<Tr> <Th> Language </Th> <Td> Instrumental, English </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Label </Th> <Td> Fantasy </Td> </Tr> <P> A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 studio album by American composer / conductor Vince Guaraldi (later credited to the jazz group the Vince Guaraldi Trio). The album was released in December 1965 in the United States by Fantasy Records . It is the soundtrack to the CBS Christmas television special of the same name . Guaraldi was contacted by television producer Lee Mendelson several years prior to compose music for a documentary on the comic strip Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz . Although the special went unaired, these selections were released in 1964 as Jazz Impressions of "A Boy Named Charlie Brown". Coca - Cola commissioned a Christmas special based on Peanuts in 1965 and Guaraldi returned to score the special . </P> <P> A Charlie Brown Christmas features several originals ("Christmas Time Is Here", "Linus and Lucy") as well as covers of well - known Christmas songs ("The Christmas Song", "O Tannenbaum"). The score for the special was largely cut at recording sessions at Glendale, California's Whitney Studio . Much of this material was re-recorded by Guaraldi at three sessions later in the year at Fantasy Recording Studios in San Francisco, alongside a choir of children culled from St. Paul's Episcopal Church in nearby San Rafael . The sessions ran late into the night, with the children rewarded with ice cream afterwards . Bassist Fred Marshall and drummer Jerry Granelli have been credited as performing on the album, although a host of musicians claim to have recorded the album . </P>

Who wrote the music for a charlie brown christmas