Concord Records is proud to present several titles this season ripe for inclusion on your holiday must-have list including A Charlie Brown Christmas (Expanded Edition), The Staple Singers' The 25th Day Of December, & John Coltrane's Interplay 5-CD set.

Vince Guaraldi
A Charlie Brown Christmas
(Expanded Edition)

For anyone who grew up during the '60s, the music from the beloved animated TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas resonates with deep sentimental meaning. That swinging soundtrack by the Vince Guaraldi Trio is as much a part of our musical upbringing as the early Beatles, Stones and Dylan albums and has continued to register with successive generations in rebroadcasts every year since its 1965 premiere. Memorable melodies like the cheerful “Linus And Lucy," the whimsically swinging “Skating," the bittersweet “Christmastime Is Here" and the groovy boogaloo “Christmas is Coming" have become ingrained in our collective consciousness.

Like those Beatles, Stones and Dylan records, Guaraldi's jazzy score has endured. Now, 41 years after its initial airing and 30 years after the pianist-composer himself passed away from a heart attack in 1976 at age 47, Fantasy is releasing a new Expanded Edition of this holiday favorite. Remixed in stereo using 24-bit remastering from the original tapes and featuring the original cover art reinstated with the approval of United Media and the Estate of Charles Schultz, A Charlie Brown Christmas includes four previously unissued bonus tracks by the Vince Guaraldi Trio (featuring Fred Marshall on bass and Jerry Granelli on drums).

John Coltrane
Interplay

Interplay, Prestige Records' new 5-CD set, containing early collaborative recordings of the peerless tenor saxophonist and visionary John Coltrane serves two distinct purposes. The first is to offer an extraordinary collection of music that provides an excellent overview of the modern jazz scene during the fertile 1956-1958 period. The other - and arguably more important purpose to the legions of Coltrane faithful - is its rich delineation of the evolutionary process behind one of the most profoundly important and emotionally compelling artists this planet has ever seen.

With all great musicians, the message is fully contained in the music, and the message of John Coltrane is one of powerful humanism, deep spirituality, unflinching emotion, relentless searching and supreme love. Interplay offers a most revealing roadmap to the early days of discovery in his unparalleled quest. One can misinterpret the astonishing focus and commitment that Coltrane had as being singular or even self-absorbed; but that is totally off-base. Coltrane was incredibly multi-faceted, a man of many interests in the pursuit of knowledge - both subjective and objective - who absorbed everything in his vision. In these recordings, surrounded by many of the finest musicians of the era, the listener can actually experience directly how Trane responds to his colleagues, transforming his own musical concepts to perfectly contribute to each environment in which he finds himself.

The Staple Singers
The 25th Day Of December

The Staple Singers were best known for their '70s Stax hits like “Respect Yourself," “I'll Take You There" and “If You're Ready (Come Go With Me)," but in fact the Chicago quartet's recording career dates back to the '50s on the Vee-Jay and Riverside labels. Their fifth effort was a Christmas album titled The 25th Day of December, which the All Music Guide calls “the group's finest '60s collection." The long-out-of-print album will be available once again this holiday season on Riverside Records through Concord Music Group.

Reissued for the first time, the album contains 12 holiday and spiritual classics including “Joy To The World," “Silent Night" and “Go Tell It on the Mountain." Included also is the Staples' treatment of the Rev. Thomas Dorsey's “The Savior Is Born." The album delves deep into traditional spirituals such as “The Virgin Mary Had One Son," “Wasn't That a Mighty Day" and “Last Month of the Year" and includes an original by group founder Roebuck “Pops" Staples titled “There Was a Star." Orrin Keepnews, one of Riverside's two founders, produced the album, which found the Staples' harmonies at their purest and most exciting.