Bloggerhythms

The late Vince Guaraldi is known to most people only as the pianist on the soundtracks to the Peanuts TV specials and especially as the genius behind the most famous jazz Christmas album in history, A Charlie Brown Christmas. That is a real shame for a man who died too young of a heart attack at age 47 just after completing work on another Peanuts TV show earlier that day. Fantasy Records released this fourteen-song greatest hits disc on vinyl in 1980 and on CD in 1989. It's far from being a complete retrospective because it only contains music Guaraldi recorded for that label, but it still serves as a very nice overview of this intriguing jazz man's work. Guaraldi started making records in the mid-50s as a sideman for Cal Tjader. He also sat in with Woody Herman. Later he played with percussionist Mongo Santamaria and Dave Brubeck's bassist, Eugene Wright. In 1959 Guaraldi set out on his own. It would be 1963 before he hit paydirt when "Cast Your Fate to the Wind...

The Vince Guaraldi Trio would probably be forgotten today if it wasn't for their much loved holiday album,  A Charlie Brown Christmas . It was released in 1965 to accompany the television cartoon of the same name. The importance of Guaraldi's 1962 single, "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" - and how it helped spawn his Christmas LP that probably wouldn't exist without his only non-holiday, top 40 entry - cannot be underestimated. The instrumental peaked at #22 at a time when it was still possible for a jazz record to make an impact on the the Hot 100. It inspired TV producer Lee Mendelson - who liked what he heard on the radio - to commission the piano player to compose the soundtrack to A Boy Named Charlie Brown , a television special that was never aired because the producer couldn't find a sponsor. However, a soundtrack album,  Jazz Impressions Of A Boy Named Charlie Brown,  from the untelevised program was released and included a tune...

Below is an edited and updated blast from the past that was published on Bloggerhythms in its original form on December 1, 2006. Since then I've listened to a lot of new Christmas music so, seven years later, it's time for the 2013 edition of The Top 10 Christmas Albums Of All Time . You can see the older version here . _________________________________________________________ Every year, new holiday fare is released to the public to satiate their never-ending desire to hear Christmas music. It amazes me how the music industry continues to recycle the same Christmas songs year after year in various packages, by every conceivable artist known to man, and we keep buying. From James Galway, to Willie Nelson, to Lynyrd Skynrd, and everybody in between, Christmas music sells and sells and sells. One of the nice things about this time of year is we all enjoy music by artists that we would never otherwise think of listening to the rest of the year. A case in point is my adult daug...

Every year, new holiday fare is released to the public to satiate their never-ending desire to hear Christmas music. It amazes me how the music industry continues to recycle the same Christmas songs year after year in various packages, by every conceivable artist known to man, and we keep buying. From James Galway, to Willie Nelson, to Clay Aiken, and everybody in between, Christmas music sells and sells and sells. One of the nice things about this time of year is we all enjoy music by artists that we would never otherwise think of listening to the rest of the year. A case in point is my daughter. She knows nothing about Nat King Cole except for his Christmas album and his perennial chestnut (pun intended), "The Christmas Song." While she enjoys this standard holiday tune very much, she would never consider listening to anything else he recorded without poking fun at the old folks who realize that Cole was one of the great jazz and pop singers of his era. At what other time o...