| Carla's Christmas Carols | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Carla Bley, Steve Swallow and the Partyka Brass Quintet | ||||
| Released | November 3, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | December 4–9, 2008 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Label | Watt/ECM | |||
| Producer | Steve Swallow | |||
| Carla Bley chronology | ||||
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Carla's Christmas Carols is an album of Christmas carols arranged by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with bassist Steve Swallow and the Partyka Brass Quintet, recorded in France in 2008 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2009. [1] [2]
The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars and stated, "While the argument that there should be a moratorium on Christmas recordings is a good one in the 21st century, Carla's Christmas Carols provides a powerful counter to that view. She has added so much to these songs without taking away any of the warmth, joy, and nostalgia inherent to the season or their place in it". [3]
The All About Jazz review by John Kelman said that "Most Christmas albums are only good for a limited time each year. The songs Bley has chosen may have such iconic significance as to be tied to a specific time of year, but the arrangements and playing are so good that Carla's Christmas Carols transcends the season for which it's intended; an album that will also bring more than a little welcome cool to the heat of the summer." [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [3] |
| Tom Hull | B+ [5] |
Steve Swallow is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar.
Jingle All the Way is a 2002 Christmas album by Crash Test Dummies.
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer. Many of the key figures in avant-garde jazz from the time contributed on the album including Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd, and Carla Bley. The album's finale features a two-part concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra.
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4 x 4 is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with a chamber ensemble recorded in Oslo in 1999 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2000.
Looking for America is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded in 2002 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2003.
The Lost Chords is a live album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow, and Billy Drummond recorded in Europe in 2003 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 2004.
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The Lost Chords find Paolo Fresu is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley with Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow, and Billy Drummond and Paolo Fresu recorded in Europe in 2007 and released on the Watt/ECM label.
Trios is an album by American composer and pianist Carla Bley with saxophonist Andy Sheppard and bass guitarist Steve Swallow, recorded in April 2013 and released on ECM later that year. This was the first occasion on which these longtime collaborators had worked as a trio since 1994's Songs with Legs.
Christmas '64 is a 1964 studio album by the American jazz organist Jimmy Smith. Smith's only album of Christmas music, it was reissued as Christmas Cookin' in 1966.
A Merry Christmas! is an album of Christmas music by the Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded in 1961 and released by Capitol Records. It was reissued as Kenton's Christmas in 1970 by Kenton's own Creative World label.
