlessly toss and turn at 4:30 in the morning before you to wake up your parents as you stumble down the stairs to the loot waiting beneath the christmas tree.
But when it comes to his greatest work "Linus & Lucy" it's hard no to imagine the whole gang up on the stage dancing in their own funny and uniuqe ways, with Snoopy of course stealing the show. It is hard to imagine a Charlie Brown without this song that so uniuqely personifies everything that is the Peanuts cartoons. Just like it's hard to imagine a christmas special season without this treasured classic which always reminds us the true meaning of the season...
With that being said I wish to all of you a merry christmas and to all a goodnight.
Cheers,
Winslow
P.S. As a little gift to you readers here is George Winston's (see blog post #2 "A Montana Christmas") rendition of "Skating"
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