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Jingle Bell Jam: Jazz Christmas ClassicsJazz music is arguably America's first wholly original music, and it is arguably still America's creative crowning jewel. Country music descended from European folk music, and the basic elements of blues were imported (albeit forcibly) from Africa. Emerging in the 19th century, jazz was a huge and sudden leap forward in musical evolution - goosed by Thomas Edison and the near-simultaneous development of the record industry. Nothing would be the same ever again, and most American music made in the 20th century would owe a huge debt to jazz, including western swing, rhythm 'n' blues, and rock 'n' roll.

More to the point, jazz players made many of the earliest hip Christmas records. The Red Onion Jazz Babies featuring Louis Armstrong recorded "Santa Claus Blues" in 1924, and if there's an earlier, hipper holiday platter, please let me know! Ozie Ware's "Santa Claus, Bring My Man Back" (1928), Clarence Williams' "Christmas Night In Harlem" (1934), and Count Basie's "Good Morning Blues" (1937) were all fine jazz Christmas records, and Bessie Smith's historic "At The Christmas Ball" (1925) featured sassy jazz trumpet played by Joe "Fox" Smith. Before World War II, big jazz names like Fats Waller, Paul Whiteman, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Louis Prima, and Lionel Hampton all had Christmas songs in their catalog.

Rhino Records' Jingle Bell Jam: Jazz Christmas Classics (1994) picks up just after World War II, when bebop was transforming jazz into a much more avant garde art form. To wit, Charlie Parker's "White Christmas" was recorded in 1948 during a WMCA radio broadcast at the Royal Roost, New York City, hosted by tastemaker and disc jockey Symphony Sid. Though not released commercially until 1963, Parker's frenetic, joyful "White Christmas" was a signal moment in the development of jazz, and it demonstrated how normally staid holiday songs could be turned into something that swings. Introducing the song, Symphony Sid sounds a little incredulous that "Bird" - already an established genius - would agree to "do something on Christmas." And, indeed, the quintet - including Max Roach on drums and Kenny Dorham on trumpet - kicks off with a fairly innocuous chorus from Bing Crosby's greatest hit. Parker's solo, however, immediately takes us to places Der Bingle never dreamed of. In 2018, writer Colin Fleming waxed rhapsodic about the performance for The Jazz Times, saying, "Parker manages to create something completely new, leaping beyond the parameters of the tune, but he also lovingly confers greater gravitas upon it, with mirth and a spirit of giving rather than solemnity."

"If anyone ever suggests to you that Christmas isn't the jazziest holiday," Fleming concludes, "you know what to play them."

Quick note: The full, unedited version of Charlie Parker's "White Christmas" can be found on Savoy's Christmas Blues, as well as The Complete Live Performances On Savoy (1998). Jingle Bell Jam uses an edited version without Symphony Sid's introduction.

Hipsters' Holiday: Vocal Jazz And R&B ClassicsWhat Will Santa Claus Say?

After Charlie Parker's "White Christmas," Jingle Bell Jam treats us to 17 more jazz classics, most of them interpretations of traditional carols or popular standards recorded during the 25 years after the war in which jazz reached its apotheosis. Picking highlights is a fool's errand, which makes me perfect for the job. I'd pick Chet Baker's playful "Winter Wonderland" (1953), Duke Ellington's swingin' "Jingle Bells" (1962), Louis Jordan's doleful "Santa Claus, Santa Claus" (1968) with vocals by Sonny Parker, and Dexter Gordan's melancholy reading of the Nat King Cole classic "Christmas Song" (1970), recorded with a small combo featuring pianist Tommy Flanagan. Compared to pop and country, there weren't that many great jazz Christmas albums back in the day, but Jingle Bell Jam also gives us highlights from classics like Ella Fitzgerald's Wishes You A Swinging Christmas (1960), Bobby Timmons' Holiday Soul (1964), and Vince Guaraldi's celebrated soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).

Of special note is the Modern Jazz Quartet's "England's Carol #1," an interpretation of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" that MJQ would explore several times in their extensive catalog. This one comes from their 1956 Atlantic LP The Modern Jazz Quartet At The Music Inn, Volume 1, when the long-running ensemble featured the incomparable Milt Jackson on vibraphone. The song takes a while to get going, as Jackson, bassist Percy Heath, and pianist John Lewis toy with a baroque arrangement implied by the title. Soon, however, they are quietly swinging in a manner both celebratory and meditative.

Swingin' ChristmasLumps of Coal

Jingle Bell Jam: Jazz Christmas Classics was part of a loose series of compilations on Rhino Records documenting the history of recorded holiday music across a dizzying variety of genres including country, blues, doo wop, reggae, punk, new wave, and swing, plus Rhino had previously touched on jazz in their 1989 collection, Hipsters' Holiday: Vocal Jazz And R&B Classics. I recommend all of the Rhino compilations, and more than a few of them appear in my Top 20 Albums. Most, however, have their flaws, and Jingle Bell Jam is not exempt.

