Listeners of BTPM Classical are sometimes surprised to learn that I listen to not only what we call classical but to other types of music as well. And never more than at Christmas.
A few days after Halloween, the Christmas CDs and LPs are brought out of hiding, the playlists are loaded into the music server, and an annual competition begins. What will be the first holiday recording played? I’ve done this every year since I can recall and the contenders in this contest are many and varied. I have thousands of Christmas tracks – pop, jazz, classical, crossover – across all forms of media. I’ve been collecting them for over fifty years – the brilliant and the tacky, the new and the nostalgic. All are welcome in the rotation that plays almost constantly from early November to New Year’s Day. It’s an obsession, I admit.
I once heard a bit of Christmas music while walking around Home Depot and recognized it as a track I didn’t know. I scribbled down a few of the words and searched it as soon as I got home. It’s since become one of my favorites: Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians doing He’ll Be Coming Down the Chimney. There’s something about those sweet, short reed figures and the muted trumpet that just gets me. And you can’t beat a lyric like: “If you wrote your letter to Santa and you’re good, you’ll find your stockings all filled up with the things you hoped you would.”
These days, the top three recordings vying for the title are pretty much the same every year. I don’t know why this happened; but favorites do arise and so each Christmas time for the past, oh, dozen years I’ve chosen from among Mel Tormé’s 1992 release Christmas Songs, The Manhattan Transfer’s The Christmas Album (from the same year) and Diana Krall’s 2005 Christmas Songs.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with these recordings. They share a jazzy feel, with swinging orchestrations and great sound. The Tormé album features the Cincinnati Pops led by Keith Lockhart. Mel’s in top form here. There’s a Good King Wenceslas on this album that just makes me smile every time I hear it. The Transfer made two holiday recordings – both really strong, but this one has a brassy, cracking Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and Tony Bennett guesting a beautiful, moving version of The Christmas Song. Krall’s collection of Christmas songs is superb, too, with a top-notch band. The Jingle Bells that opens the album grabs you by the collar and dances you into the Christmas spirit with Krall doing some sharp piano breaks.
Of course, I do listen to classical music at Christmas – everything from Ormandy’s and Bernstein’s hit releases from the 60s and 70s to The Robert Shaw Chorale, John Rutter, The Nutcracker, and Stephanie Martin. But mixed in there are Thomas “Fats” Waller’s Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells and Bernie Cummins and his Orchestra doing I Told Santa Claus to Bring Me You, Louis Prima’s Shake Hands with Santa Claus, and The Chipmunks’ Christmas Time is Here...and the Roches...and Nat King Cole...and Bing Crosby...and Ella...and Wynton...and Frank...and...well, it’s a veritable casino buffet of holiday music at our house.
I never thought much about the eclecticism of my Christmas collection; but writing this makes me realize that what Dickens said about Christmas as we grow older is absolutely true for me.
Therefore, as we grow older, let us be more thankful that the circle of our Christmas associations, and of the lessons that they bring, expands!
Let us welcome every one of them, and summon them to take their places by the Christmas hearth.
True for my music, certainly; but also, I hope, for our loves, our friendships, our travels, and our experiences across the years. Happy holidays!
