They outdid the TJB as others here have mentioned. Herb was one of my 1st 1st musical loves. That CD must be long out of print as the prices are quite high!
Boy, you guys really have this 2020 zeitgeist thing down pat. ****** On a more cheery note ... I recommend these two albums every Christmas. Beautiful acoustic, (mostly) guitar versions of the songs by Lewis Ross and a few friends (with a slight country feel on some of the tunes.) Both the CD and LP versions are of audiophile quality. Here's an example.
YES! I picked up Christmas Carols on a whim years ago for $1.00. I love it and make sure it gets a few spins each year. It truly puts me in a whole "different & traditional" mood for awhile. And I agree on the superb sound.
A truly magnificent sounding version of The Nutcracker, and I believe one of our Host's go-to versions. I have that gorgeous sounding CD, along with the stellar Eugene Ormandy Nutcracker as well as the one below, which might be my personal favorite of them all; A Russian Maestro and a Russian Orchestra playing the Nutcracker seems like a grand idea. The tempos are brisk and the sound is off the charts in a fantastic way. Amazingly enough, the whole score is on one disc. Wow!
I recently picked up the Gergiev, but haven't done a full playthrough yet because I keep listening to Dorati.
Giving the Christmas Cocktails albums a play while I work today. Great collections of "beautiful music" standards, pop Christmas originals and new favorites, and straight-up jazz, with a little exotica thrown in. Sounds pretty good, though these are Norberg mastered discs so, YMMV. Ultra-Lounge - Christmas Cocktails, Vol.1: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nxiB_cTsWyAjFpg_N7_EJhrsACuC2VL7U Ultra-Lounge - Christmas Cocktails (Vol. 2): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m3HtifXJOx4kyb40wYnNRy4UoRiwhr-HY Ultra-Lounge - Christmas Cocktails (Vol. 3): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kjGvBmvBqetM-pWOwGbOfpUinWBDEGU8c Ultra-Lounge - Christmas Cocktails Vol. 4: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nn-R7clSJSTDkVG23b7yQlmVoBPZIsPYE (looks to be a digital-only release as I can't find a Discogs entry)
I enjoy these every season. I don't really mind that they are Norberg's as I play the CD's just for a few weeks a year and don't give then any real "intense" listening. They are fun and taken as such.
No, the Rat City Brass album is in print and available on amazon for $9.99. For some erroneous reason there appear to be two amazon listings for this album. The one I just linked, and the one you saw where some dude is trying to charge $50.98 for it. That's too bad, because the confusion may cause someone to miss out on buying the album.
Well...they must be making CDR's of it or something cause amazon is not delivering until January 17 or 18. And I'm Prime. so, I guess no luck for 2020 COVID Christmas fun. But THANK YOU for pointing that out. 'Tis appreciated.
Best New Thing In The World today: a guy found a Bert Jansch Christmas song, which may have only been performed one time, onstage. He cared so much, he commissioned a local lass to cover it, and got a video uploaded for us all. That's dedication!
Really digging this!!!! Just released. "A Joyful Sound" is a future soul classic with all the elements of a classic R&B record, but simply with a joyful holiday lean. With an all-star supporting cast of who's who from the contemporary soul scene this record is truly a family affair with Kelly at the wheel. Featuring members of Durand Jones & The Indications, The Dap-Kings, Ghost Funk Orchestra, Monophonics, Thee Sinseers, Orgone, Ikebe Shakedown, Jason Joshua & The Beholders, The True Loves, Neal Francis, Jungle Fire, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Ben Pirani, The Jive Turkeys, The Ironsides, The Harlem Gospel Travelers, Rudy De Anda, Alanna Royale, and more! Inspired by records like Atlantic's "Soul Christmas", Phil Spector's "A Christmas Gift For You" and Rotary Connection's "Peace" this album will be a record that will appeal not only to lovers of holiday music, but lovers of SOUL music in general! This is Kelly Finnigan's third full-album production in just under two years, including his debut LP "The Tales People Tell" and Monophonics' most recent effort "It's Only Us". He is rapidly establishing himself as a key producer, songwriter, and performer in the current soul scene. The LP is packaged in high quality Stoughton Tip-On jacket, LP stored in Mobile Fidelity anti-static innsersleeve, includes a download card, and a lyric sheet insert. Pressed at Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland, OH.
Agreed on both counts - these ARE great Christmas CDs and Eddie Higgins IS a great jazz pianist. I find that his improvisations are always so melodic and really serve the spirit of the song well. I have a huge number of his CDs and several LPs (all great sounding on Venus records).
Reading through this thread I noticed that there were a few posts by people who stated they did not like Christmas music and didn't like hearing it. I am the opposite - I probably have about 140-150 Christmas CD featuring holiday tunes in all genres. Being that I am originally from Hawaii, I have a special love of Hawaiian style Holiday Music - Slack key, ukulele, steel guitar, Hawaiian vocalists, you name it, I love it. Check out this video of a Slack key guitar version of Feliz Navidad in hi-rez. (The setting is very beautiful.)
Here are three more possibly "under the radar" albums of Christmas time I am currently spinning this week. The first one (Telarc--Many Moods of Christmas is mint condition (a 1983 German pressing that sounds fantastic!) I really like some of the arrangements with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on this one! The second choice shown here is a Capitol Creative Products compilation from 1970 that a has some songs I don't hear too often on other albums (Lou Rawls' version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and I enjoy Glenn Campbell's version of Silent Night!
My favorite cover band working today, has done it again! Do you know another version that finally thought to mix "Linus & Lucy" into "Christmas Time Is Here"?
IDK, that is the actual sequence on the original album, but thank you for posting the video. It's nice to check in with Pomplamoose again.
Quite mistaken...listen to the bass figure on the opening line, and twice later - that is "Linus & Lucy". Listen to the chorus melody at :45 and 1:35: these are the rhythmic figures of the "Linus & Lucy" theme, mixed into "Christmas Time Is Here". No, that is nothing like what happens in the original. That's what a "mashup" is: integrating a second song into the framework of the first song. Show me where Guaraldi does that. Or anybody else, that I've heard so far. These guys have a policy of never doing straight covers; it's either tweaked with chord modifications, or upending the style from whatever they're covering.
