My Favorite Christmas Album Of All Time!

I said to my coworkers the other week that A Charlie Brown Christmas was the best Christmas album of all time. Beth turns to me and says "Are you being sarcastic?" Sami thought the same thing! Apparently I exude a snarky attitude at all times.

The thing is, I have three Christmas albums that I never get sick of, and A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio is one of them.

Part of the genius of the soundtrack is that, not unlike the special it comes from, it shouldn't work as well as it does. It's a children's holiday special starring a bunch of comic page characters that stop for two minutes to read from the Gospel of Luke. Let's do a piano jazz soundtrack, shall we?

But the soundtrack excels at simplicity. The gentle piano riffs on classic carols like "O Tannenbaum" and classic pieces like "Fur Elise" are beautiful and simple, yet unique and unmistakable. Often time instrumental pieces, especially for a TV program, go in one ear and out the other. It's pretty background noise, but nothing more. The instrumental originals are even better, the way the piano falls and rises on "Skating" is nothing short of magical.

But it's "Christmas Time Is Here" (co-written by Guaraldi and the show producer Lee Mendelson) that is the true mark of genius. The song has been covered on many Christmas albums, but most of the time the mark is missed. Both the sublime instrumental version, clocking in at over six minutes, and the vocal take are slow, deliberate and calming. Other artists take that slow route and create a somber, depressing Christmas song. Not so on Guaraldi's versions, the slowness creates a mood of quiet contemplation, not a depressed one.

And the other two albums that I can't get enough of during the holidays? Patience, my pretties. All in due time. (Seriously, there isn't a lot of new music coming out right now. I gotta spread my Christmas posts out or all you'll get are year-end lists for the rest of the month!)