Did you know that A Charlie Brown Christmas is the second jazz album ever to reach Platinum five times? Over 4 million copies of the album have been purchased, and it has been streamed 1.14 billion times. Yet, surprisingly, in 1965, when the Charlie Brown Christmas TV special aired, executives were sure the music was going to flop!

Television producer Lee Mendelson was looking for music for a documentary about Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. He was driving across the Golden Gate Bridge when he heard a song on the radio by San Francisco jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Mendelson loved the lilting quality of the music and cold-called Guaraldi. A few weeks later, Guaraldi sent him a demo of a new song called “Linus and Lucy,” which has since become the theme for all of Peanuts.

The documentary about Charles M. Schulz never actually aired, but in 1965, Coca-Cola commissioned a Christmas special and Guaraldi was brought back to expand his jazz score. Mendelson and Guaraldi only had a few weeks to get this special together. They wanted the singing to sound unpolished, like a real group of neighborhood children, so they hired a children’s choir from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to sing and rewarded them with ice cream. The kids weren’t professional singers, so their imperfect, slightly off-key, natural delivery gave the album its nostalgic charm.

When CBS executives finally saw the finished special just days before its premiere, they were less than impressed. They thought the jazz score was too “adult” and “sophisticated” for a kids’ cartoon; the pacing too slow and melancholic; and they disliked the fact that actual children were used instead of professional adult actors mimicking kids. One executive is quoted to have said, “we’ll air it once and that’ll be all.”

Surprise, surprise–when the special aired on December 9, 1965, it was a massive hit! Nearly half of the entire American viewing audience tuned in to watch and critics raved about the soundtrack, which became an instant classic. Those executives surely owed Mendelson and Guaraldi an apology! Now for a few songs from the album, including one from Night is Alive . . .

Christmas Time is Here

This tune was originally meant to be instrumental, but television producer Lee Mendelson thought it needed lyrics. He and Guaraldi only had a few weeks to make the soundtrack though and Mendelson couldn’t find a lyricist on such short notice. So, what did he do? He ended up sitting down by himself and wrote the words in about 15 minutes!

Bill Cunliffe Trio – Linus and Lucy

As previously mentioned, “Linus and Lucy” was composed by Vince Guaraldi and became the signature song of the Peanuts. Naturally, over the years, many new renditions of this famous song have been recorded and Night is Alive is no exception. In our lovely album Christmas in the Dog House, the Bill Cunliffe Trio adds some zest, spunk and swing to the holiday staple. Other songs on the album include “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” To learn more, check out Christmas in the Dog House and our many other Christmas albums in our online shop. They make the perfect Christmas gift for your favorite jazz enthusiast!

Check out the Bill Cunliffe Trio’s album “Christmas in the Dog House” and Night is Alive’s other holiday albums at https://nightisalive.com/product-category/christmas/.

written by Jacqueline Knirnschild

Did you know that many of our most beloved holiday jazz standards were actually created by Jewish composers? You probably never noticed it, but many of these tunes, such as ‘White Christmas,’ have relatively secular lyrics that capture the spirit of the season, which make them inclusive for people of all religions. So, whether you’re Jewish or Christian, agnostic or atheist, here are some lovely songs that everyone can enjoy this holiday season!

Mel Tormé & Robert Wells – The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)

I don’t know about you but when I was a kid this was one of my most favorite holiday songs. My parents had a CD with this song as the very first track, which always filled our car with cheer as we drove through the snowy streets. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire / Jack Frost nipping at your nose / Yuletide carols being sung by the fire . . .

Little did I know that the composer and vocalist Tormé, nicknamed “The Velvet Fog,” was the child of Jewish immigrants from Brest (now Belarus) and grew up singing Jewish songs and celebrating Hanukkah with his parents and younger sister in Chicago. The lyricist Robert Wells was also born to a Jewish family in Raymond, Washington in 1922.

Irving Berlin – White Christmas

Berlin is a well-known Russian-born Jewish composer who received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award as well as a Tony Award. But did you know that his melancholic and nostalgic song “White Christmas” was actually inspired by real life events?

Irving and his wife Elin suffered a terrible loss when their infant son, Irving Berlin Jr. died on Christmas Day in 1928, just weeks after he was born. For years afterwards, the holiday brought sadness to the family, which is believed to be the inspiration behind the wistful tune. I’m dreaming of a white Christmas / Just like the ones I used to know / Where those treetops glisten and children listen / To hear sleigh bells in the snow, the snow.

Jule Styne & Sammy Cahn – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Once upon a time, composer Jule Styne, who was born to a Jewish family in London, and lyricist Sammy Cahn, who was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan, were hanging out in Hollywood. It was July 1945 and an intense heat wave was scorching the city. Cahn asked Styne to go down to the beach and cool off, but Styne suggested that they write a winter song together instead. And ta-da, the jazz standard that transports listeners into a cozy, snowy scene was born!

Jay Livingston & Ray Evans – Silver Bells

In 1951, Livingston, a composer born to Jewish parents in Pennsylvania, and Evans, a lyricist born to a Jewish family in New York, were tasked with writing a Christmas song for a Paramount Pictures movie. The movie was a comedy called The Lemon Drop Kid and was about a man raising money for a gambling debt by setting up friends as street-corner Santas ringing bells.

At first, Livingston and Evans were enthusiastic, but eventually they were inspired by the sound of a small bell that sat on the desk they shared in their office. It reminded them of the Santa and Salvation Army bell ringers on the NYC streets. Before they knew it they were writing a new Christmas hit, and one of the first to focus on the spirit of the city rather than a small town or countryside. City sidewalks, busy sidewalks / Dressed in holiday style . . .

Felix Bernard – Winter Wonderland This tune’s bright, bouncy melody obscures the fact that its origin story is in fact quite sad. The lyricist, Richard B. Smith, was sitting in a sanitarium receiving treatment for tuberculosis when looked out the window and saw children playing in the snow. This winter wonderland scene reminded him of his childhood in Pennsylvania. So, to mentally transport himself out of the hospital, he penned a poem about a carefree day walking in a winter wonderland. Smith then partnered with his friend Felix Bernard, who was a successful Jewish songwriter and vaudeville pianist from Brooklyn, to create the charming tune we know today.

You can hear some of these tunes and more in Night is Alive’s holiday album collection! Visit https://nightisalive.com/product-category/christmas/ to find the perfect music for your next party, or even just to play while sipping cocoa by the fire.

written by Jacqueline Knirnschild

Photo by Michelle Kraemer on Unsplash