Having just passed Thanksgiving, most people are now willing to listen to Christmas music. I, of course, am not a legalist about that kind of thing, and sometimes I’ll listen to Christmas music in the summer. Anyway, because we at charleysblog care about our vast reading audience, here is Part I, in a multipart series, of suggestions for your Christmas listening pleasure:

Any of the Vince Guaraldi Stuff – This is an obvious one. Everyone, unless you’re some kind of immoral sicko communist, loves the music from A Charlie Brown Christmas. This is a CD that should be in your collection. I really like “My Little Drum” and “Oh Tannenbaum.”

The Christmas Song, Nat King Cole – You can find this recording on several Christmas albums through I-Tunes. Please don’t confuse NAT King Cole with OLD King Cole. As far as I know, OLD King Cole never recorded anything, so your I-Tunes search will be futile. Although, it’s a well-known fact that OLD King Cole was a merry old soul, so he probably enjoyed Christmas music. He just didn’t record any of it. In any case, NAT King Cole did record some of it, and it’s good.

Peace, Michael McDonald – This is kind of an obscure one, from Michael McDonald’s “In the Spirit” Christmas recording. I have to say I don’t like a lot of the stuff on that CD, but a few of the songs are really good, and “Peace” is one of them.

Chicago, “What’s It Gonna Be, Santa” – there are several good songs on this CD, as well as several bad ones. I don’t recommend the bad ones. But I do like “The Christmas Song,” as well as “Winter Wonderland” and a few others. This is an odd CD, and Chicago is not like any other band. But you have to give some of these guys credit just for living as long as they have, and there are some very good jazz arrangements here.

Fourplay, Snowbound – Fourplay is the name of a jazz group, in case you thought it was something else. There is a lot of good stuff on their Snowbound CD, if you like jazz. One of the ones I like is “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”

More to come in Part II.