| The Joyful Season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 2005 CD reissue cover | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1964 | |||
| Genre | Traditional pop Christmas | |||
| Label | Capitol (LP) DRG (CD) [1] | |||
| Producer | Lee Gillette | |||
| Jo Stafford chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
The Joyful Season is a 1964 Christmas album by Jo Stafford. It is unique in that it features Stafford accompanying herself as a vocal choir through the use of multitrack recording. [3] [4] The album was reissued on CD in 2005 by DRG. [1] [5] [6]
Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of carols or songs may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American traditional pop music singer and occasional actress, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical training to become an opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song "You Belong to Me" topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, becoming the second single to top the UK Singles Chart and the first by a female artist to do so.
Albert Gordon MacRae was an American actor, singer and radio/television host, who appeared in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! (1955) and Carousel (1956), and played the leading man of Doris Day in On Moonlight Bay (1951) and sequel By The Light of the Silvery Moon (1953).
Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Father of Mood Music". His compositions include popular music songs such as "I Should Care", "Day by Day", and "Shrimp Boats". He also wrote classical pieces, including "Crescent City Suite" and religious music, authoring several hymns and masses.
"The Little Drummer Boy" is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since.
Christmas Songs by Sinatra is the name of the third studio album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It was released in 1948 as a 78 rpm album set and a 10" LP record featuring a collection of 8 holiday songs. A compilation album was released in 1994 including the songs released on the 1948 album along with Christmas songs from his years recording at Columbia.
Norman Luboff was an American music arranger, music publisher, and choir director.
"Dancing in the Dark" is a popular American song, with music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz, that was first introduced by John Barker in the 1931 revue The Band Wagon. The song was first recorded by Bing Crosby on August 19, 1931 with Studio Orchestra directed by Victor Young, staying on the pop charts for six weeks, peaking at #3, and helping to make it a lasting standard.
The 1941 recording by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra earned Shaw one of his eight gold records at the height of the Big Band era of the 1930s and 1940s.
"Happy Holiday" is a popular song composed by Irving Berlin during 1942 and published the following year.
Songs for Sunday Evening is a 1950 album by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae.
Capitol Collectors Series is a compilation album of songs by Jo Stafford. It was released on the Capitol Records label on March 18, 1991, and is a collection of her best known hits during the 1940s.
Memory Songs is a 1955 album by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae.
Happy Holiday is a 1955 Christmas album of Christmas songs and carols by Jo Stafford, accompanied by her husband Paul Weston and his orchestra. The entire family participated in the creation of this album; young Tim Weston is the small boy on the cover. Stafford is also joined by The Starlighters for vocal background, just as she was after her version of The Chesterfield Supper Club moved to Hollywood.
Whispering Hope is an album by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae. It was released in 1962. The lead song though was originally recorded in 1949, and reached No 4 on the charts.
Peace in the Valley is a 1963 album by Jo Stafford and Gordon MacRae.
Perry Como's Christmas Concert is a 1994 live album by Perry Como. It was Como's final recording before his death in 2001. Taped live at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, before an audience of 4,500, including Irish President Mary Robinson, it was also issued on videotape and aired on PBS. The videotape of the concert shows a man who appears frail and unwell. Como reportedly was suffering from the flu and struggled to perform, losing his voice at one point during the concert. The finished version of the concert is less than 90 minutes long; the recording took more than four hours to complete. Despite it all, Como managed to complete his last recorded performance with dignity and professionalism, earning him the applause of his audience. Como apologized to his audience for a performance he felt was not up to his usual standards.
Happy Holidays: I Love the Winter Weather is a 1999 compilation album of seasonal songs recorded by American singer Jo Stafford. It was released by Corinthian Records, the label founded by Stafford and her husband Paul Weston on October 12, 1999.
 | This 1960s album–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
