A Merry Christmas!

Last updated
A Merry Christmas!
A Merry Christmas!.jpg
Studio album by
Stan Kenton
Released1961
RecordedFebruary 21 and March 14 & 20, 1961
Goldwyn Studios, Hollywood, CA
Genre Jazz
Label Capitol T/ST 1621
Producer Lee Gillette
Stan Kenton chronology
Kenton's West Side Story
(1961)		A Merry Christmas!
(1961)		 The Sophisticated Approach
(1961)

A Merry Christmas! is an album of Christmas music by the Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded in 1961 and released by Capitol Records. [1] [2] [3] It was reissued as Kenton's Christmas in 1970 by Kenton's own Creative World label.

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]

The Allmusic review by Matt Collar noted A Merry Christmas is a polyphonic masterpiece that is at once progressive and traditional. ...Featuring Kenton's idiosyncratic style of arranging piercing trumpets over a wooly blanket of trombones and mellophones, this is beautiful, forward-thinking and angular music that addresses both complex classical harmony and Basie-style swing". [4]

Track listing

  1. "O Tannenbaum" - 1:58
  2. "The Holly and the Ivy" - 1:52
  3. "We Three Kings of Orient Are" - 2:14
  4. "Good King Wenceslas" - 1:45
  5. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" - 4:07
  6. "Once in Royal David's City" - 2:04
  7. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - 1:46
  8. "O Come, All Ye Faithful" - 3:17
  9. "Angels We Have Heard on High" - 2:11
  10. "O Holy Night" - 2:10
  11. "Christmas Medley: Joy to the World/Away in a Manger/The First Noel/We Wish You A Merry Christmas/Silent Night/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" - 8:24
  12. "What is Santa Claus?" - 2:12

Personnel

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References

  1. ↑ Vosbein, P. Stan Kenton Discography accessed June 9, 2016
  2. ↑ Watts, R., Edwards, D., Eyries, P. and Callahan, M. Capitol Album Discography, Part 5: 600-2999 (1955-1968) accessed June 8, 2016
  3. ↑ The Capitol Sessions of Stan Kenton: 1961
  4. 1 2 Collar, Matt. A Merry Christmas! Review at AllMusic . Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  5. ↑ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 819. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
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