On most of their CD compilations from this period, Rhino would throw in a few newer, almost inevitably inferior tracks. The label seemed compelled to prove that whatever genre they were documenting was still relevant on the modern music scene. But, they often ended up making the opposite point by including recent recordings that suffered in comparison to the stellar historical tracks that surrounded them. The later tracks on Jingle Bell Jam aren't too egregious, but they have the effect of diluting the high quality of what remains.

For instance, David Benoit is a skilled and popular pianist, but he's closely aligned with the "smooth jazz" movement that so afflicted the genre in the 80's and 90's. His "Carol Of The Bells" (1983) isn't all that bad - it even swings a bit in the middle section - but it leaves me cold. Inner Voices' a cappella reading "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" comes from a 1990 album released by Rhino themselves - which strikes me as incestuous - and Lionel Hampton's 1950 arrangement would have been an infinitely superior choice. (To their credit, Hampton's version would later appear on Rhino's Swingin' Christmas, and Mabel Scott's 1948 original previously appeared on the label's Hipsters' Holiday.)

Duke Pearson, Merry Ole SoulNitpicking

Meanwhile, Carmen McRae's 1991 rendition of "The Christmas Song" is perfectly fine. But, Jingle Bell Jam already includes a version of that particular chestnut (by Dexter Gordon, mentioned above). Besides, I would have preferred McRae's 1962 recording of the song for Columbia's landmark collection, Jingle Bell Jazz. Her 1991 recording has a more fulsome, blue-based arrangement, actually, but it suffers from slick production - and there's an undeniable charm to McCrae's earlier, more understated interpretation.

Duke Pearson's "Sleigh Ride" is also an unfortunate choice, but for a different reason. It comes from his album Merry Ole Soul, a warm, soulful, mostly understated 1969 Blue Note jazz almost-classic. And, it's a good performance, I just don't think it's a standout track. That'd be Pearson's hard-boppin' "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," spicy "Jingle Bells," or - more typical of the album's mellow tone - "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas." On the other hand, "Sleigh Ride" is a six-minute-plus meditation that features xylophone almost as much as Pearson's distinctive piano.

And, a couple of tracks are genuinely great but stick out a bit for not really being jazz. One of them, Lou Rawl's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," is one of my Top 100 Songs, but it's as much rhythm 'n' blues as jazz - not that there's anything wrong with that. The other, Booker T. & The MG's "Merry Christmas Baby" is a blues treatment of a Charles Brown classic by a soul band. Wonderful, but it ain't jazz.

One last quibble: Rhino doesn't often repeat themselves in their historic series of Christmas compilations, but Louis Jordan's "Santa Claus, Santa Claus" previously appeared on Blue Yule: Christmas Blues And R&B Classics.

The Bottom Line

In the end, I'd rate 14 of 18 tracks on Jingle Bell Jam as essential listening. Of the four remaining, one of them, King Curtis' lush 1968 instrumental take on "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve," is omitted only because it's the least-great track on an all-time classic album - and because it loses out in a head-to-head match-up with Lou Donaldson's similar version on another fine album, Cotillion Records' Funky Christmas (1976).

At 70 minutes, Jingle Bell Jam: Jazz Christmas Classics is almost as packed as a compact disc can be. But, it's worth noting that a lot of great vintage jazz isn't surveyed herein. Among the classics overlooked are albums by Jimmy Smith, Kenny Burrell, Ramsey Lewis, and Don Patterson, as well as anything by patrol saint Louis Armstrong - though he had been included on Rhino's Hipsters' Holiday. Finally, like most of Rhino's Christmas collections, Jingle Bell Jam did not make the leap to the world of downloads or streaming. However, most of the tracks can be found online from other sources. [top of page]

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • Auld Lang Syne (Jackie Cain-Roy Kral Sextet, 1949)
  • The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (Dexter Gordon, 1970)
  • The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (Carmen McRae, 1991)
  • Christmas Time Is Here (instrumental) (Vince Guaraldi, 1965)
  • Deck The Halls (Bobby Timmons, 1964)
  • England's Carol #1 (Modern Jazz Quartet, 1956)
  • Gloria In Excelsis Deo/O Christmas Tree/Lovely Star How I Adore Thee (Swingle Singers, 1968)
  • Good Morning Blues (Ella Fitzgerald, 1960)
  • Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Lou Rawls, 1967) Top 100 Song
  • Jingle Bells (Duke Ellington, 1962)
  • Merry Christmas Baby (Booker T. & The MG's, 1966)
  • Santa Claus, Santa Claus (Louis Jordan, 1968)
  • White Christmas (Charlie Parker, 1948)
  • Winter Wonderland (Chet Baker, 1953)

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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