Vince Guaraldi Trio
A Charlie Brown Christmas

THE REVIEW

STOP RIGHT THERE! This is NOT A CHRISTMAS COMPILATION!

It's A MAGNIFICENT MASTERPIECE that Vince Guaraldi, jazz pianist, in trio with Monty Budwig, bass, and Colin Bailey, drums, gifted to the world in 1965, as well as the soundtrack of the first Christmas episode of the fantastic and unbeatable Peanuts, born from the pen of the ingenious Charles Schulz, aptly titled "A Charlie Brown Christmas." An episode I doubt anyone hasn't seen yet, but in case you haven't, my advice is to catch up quickly; provided you enjoy the depressed Charlie, the insecure Linus, the exuberant Lucy, and of course him, Snoopy, the world's most "faico" beagle!

Vince Guaraldi, aka Dr. Funk, as he was nicknamed at the time, took care of the musical background of these magnificent cartoons until his premature death in the mid-'70s, at only 47 years old, and contributed significantly to their success with a truly diverse audience, and ultimately to my "young" interest in the world of jazz (mind you!).

With an extraordinary sensitivity of which he was evidently endowed, he managed with only apparent simplicity to perfectly translate into music the humorous, ironic, but also deeply intellectual and classically modern spirit of these stories. Indeed, the Peanuts' stories have multiple interpretations, and here, for example, the Christmas spirit itself is questioned, and the tracks, demonstrating their high value, not only capture the atmosphere in a refined way and adapt sublimely to the situations but have become true jazz standards like the enchanting "Christmas Time Is Here" offered in an instrumental version (chills included) and immediately after in a vocal version with a children's choir - enough to make even a squad of finance officers with canine units in tow emotional!

Fun fact: this same version also pops up in the recent (and very beautiful) soundtrack of the film "The Royal Tenenbaums" from 2001 curated by Mark Mothersbaugh of the legendary Devo. Between original pieces and rearranged Christmas classics, like "O Tannenbaum", "Greensleeves", and "What Child Is This?", stand out the original "Linus & Lucy" and the bossa nova of "Christmas Is Coming", but if you hate Christmas it doesn't matter, you'll love these 40 minutes of this disc all the same. Indeed, this album, which from the cover already tempts a lot, would be to your Christmas as a slice of panettone, a shame to miss out!

Christmas is coming, be nice!