Repost: (Less Than) 30 Days Out from Christmas: Jingle Bell Jazz

Jingle Bell Jazz was one of the coolest albums of Christmas music ever.  Originally released in 1962, this unassuming little compilation featured an all-star cast of jazz luminaries like Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Duke Ellington and others.

It was reissued on vinyl but now it has disappeared into the mists of time. The original Jingle Bell Jazz was issued by Columbia in 1962 (its cover featured a red Santa sack with gifts) and the reissue from 1980 (cover pictured above) only appeared on vinyl LP.

In 1985, the label combined Jingle Bell Jazz with another album God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen, and the resulting CD entitled Jingle Bell Jazz is a distillation of both.

Aficionados prefer the original vinyl-only versions of the album, probably because the CD reissue leaves out some crucial artists. So, as our Christmas gift to you, here are some new digital files from the original Jingle Bell Jazz, plus some other cool jazz Christmas tunes.

MP3: “Jingle Bells” by Duke Ellington

MP3: “White Christmas” by Lionel Hampton

MP3: “Winter Wonderland” by Chico Hamilton

MP3: “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” by Pony Poindexter

MP3: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet

MP3: “Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern) by Miles Davis

MP3: “Deck The Halls” by Herbie Hancock

MP3: “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Marlowe Morris

And some other nice jazz holiday tunes:

MP3: “Greensleeves” by John Coltrane

MP3: “The Christmas Song” by Dexter Gordon

MP3: “Let It Snow” by Wynton Marsalis

(Less Than) 30 Days Out From Christmas: Yuletide Tales

In the weeks before Christmas, it’s kinda tough to get the kids calmed down. They’re rabid with anticipation, giddy with thoughts of Santa – more likely, fueled by so much caffeine and greed they could stay awake until Memorial Day.

So why don’t you gather them around for a little story? It doesn’t have to be a spoken word story – plenty of Christmas tunes tell their own little tales. But a good, long tale … why, that’s enough to send even the toughest kid into Dreamland.

MP3: “The Night Before Christmas” by Bob Dylan

MP3: “Father Christmas” by The Kinks

MP3: “The Old Man’s Drunk Again” by Jimmy Martin

MP3: “The Meaning of Christmas” by C3-PO and Friends

MP3: “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” by Frank Sinatra

MP3: “Frosty The Snowman” by Steve “Lips” Kudlow, Bumblefoot, Chris Chaney & Kenny Aronoff

MP3: “Santa Claus and His Old Lady” by Cheech & Chong

MP3: “Christmas In Prison” by John Prine

MP3: “Snoopy’s Christmas” by the Royal Guardsmen

MP3: “The Bizarre Christmas Incident” by the Ben Folds Five

MP3: “.22 Rifle For Christmas” episode of “Dragnet” radio show

Christmas Video Du Jour: Dropkick Murphys

A new Christmas song and video from our (second) favorite band from Boston, Dropkick Murphys. Like any good Christmas celebration, it has smoking, drinking, gambling, mischief and skanky women. Santa falls off the roof, the Padre pays a visit and a couple of rotten kids leave an unexpected gift in the stockings.

“The Season’s Upon Us” will appear on the Murphys’ new album SIGNED and SEALED in BLOOD, due out Jan. 8. You can get an immediate MP3 download of the song by pre-ordering the album at the Dropkick Murphys official web site.

Bah, Humbug! Merry Christmas!

OK, now is about the time you start wishing the whole thing was over with already.  You know, they should have Christmas in January – that’s when they have all the good sales!  Ho, ho.

Here’s a Christmas blowout:

MP3: “Four Shopping Days Left Until Christmas” Ad jingle

MP3: “Stop Giving Me Crap For Christmas” by Bobby Gaylor

MP3: “Santa’s Too Fat For The Hula Hoop” by Thurl Ravenscroft with the Pixies

MP3: “Ho Ho F***ing Ho” by Kevin Bloody Wilson (Not Safe For Work!)

MP3: “This Time Of Year” by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones

MP3: “Don’t Believe In Christmas” by the Sonics

MP3: “Child Of Winter” by the Beach Boys

MP3: “Season’s Greetings” by Ozzy Osbourne

YouTube: “Winter Wonderland” by Ozzy Osbourne and Jessica Simpson

MP3: “Holiday Message” by Lou Reed

MP3: “Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12-24” by Savatage

MP3: “Christmas All Summer Long” by Deer Tick

MP3: “I Farted On Santa’s Lap” by the Little Stinkers

MP3: “Seasons Greetings” by the Fabulous Thunderbirds

MP3: “Merry Christmas Darling” by the Fabulous Thunderbirds

MP3: “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’ ” by Mack Rice

MP3: “Back Door Santa” by the Holmes Brothers

MP3: “Here Comes Santa Claus” by Bob Dylan

MP3: “The Holly and the Ivy” by Annie Lennox

MP3: “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” by Julian Casablancas

MP3: “Lord Of The Dance” by Arthur Brown

MP3: “I Believe In Father Christmas” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

MP3: “Silver Bells” by Arlo Guthrie & Ed Gerhard

MP3: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” by the Crystals

MP3: “Silent Night” by Phil Spector & His Artists

YouTube: “Marshmallow World” by Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra

Bonus YouTube: “The Digital Story of the Nativity”

Let’s Get Christmas Rockin’!

It’s that time of year again. Don’t know about you, but we have been hearing Christmas music for a couple weeks – think people were ready to get the holidays rollin’ early this year.

We tried to resist that urge, and now we’re officially into the Christmas season. So it’s time to rock out!

