I don’t really remember exactly when I first heard the sounds of the Vince Guaraldi Trio and I’m not sure when I put two and two together to recognize that this incredible trio had recorded the first musical experience that would influence the course of my musical interests, but I do remember I was a little kid.

Snoopy was one of my favorite cartoon characters growing up. I liked Charlie Brown. Linus felt wise. But, it was the soundtrack that I was really paying attention to. It conjured such an array of feelings. Excited and ready to dance. Cool, calm and collected. Introspective. It was all there. A multi-faceted sonic plate.

I looked forward to each Christmas, knowing that Mom and Dad and I would sit together and watch the show on TV. At some point, I think Mom and I found the soundtrack on vinyl at the library. It became a record that I would check out often and in 3rd grade, Dad upgraded the family stereo system and I sat patiently while we made a taped copy of the vinyl record. That was it! I could now listen to the soundtrack whenever I wanted to. Coincidentally, it was also in 3rd grade that Dad got me my first Walkman, so I was in business.

Around this time, I was fully immersed in music of all sorts of genres. I remember listening to a lot of Phil Collins, The Beatles, and Peter, Paul and Mary. It was the mid-80’s and I had yet to discover heavy metal or rap.

I don’t think I fully appreciated what the Vince Guaraldi Trio was doing on the soundtrack. It was just good music. I didn’t specifically see myself as a jazzhead, yet, but then again, I was eight years old.

I knew Dad liked folk music. CSN, the Mamas and the Papas, Carole King, Gordon Lightfoot. Music was often in the background of my childhood. A radio tuned to public radio. The car radio running tapes that Dad would check out from the library. But, in the midst of it all, Dad would find the occasional public radio stream of some sort of bebop or progressive jazz.

Hearing A Charlie Brown Christmas always takes me back. It still pulls the same heartstrings it did when I was just a kid. Now, I have a deeper appreciate for Guaraldi and the album’s players. Fred Marshall and Monty Budwig splitting double bass duties. Jerry Granelli and Colin Bailey on drums. Marshall and Granelli, from what I recall, were working the full album while Budwig and Bailey were tapped for specific recordings for the TV version.

As I’ve explored the creation of the album, I’m mesmerized by the thought of the trio, working on a soundstage, bouncing ideas off of each other, trying things and ultimately committing takes to tape. It must have been somewhat revolutionary of a moment, to be crafting the musical backdrop to the Peanut’s classic, bringing to life the characters that donned the funny pages in the daily newspaper. And, somehow, they created perfection. I can’t imagine the show to be any other way than it is. Moments of playfulness. Crescendos of heaviness and utter glee.

Ultimately, my list of favorite albums is long. However, A Charlie Brown Christmas will forever hold the top spot as my first favorite album.