Sony Music Special Products: A Jazz Christmas (Sony Music Special Products: 1990)
This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent, so here is a Christmas album recommendation for y¦all. I won¦t claim that this is the best Christmas jazz compilation, or even a particularly good one, but it is the one we had growing up. I would be willing to bet that this album got more play than any other in our household—the only reasonable competition would be A Winters Solstice by Windham Hill Records.
Despite being a budget compilation of random jazzy tracks in Sony¦s vault, including two different renditions of “Have Yourself A Merry Christmas” (one with vocals and one without), it is hard to go wrong with Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, and the like. When I am inevitably humming holiday tunes during the winter months, it¦s probably one of these arrangements I am singing.
Favourite track: “Our Little Town” by the Heath Brothers. This might be the least overtly festive track on the album, but its vibes are choice for a cold day snuggled in blankets with hot cocoa.