Christmas Time Is Here by Vince Guaraldi & Lee Mendelson

 Merry Christmas in Japan and Merry Christmas Eve here!

This is not only a collaboration between the Labels of Reminiscings of Youth and Xmas here on the blog, but it's the farthest back that I've gone for a ROY article. In fact, I should correct the category here and say that it's more of a Reminiscings of Babyhood or Just-Graduated-From-Foetushood because I was only born some weeks before "A Charlie Brown Christmas" made its debut on CBS on December 9th 1965. Certainly, there's no way that I can remember the first time that Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus and the rest of the bunch made their way onto television screens together for the first time, since in all likelihood I was in the crib getting my 18 hours of beauty rest (which failed utterly) but I know that I've been watching it since I was a little kid.

I've enjoyed the whole thing over and over and I even bought the DVD for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" about a decade or so ago in Japan. Of course, a lot of things debuted for the first time including the characters and the famous "Linus & Lucy" theme which is arguably the theme song for the entire she-bang known as "Peanuts" (geez, ol' Chuck can't even catch a break there). One of my favourite scenes in the special is most of the characters boogying away to "Linus & Lucy" with Schroeder on the piano, Snoopy on the guitar and Pig-Pen on wood bass. My brother and I always giggled at Frieda's dancing.

Of course, if I got the DVD for the special then I just had to get the classic soundtrack with the Vince Guaraldi Trio. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and the music are absolutely inseparable and at the time that I saw it annually, I heard and treated the soundtrack not as jazz but just "Charlie Brown music" because of that distinct Guaraldi piano. From what I read about the production of the special back in 1965, though, was that inserting wistful jazz music into a kiddie program was thought to be downright insane at the time.

Happily, braver heads and ears prevailed. But along with "Linus & Lucy", "Skating" and all the rest, there is the opening theme "Christmas Time Is Here" by Guaraldi and television producer Lee Mendelson with the chorus from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California. I cannot imagine the introduction for the show without this song, and whenever I get introduced to a jazz pianist that I hadn't heard before, I immediately compare that artist with Guaraldi via "Christmas Time Is Here". That was the case when I first heard the velvety tones of Bill Evans back in Japan. I listened to Evans' trademark "Waltz for Debby" and found the lilting and romantically swinging melody reminiscent of Guaraldi's "Charlie Brown music" (although I know that Evans started his career before Guaraldi), and internally remarked, "Yep, he's my guy!" and ended up buying a number of his albums.

The soundtrack is a must-play at this time of year, and I will listen to it again later tonight just before Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day. Wow! That's something...55 years since it was released. But what was released in Japan back in December 1965? Thanks again to "Showa Pops" for the answers.

1. Sachiko Nishida -- Akasaka no Yoru wa Fukete （赤坂の夜は更けて）

2. Mahina Stars -- Namida-kun Sayonara （涙くんさよなら）

3. Saburo Kitajima -- Hakodate no Hito （函館の女）

P.S. Of course, there are all of the covers of "Christmas Time Is Here"!

Canada's own Sarah McLachlan and Diana Krall

Anita Baker

Kei Kobayashi

Kei Kobayashi -- Christmas Time Is Here

Indeed with 9 sleeps left before the inevitable early-morning invasion by the children toward the presents under the Christmas tree, the seasonal music is coming in thick and heavy like the hoped-for snow that will blanket everything on Xmas Eve. During my daily carousings of YouTube, I ran into a variety of videos devoted to the very first Xmas cartoon special that I remember as a baby, "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

All of those who have seen the perennially televised show will know what I mean, but "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is chock-filled with "Peanuts" melodic favourites such as the famous "Linus & Lucy", "Skating" and, of course, the main theme of "Christmas Time Is Here", all by the late jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Guaraldi and "Peanuts" are so tied at the hip that whenever any of those tracks end up on speakers in a mall or on a home stereo, I've been told "Oh yeah, that's Charlie Brown or Peanuts music". I can only imagine back in the 1960s though what CBS must have thought at the idea of incorporating cool jazz music into a Christmas cartoon special.

It wouldn't be for many years that I realized how melancholy if beautiful "Christmas Time Is Here" sounds, and I figured that it was ideal for the sad sack named Charlie Brown. There have been a lot of images described by various commenters whenever they hear this one. My image is very simple and seasonal: nighttime, snow falling, armchair, cocoa and lots of marshmallows, Xmas tree with lights slowly flashing on and off.

On hearing this classic, I figured that jazz singer Kei Kobayashi（小林桂）must have covered this since its natural mellowness is perfect for him. He has covered a couple of other Yuletide tunes, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Merry Christmas Darling" on his 2001 album "Wonderland". Sure enough, "Christmas Time Is Here" is in there. Whoever is playing the piano for Kobayashi in the above video has got the right Guaraldi feeling.

Getting back to "A Charlie Brown Christmas", to counter the mellow "Christmas Time Is Here" is the joyful "Linus & Lucy" backing up one of my favourite scenes in all cartoons. Indeed, Snoopy is lit!

Kei Kobayashi -- Merry Christmas Darling

Gotta admit...I was inspired to put this one up since I'm also currently watching a Tony Bennett special celebrating his 90th birthday. Being a semi-fan of jazz, Bennett is probably one of the few vocalists around that I would make time on my schedule to catch him on TV which isn't all that easy to do. And so far, I've seen folks like Lady Gaga, Kevin Spacey and Canada's own Diana Krall hit it out of the park with their renditions of the legend's classics. I even own one Xmas album by Bennett.

So here is Kei Kobayashi（小林桂）with his cover of the Carpenters' 1970 Xmas ballad "Merry Christmas Darling". I wrote an article for another Xmas song by him a couple of years back, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" which is another cover that I liked by him. Unfortunately, I could only track down an excerpt on the Amazon page so I'm happy that I was able to find a whole YouTube video for "Merry Christmas Darling".

Kobayashi's tender delivery and the quiet arrangement centering on piano makes it the perfect song to listen to while wrapping those presents in the cabin on December 24th. Hot chocolate would be just the thing to drink while this is on the stereo...no marshmallows, though. The song was, like his rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", placed on his 2001 album "Wonderland".

And for that added sentimentality, here is the original by the Carpenters. Just for the record, the music was provided by Richard Carpenter and the lyrics by Frank Pooler. After all these years, I still miss Karen.

Kei Kobayashi -- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%AF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89-%E5%B0%8F%E6%9E%97%E6%A1%82/dp/B00005O5U0
(excerpt only)

Past the midnight hour into Xmas Day 2014, I've decided to profile a lovely and contemplative version of the old Ralph Blane-and-Hugh Martin Xmas classic, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" which was originally performed by Judy Garland in her 1944 movie "Meet Me In St. Louis". It sounds rather perfect after the kids have gone to sleep.

Jazz vocalist Kei Kobayashi（小林桂）was someone I first found out about when he was being highlighted in a news feature several years ago while I was still living in Japan. His singing reminded me of a higher-pitched Mel (The Velvet Fog) Torme, and the feature had the angle of the young Kobayashi doing his darndest to become that next successful jazz singer. I was impressed enough by him that I eventually ended up buying his "Nature Boy" album from 2004.

However, his take on "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (Track 7 on the Amazon page) came from his 2001 album, "Wonderland". I haven't gotten that particular Xmas album but I came across his take on the Blane-and-Martin song via a compilation of J-Xmas tunes. I've also dubbed it into my Xmas mix tape. With all of the jaunty songs out there at this time of year, it's nice to slow down a bit and smell the cocoa with this one.

P.S. If you want to hear a more orchestrally sweeping version of the song, you can try Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）take on it.