Vince Guaraldi - "Christmas Time Is Here"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

His music was the soundtrack for a generation. He helped make jazz popular, and then made it classic. His touch on the heart of American Music will never be forgotten.

Vincent Anthony Guaraldi /ɡəˈrældi/ (July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976), born Vincent Anthony Dellaglio, was an American jazz pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated television adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip including their signature melody, "Linus and Lucy" and the holiday standard, "Christmas Time Is Here". He is also known for his performances on piano as a member of Cal Tjader's 1950s ensembles and for his own solo career. His 1962 composition "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" became a radio hit and won a Grammy Award in 1963 for Best Original Jazz Composition.

"Christmas Time Is Here" is a popular Christmas standard  and was written by Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi for the 1965 television special A Charlie Brown Christmas,  one of the first animated Christmas specials produced for network television in the United States.

Two versions were included on the album A Charlie Brown Christmas: an instrumental version by the Vince Guaraldi Trio and a vocal version by choristers from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California who had previously performed with Guaraldi on At Grace Cathedral (1965).

So today, wistfully, I choose Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here” as my, hold on to the memories, light the little candles, turn on the tree, song for a, spirit in the air, be the light you’re looking for, it’s still within you, Wednesday.

As a bonus, I’m giving both the instrumental and the vocal versions!