Jazzy Christmas / 14 Original Albums

With this box of swinging and joyful Christmas CDs you will be perfectly armed to please everybody´s (good) tastes over the holiday season. While the accent of this treasure box is on the more upbeat and outgoing character of the american classic Christmas songs, one will find plenty songs for more romantic moods or devout listening. Ella Fitzgerald - the forever greatest of the classic jazz ladies - sets the mood. You can imagine a sunny snowy Christmas day in New York city in the fifties, a sleighride through Central Park, a stop for champagne or a drink at a famous hotel bar. An all-time favorite is ""Christmas with the Andrew Sisters"". In songs like ""The Twelve Days of Christmas "" or ""The Toys gave a Party for Poppa Santa Claus"" they swing madly together with Bing Crosby. A record you can enjoy a thousand times and generations to come will too. If you are looking for crooners Dean Martin and Johnny Mathis should satisfy plentifully. At the roots of jazz we find Louis Armstrong celebrating Christmas in New Orleans, where you can buy Christmas alligators for your tree all year around on Bourbon Street, and later on in Harlem. Charles Brown the singer who was a mega star in the forties and the big idol of Ray Charles composed some of the classics and will be most remembered for his "" Sings Christmas Songs"". As a real find and surprise to many listeners of today there is ""This Time of Year"" by June Christy. A masterfully arranged concept album of songs written by Connie Pearce and Arnold Miller specifically for this singer, backed by the best jazz and classical musicians of the Hollywood scene in 1961. More great singers from that period are assembled here with Patty Page and Peggy Lee who mix classic tunes with new additions to the canon. The most traditional and religious album is the spritually uplifting master work by Harry Belafonte. And last but not least the albums which will delight the jazz connaisseurs and the layman. ""Jingle Bell Jazz"" presents the big stars of all time from Duke Ellington to Miles Davis. Stan Kenton represents the big orchestras while Ramsey Lewis swings away gaily. And that this message was not lost on Europeans demonstrates Klaus Weiss with the Hamburg NDR Bigband with the closer album, with a little help from the fabulous american singer Annette Lowman and a very young Till Brönner. Keep swinging all year round!