Christmas In July 2012-Part 19

Am I setting a record here?  I'm sure I'll jinx myself, but I'm not sure if I've ever made it this far into a month without missing a day or two.  I know one year it took me just over two months to get through, but that was certainly the exception.  Most years I just miss a day here and there, especially during the week, then I can usually get caught up on the weekends, when I have more time to record music.  We'll see if I can make it through the whole month or not, I know that's never happened.  But you don't care about any of that, you just want another album-length slab of great Christmas music, sort of a Goodyear collection of things.  And here you go...

1. Ave Maria No Morro (Doña Maria) by Helmut Zacharias And His Magic Violins from Rendezvous For Strings (Decca DL 78982, Stereo).  So, so many variations on Ave Maria out there, or perhaps I should say there are so many different songs that share that title.  That might be more accurate.

2. Danse Des Mirlitons (From "The Nutcracker"), a rerun in these parts from Xavier Cugat And His Orchestra from the LP The King Plays Some Aces (RCA Victor LSP-1882, Stereo, 1958).  I wish there were more music out there from Cugie that would fall under the Christmas banner.

3. Holiday For Strings from Neal Hefti And The Band With The Sweet Beat and the album A Salute To The Instruments (Coral CRL 757286, Stereo, 1960).  I think this is the only other version of this song I've got for you this year.  It's not very Christmassy in my opinion, so I try to avoid it for the most part  But I grabbed at least one other track from this LP at the same time, so here it is.

4. Jingle At The Window (Tideo) by Robert A. Choate, Richard C. Berg, Lee Kjelson, Eugene W. Troth & Children's Choir from the album Music For Early Childhood (American Book Company, Record 1 I-0140-0016, Stereo).  I don't know why I recorded this, it just caught my eye...

5. Let There Be Peace On Earth (And Let It Begin With Me) by The International Children's Choir from Take A Moment...And Sing Along With The International Children's Choir (Wide World Records WWR-1604, Stereo, 1969).  You never know where you might find something like this.

6. O Come, All Ye Faithful by The Choir Of The First Presbyterian Church Of Dearborn-Alexander J. Turco, Organist And Director, again from the album Carols And Anthems (Artie Fields Productions H-1496/1497, Stereo, 1967).  Pretty sure that's Dearborn, Michigan, for anyone that might be wondering.

7. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers from Esquivel And His Orchestra, the LP is Strings Afire (RCA Victor LSP-1988. Stereo, 1959).  Some days I think almost anything Esquivel ever recorded could be considered a holiday recording.

8. Satin Doll by Dick Schory's Percussion Pops Orchestra from Politely Percussive (RCA Victor LSP-2738, Stereo, 1963).  More goodness from the golden era at RCA.

9. Sleigh Ride by Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra from Wish You Were Here (RCA Victor LSP-1904, Stereo, 1959).  Third in a row from RCA!  This time it's a rerun of something I first shared with you many years ago.

10. Snowfall by LeRoy Holmes And His Orchestra from Theme Songs Of The Great Swing Bands (MGM SE3708, Stereo, 1958).  The great swing band he's paying tribute to in this case is of course Claude Thornhill.

11. To Us A Child Is Born This Night; Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light; Once He Came In Blessing by The Moravian Trombone Choir Of Downey, Jeffrey Reynolds, Conductor, from Music For Two Seasons: Advent And Christmas, Lent And Easter (Crystal Records S225, Stereo, 1981).  More trombone goodness.

12. We Three Kings by James W. Keane from Bells Over Rochester-The World Famous City's Carillon (Tom Jones Recording Studio TJS-11975-A/B, Stereo, 1975).

13. We Wish You A Merry Christmas by Chamber Singers-Robert Summer, Conductor, from the album University Of South Florida Chamber Singers And University Singers (Suncoast Recording Service KM4471, Stereo, 1979).

14. The Wooden Soldier And The China Doll, a rerun from Joe "Fingers" Carr And His Swingin' String Band and his self-titled LP (Capitol ST 1217, Stereo, 1959).  I've always liked this song.

Not too much to say about most of the tracks tonight.  Plus, it was a long day at work and I'm thinking about going to bed right about now.  Enjoy today's tracks, and I'll see you again tomorrow.

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