MP3: “Rockin’ Santa Claus” by the Martells

MP3: “Rockin’ Winter Wonderland” by the Fabulous Thunderbirds

MP3: “The Chipmunk Song” by Canned Heat w/Alvin & the Chipmunks

MP3: “Santa’s Messin’ With the Kid” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

MP3: “Run Rudolph Run” by Keith Richards

MP3: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Rudy Sarzo

MP3: “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” by Lou Ann Barton

MP3: “(I) Deck the Halls” by Los Straitjackets

MP3: “Frosty’s Beach Party” by the Barbary Coasters

MP3: “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” by The Cadillacs

MP3: “Hang Your Balls On The Christmas Tree” by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards

MP3: “Rock n’ Roll Christmas” by George Thorogood & the Destroyers

Happy Holidays from 30 Days Out: Peace On Earth

REPOST from 2008 (with slight updating): – I remember when the Apollo 8 astronauts went into space, right before Christmas in 1968. That was a rough year – Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were shot, Vietnam was a bloody stain on the other side of the world. Violence boiled over into the streets. As Christmas week opened, three men in a little metal capsule hurtled through space toward the moon.

The astronauts of Apollo 8 were the first humans to reach the orbit of another planetary body. As they streaked across the dark side of the moon on Christmas Eve, they turned on their TV camera. A live audience of millions heard the astronauts read from the Book of Genesis while we saw our bright blue planet rise gracefully above the lunar surface. We looked so fragile, so small – how can we not find a way to live together?

Today we have family and friends in the military, fighting wars on the other side of the world. In nearly every corner of the world, there are people who dream of making war.  In our own country, mistrust and prejudice are alive and well. As we face a new year and new challenges, perhaps we can look at ourselves once again and learn a small lesson from the past.

So on Christmas day, this day of hope and promise, we leave you with Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman’s signoff from that night 40 years ago:  “Good night, good luck, and a Merry Christmas to all of you – all of you on the good Earth.”

MP3: “Jingle Bells” by Celia Cruz (con la Sonora Matancera)

MP3: “Navidad” by the Gipsy Kings

MP3: “Jingle Bell Rock” by the Ventures

MP3: “On Christmas Day” by Brian Wilson

MP3: “Natal” by Cesaria Evora

MP3: “Boas Festas” by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso with Eliane Elias

MP3: “The Chanukkah Song” by Neil Diamond

MP3: “In The Quiet Of Christmas Morning” by the Moody Blues

MP3: “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” by the Crystals

MP3: “Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year” (Parts 1 and 2) by James Brown

MP3: “Mambo Santa Mambo” by the Enchanters

MP3: “The Rebel Jesus” by the Chieftains with Jackson Browne

MP3: “Fairytale Of New York” by the Pogues with Kirsty MacColl

MP3:  “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” by the Weavers

MP3: “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” (demo) by John Lennon

 

Free holiday downloads!

Free holiday downloads, courtesy of Paste magazine

More free holiday downloads at Amazon.com

Free holiday downloads from the Houston music scene, courtesy of the Houston Press

Best of 2011 free downloads from SPIN magazine

30 Days Out (from Christmas): Merry Christmas to all and to all…Dwight Schrute

I’m going to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra this afternoon, so here is a little preview of “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24” as “air-violined and guitared” by the incomparable Dwight Schrute of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. This is funny every time you watch it.

Video du Jour: “Blue Christmas” by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Recorded last year, this is the last song Clarence Clemons played with the E Street Band. RIP Big Man.

Bruce Springsteen Official Website

Backstreets Magazine

30 Days Out (from Christmas): Daryl Hall and Jose Feliciano (Live from Daryl’s House)

Last Christmas Daryl Hall invited Jose Feliciano over to jam on his outstanding Live from Daryl’s House webcast and it was unbelievable. Here are few clips from that day. I could not find the best one, “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear,” but I advise you to go the website and check it out. Feliciano is so good it’s ridiculous.

30 Days Out (from Christmas): Calling up Mel Torme’

It was December, 1994 and I was looking for a holiday story. I was working at KTRH Radio in Houston at the time and I had the idea of putting together a montage of artists who had performed “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” to celebrate the song’s 50th anniversary. But in the end, I didn’t think that would do the song justice, so I had the bright idea of calling up one of the song’s composers, the incomparable Mel Torme’. I had interviewed him the year before when he played with the Houston Symphony and had his home number,  so I figured he wouldn’t mind if I gave him a ring.

George: Hello, Mr. Torme’. This is George Kovacik from KTRH Newsradio in Houston.

Torme: Who is this? How did you get this number?

I explained myself and after figuring out I wasn’t trying to steal his first born, he was gracious enough to give me a few minutes and tell me about how one of the greatest Christmas songs of all-time was born.

Torme’ said the tune was penned with buddy Bob Wells on a blistering hot day in Los Angeles in the summer of 1944. The two were trying to keep cool by thinking cool thoughts. He says he began to write down words like “Jack Frost” and “Chestnuts roasting” and “yuletide carols” to get in the winter mood. About 45 minutes later, the song was done and some 66 years later we are still listening to it. I asked Torme’ who he thought recorded the best version and he said hands down, Nat ‘King’ Cole.

Cole and his trio first recorded it in 1946 and then Cole himself recorded it three more times with the string arrangement most commonly heard today. Torme’ recorded the song four times himself. At the end of our interview, Mr. Torme’ thanked me for calling him and told me to call him anytime. What a difference 10 minutes makes. Working in news wasn’t easy or profitable, but talking to guys like Mel Torme’ sure made it worth it.