Hip Christmas
holiday music that rocks, rolls, swings, and twangs
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Support www.hipchristmas.com! Of course, the swing revival also gave rise to a vast array of CD reissues, mixing gen-u-wine jazz (Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald), easy listening semi-classics (Jackie Gleason, Herb Alpert), unforgettable characters (Louis Prima, Tom Jones), and a whole pack of rats (Franks, Dino, Sammy, and their crew). Some of the best discs compiled during this brief renaissance were part of Rhino Records' Cocktail Mix series, and a few years later the label issued some smokin' seasonal sequels - the spicy Mambo Santa Mambo (2000) and Swingin' Christmas (2001), a cross-label compendium of cool, rhythmic classics. While neither of those discs were part of the aforementioned series, both extended the premise expertly, and each neatly encapsulates a wonderful chunk of Christmas pop culture. [close] Despite the title, the treasures of Swingin' Christmas are manifold, representing a variety of genres clumsily lumped together under the umbrella of swing. Beginning in 1942 with the thundering big band stomp of Woody Herman, the disc encompasses post-war boogie (Lionel Hampton, Louis Prima), suave 60's exotica (Esquivel), and sub-Sinatra crooning (Vic Damone, Jack Jones). Along the way, the listener is feted with some of the best Christmas music ever recorded. Most significantly, no less than three Louis Armstrong cuts grace Swingin' Christmas - fully half of his seasonal output for Decca Records during the mid-50's - with songs like "Cool Yule" forming a manifesto for guys like me (read more). The list of essential songs (see below) captured by Swingin' Christmas is damn near equivalent to its track listing, but perhaps foremost among these is Kay Starr's wild and irresistible "(Everybody’s Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag" (1950). Almost forgotten till its inclusion on Swingin' Christmas and other swing revival discs, Starr's winking paean to Kris Kringle intimates that there might be something illicit in Santa's bag - something every crazy hipster craves. Or, in the alternative, perhaps Santa's swingin' sack packs a punch wholly outside the realm of toys and candy... Regardless, songs like "Man With The Bag" signaled a cultural sea change, wherein Christmas became a somewhat secular, slightly decadent holiday more about bounty and booty than the birth of a savior. Nothing illustrates this quite as well as Bob Francis' jaw-dropping ditty, "That Swingin' Manger" (1961). Francis was a minor league crooner in the classic Vegas mode best remembered for his work with arranger Bernie Mendelssohn (great name, that). Whether intended as a modern tribute to the Christ child or a tongue-in-cheek swipe at organized religion, "That Swingin' Manger" is darn near unprecedented in its hilarious bad taste. Mendelssohn and Francis transform the traditional carol "Away In A Manger" into an amazing display of hepcat sacrilege, declaring "I dig thee, Lord Jesus," as though it's the highest of compliments. "That swingin' manger," Francis concludes, "it's one kookoo bed." Like so much of Rhino Records' holiday catalog, Swingin' Christmas is a handy, concise building block for a solid record collection. Comprised of 18 tracks - a few of them quite rare - Swingin' Christmas is far from comprehensive and a little less than perfect. Why, for instance, include the Manhattan Transfer when their contribution stretches nearly 30 years later than the CD's next-most-recent cut (Tex Beneke's 1965 "Sleigh Ride")? Why include two versions of two titles ("Sleigh Ride" and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town") when more variety would have been so simple? But, simply stated, Swingin' Christmas is the single best sampler of this sort of music - an excellent place to start, at the very least. Which implies there's somewhere else to go. There is - an almost endless string of rich jazz, blues, and easy listening Christmas albums sure to dazzle the dreams of serious collectors. I heartily recommend the Ultra-Lounge Christmas Cocktails series (drawn mainly from the Capitol Records archives) as well as any of Capitol's earlier, highly-prized compilations (read more). The Croon & Swoon series is nice, too, and GRP's The Joy Of Christmas Past is great, surveying the jazz holdings of Universal Music (including the rich Decca catalog). Of course, Mambo Santa Mambo - the spicy set mentioned above - is strongly recommended, as are earlier Rhino compilations like Hipster's Holiday (1989), Blue Yule (1991), and Santamental Journey (1995). Toss in the independent labels (for instance, Louisiana Red Hot Records' Santa Swings), elusive imported albums (like Blue Christmas), plus oodles of CD's from individual artists (especially Louis Armstrong) - then you'll be busy well past December 25th. [top of page]
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© 1999-2012 Randall Anthony, www.hipchristmas.com and www.randysrodeo.com
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