Jeeem's
Yuletide Spirit-Lifters (Oh, and you can order 'em right here, too.
Click on a title or a cover and -- through a new browser window -- you can buy each title
instantly from Amazon.com's music store,
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A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra (Capitol) (Also available as The Frank Sinatra Christmas Album.) Ol' red & green eyes does some sleigh-ridin' carols, some trad hymns, some originals (Gordon Jenkins' lovely "Christmas Waltz"), and the swingin'est "Jingle Bells" EVER: "I love those J-I-N-G-L-E bells..."!!! |
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A Charlie Brown Christmas Vince Guaraldi Trio (Fantasy) And don't forget the video The Vince Guaraldi Trio is occasionally joined by a cool children's choir for the finger-poppin' soundtrack to the animated holiday classic. |
| 2 | A
Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector Various artists (Phil Spector Records) (Darlene Love, The Ronettes, The Crystals, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, etc.) The best rock 'n' roll Xmas album ever. Hang your wreath on Phil Spector's Wall of Sound! |
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2 | Jingle
Bell Jazz Various artists (Columbia) (Dexter Gordon, Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, etc.) Fantastic stuff for a very cool yule. This CD version combines the bulk of the Columbia jazz Christmas LPs Jingle Bell Jazz and God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen (1981)... |
| 3 | Herb Alpert
& the Tijuana Brass Christmas Album (A&M) The toe-tappin'-est Christmas album from the brassiest of bands. Each song is introduced by a soothing choir, and then Herb turns up the holiday fire... |
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3 | Ella
Wishes You A Swingin' Christmas Ella Fitzgerald (Verve) Leave it to Ella to come up with the world's most buoyant, ebullient Christmas record, from "Jingle Bells" to "What are you Doing New Year's Eve?" Dashing through the snow never sounded like more fun. |
| 4 | Elvis' Christmas
Album & Elvis Sings the
Wonderful World of Christmas Elvis Presley (RCA) Christmas Album (one "side" of secular rockers; another of traditionally solemn hymns) contains most of the great Elvis holiday performances: "Blue Christmas," "Santa Claus is Back in Town," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me" (also performed by John Candy as Divine on an SCTV show, Dusty Towne's Sexy Holidays) and "White Christmas" (an exact copy of The Drifters' version). But Wonderful World also gives you Elvis's great take on Charles Brown's "Merry Christmas, Baby" (see original below), as well as a terrific rendition of "Silver Bells." |
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4 | Christmas
Cookin' Jimmy Smith (Verve) The Hammond B3 organ champ really cooks on this selection of holiday tunes. This is also one of my all-time favorite album covers. |
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| 5 | Santa's
Got A Brand New Bag James Brown (Rhino) aka James Brown's Funky Christmas (Polygram) My favorite Christmas album title (too bad they no longer use it for this collection). The Godfather of Soul proves he's got holiday balls. Iincluding the great "Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto." |
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5 | The
Christmas Collection Various artists (Prestige) (Gene Ammons, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bobby Timmons, etc.) A lovely, low-key collection for warming your chestnuts by an open fire... |
| 6 | Rudolph, Frosty
and Friends' Favorite Christmas Songs Various artists (Sony) Sing along with Rudolph, Herbie the Dentist, Yukon Cornelius -- and Burl Ives as the Snowman! Includes "Silver and Gold," "We're a Couple of Misfits" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas." ALSO on video (click
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6 | Hipster's
Holiday Various artists (Rhino) (Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Lionel Hampton, etc.) The holidays have never been hipper than with this collection of jazz and R&B vocals, including (my favorite) Louis Armstrong's " 'Zat You, Santa Claus?" So hip the CD label is leopard skin...
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| 7 | Christmas
Party with Eddie G. Various Artists (Columbia) (NRBQ, Rufus Thomas, Arthur Lyman, George Jones & Tammy Wynette, etc.) I'll just quote from the CD sleeve: "No relation at all to Kenny, Eddie G. is... an Emmy Award-winning writer [SCTV, SNL, Letterman]... Each year Eddie plunders perhaps the world's largest collection of yuletide recordings to craft his Christmas tapes. Privately circulated up 'til now, these tapes have become legends in the showbiz community..." |
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7 | Have
Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas Various artists (Verve) (Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Evans, Mel Torme, etc.) Smoother than eggnog, but just as comforting and intoxicating. And, yes, this features Torme's own recording of his classic "Christmas Song" (aka "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire...") |
| 8 | Bummed Out
Christmas! Various Artists (Rhino) (Everly Brothers, The Sonics, The Wailers, George Jones, etc.) You don't have to be a Scrooge to get a little down during the holidays. This terrific collection gets right down there with you. Titles include "Christmas Eve Can Kill You," "Christmas in Viet Nam," "Santa Got a DWI," "Santa Came Home Drunk," "Christmas in Jail," and "Christmas in Prison." |
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8 | Yule
Struttin' A Blue Note Christmas Various artists (Blue Note) (Chet Baker, Count Basie, Dexter Gordon, Benny Green, Eliane Elias, etc.) A "Blue" Christmas? Well, yes and no, when some of the great jazzoids who recorded for Blue Note records in their heyday (the '50s and '60s) strut their holiday stuff(ing)... |
| 9 | Christmas
Classics Various Artists (Rhino) (Brenda Lee, Charles Brown, The Ventures, Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison, etc.) Amazon says this set is "temporarily unavailable" -- but that could change! A wonderful collection of rockin', rollin' holiday fun, from Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" to Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" and Roy Orbison's "Pretty Paper." |
9 | Christmas
Songs Various artists (Milestone) (Hank Crawford, Anita O'Day, Red Garland, Coleman Hawkins, etc.) Holiday harmonics from Milestone jazz artists... |
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| 10 | Soul Christmas Various artists (Atlantic) (Otis Redding, Joe Tex, King Curtis, etc.) Soulful renditions of familiar carols... |
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10 | A
Jazz Christmas Various artists (MusicMasters) (Dave Brubeck, Stanley Turrentine, Vincent Herring, Jim Hall, Benny Carter, etc.) Some warm, mellow music for a cold winter's night... |
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| 11 | Please
Come Home for Christmas Charles Brown (King) Charles (no relation to Charlie) Brown is the fellow who brought you the title tune and the magnificent "Merry Christmas Baby." Here, he sings those and 14 others! |
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11 | Jazz
for Joy: A Verve Christmas Album Various artists (Verve) (Betty Carter, Shirley Horne, Abby Lincoln, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Christion McBride, Stephen Scott, etc.) A brilliant new recording (1996) teaming some of the great lady jazz vocalists with some of today's young lions... |
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Motown Christmas Various artists (Motown) (Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Jackson 5ive, Michael Jackson) A selection of the best tracks from all of the above artists' Motown Christmas albums... |
12 | A
Music Box Christmas 19th Century music boxes from the collection of Rita Ford (Columbia) Gorgeous tinkly stuff for nostalgic holiday magic. This is what fine snowfall would sound like if it weren't quite so hushed... |
My favorite out-of-print collection:
Cool Yule: A Collection of Rockin' Stocking Stuffers
(Rhino, 1988)
(Brenda Lee, The Marquees, James Brown, The Martels, Ike & Tina
Turner, Huey "Piano" Smith & the Clowns, Ed "Kookie" Byrnes, etc.)
