That time of year. Finally!!!

With Thanksgiving almost a week behind us, I think it's safe to start busting out the holiday music around here. Which is exciting because I'm a big fan of holiday music, though isn't it funny how offensive it sounds in, say, June? And that's a shame because one of my all-time favorite albums is a holiday album and I'd love to be able to listen to it year round. But I just can't. It doesn't feel right. The album I'm talking about is (of course!) "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio.
If you haven't heard it...Ha! what am I saying, of course you've heard it. Well, if you don't OWN it, please stop reading and get on over to iTunes and buy it. Every single song on it is fantastically good: O Tannenbaum, Christmas Time Is Here (both instrumental AND vocal!), My Little Drum, and of course everyone's favorite classic Linus & Lucy, oh, and Skating!! Can't forget Skating. Unbelievable!! If I was more tech savvy, or less lazy I would have clickable streaming mp3 jobbies here for all these songs. Sorry. Maybe L's mom can hook me up. She has mad blog skills.
Anyway, the good news/actual point of this post is that Vince Guaraldi was more than just the guy who most perfectly scored the television specials of one of the greatest comics in our nations history. He also put out a bunch of other really great albums that AREN'T icons of any particular holiday (that I'm aware of) and thus may be listened to any day of the year (except December 25th). So while you're out there picking up "A Charlie Brown Christmas" also check out some of his other albums which are also very excellent and deserving of our attention. Including "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" inspired by the 1959 French/Poruguese film Black Orpheus.

Also check out the official Vince Guaraldi website.