Jazz For Beginners-Christmas Edition

 

It's been a while since I did a Jazz for Beginners post so I thought why not bring it back Christmas style. 

I'm going to be honest, a large part of my musical knowledge comes from Christmas songs.  I grew up listening to jazz Christmas albums my parents would play by Kenny Burrell, Ramsey Lewis, Lou Rawls, the Swingle Singers, Herb Alpert, and of course Vince Guaraldi.  

Sitting under our white Christmas tree (yes white) playing with our train set I thought it was just totally normal to hear "Jingle Bells" played by the Tijuana Brass...I realize now that may not have been played in my classmates houses.   But it did turn me on to jazz at an early age and when I was a little older I was able to appreciate some of the  popular jazz songs from artists who had played my favorite Christmas carols.    

I love listening to these Christmas songs now.  They hold so much nostalgia for me.  Give them a listen and let me know what you think.  What did your family listen to, anyone else have favorite Christmas songs? 

It doesn't get much better than Vince Guaraldi

I used to listen to this falling asleep every Christmas Eve.

 

 

This is actually a live performance they did for T.V. love it!

 

Lou Rawls does this song amazingly, by far my favorite version.