Sunday, December 14, 2014

A Swingin' Christmas (various - EMI Capitol)

When Melanie worked for EMI in Hollywood, we gathered quite a few cool releases and this Xmas
CD was a nice addition to our collection of seasonal sounds. The title is quite appropriate, as the songs do indeed swing, with groovy vocal stylings by the likes of June Christy, the soulful Lou Rawls (with nice jazzy guitar work and some scat-singing), Peggy Lee (a little vanilla, but pertinent for "Jingle Bells"), Dean Martin's lascivious "Baby, It's Cold Outside", Lena Horne's jazzy soul take on "Rudolph", Les Browne's skillful guitar work on a big band version of "The Nutcracker Suite", Kay Starr does indeed swing with "(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With the Bag", of course, Louis Armstrong's "Zat You Santa Claus" is a true classic, Lena Horne returns for a well-deserved encore with "Let It Snow!" and closing with Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers "Jingle Bells".

Fun holiday cheer that's not nearly as cheesy as what you'll normally hear in the stores.