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Have Yourself A Soulful Little Christmas
''Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas'' is an album of Christmas music by guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded in 1966 and released on the Cadet label. It peaked at #15 on ''Billboards Best Bets For Christmas album chart on December 7, 1968."Billboard Best Bets For Christmas." Billboard, vol. 80, no. 49, December 7, 1968, p. 82. worldradiohistory.com. Reception Allmusic awarded the album 4½ stars in a review by Michael G. Nastos that stated "With pensive, meditative, precise playing, it's a must-have and features a definitive jazz hit version of "Little Drummer Boy".Nastos, M. GAllmusic Review accessed August 3, 2012 Track listing # "The Little Drummer Boy" ( Katherine Davis, Henry Onorati, Harry Simeone) - 3:37 # " Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" ( Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) - 3:27 # " My Favorite Things" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) - 3:34 # "Away in a Manger" (Traditional) - 3:06 # " Mary's Little Boy Chile" (Jester Hairston) - 2:34 # "White Christmas" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenny Burrell
Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 ''Billboard'' Top Twenty hit Verve album '' Organ Grinder Swing''. He has cited jazz guitarists Charlie Christian, Oscar Moore, and Django Reinhardt as influences, along with blues guitarists T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters.Cohassey, John. "Kenny Burrell: Guitarist, Educator." ''Contemporary Musicians. Profiles of the People in Music.'' Ed. Julia M. Rubiner. Vol. 11. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1994. 29–31. PrintNash, Sunny. "Kenny Burrell Biography." ''PRLog,'' May 13, 2009. Burrell is a professor and Director of Jazz Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Early life Burrell was born in Detroit. Both his parents played instruments,Sallis, James. "Middle Ground: Herb Ellis, Howard Roberts, Jim Hall, Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin (August 11, 1914 – March 11, 2011) was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He was best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical ''Meet Me in St. Louis'', in which Judy Garland sang three Martin songs, "The Boy Next Door (song), The Boy Next Door," "The Trolley Song," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." The last of these has become a Christmas season standard in the United States and around the English-speaking world. Martin became a close friend of Garland and was her accompanist at many of her concert performances in the 1950s, including her appearances at the Palace Theater (Broadway), Palace Theater. Early life Martin was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the son of Ellie Gordon (Robinson) and Hugh Martin Sr., an architect. He attended Birmingham-Southern College where he studied music. He was a member of the Beta Beta Chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Career Martin wrote the music, and in so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Children Go Where I Send Thee
"Children, Go Where I Send Thee" (alternatively "Children, Go Where I Send You" or variations thereof, also known as "The Holy Baby", "Little Bitty Baby", or "Born in Bethlehem") is a traditional African-American spiritual song. Among the many different versions of the song, a defining feature is the cumulative structure, with each number (typically up to 12 or 10) accompanied by a biblical reference. Today, many Americans know it as a Christmas carol. Lyrics Origins The song’s origins are uncertain; however, its nearest known relative is the English folk song “ The Twelve Apostles.” Both songs are listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as #133. Parallel features in the two songs’ cumulative structure and lyrics (cumulating to 12 loosely biblical references) make this connection apparent. While “The Twelve Apostles” began appearing in English folk song collections in the mid-eighteen hundreds, the song’s origins likely span back much further. Possible earlier points ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Wells (songwriter)
Robert Wells (born Robert Levinson, October 15, 1922 – September 23, 1998) was an American songwriter, composer, screenwriter, script writer and television producer. During his early career, he collaborated with singer and songwriter Mel Tormé, writing several hit songs, most notably "The Christmas Song" in 1945. Later, he became a prolific writer and producer for television, for such shows as ''The Dinah Shore Chevy Show'', as well as for numerous variety specials, such as ''If They Could See Me Now'', starring Shirley MacLaine. He was nominated for several Academy Awards and won six Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Peabody Award. Early life and career Robert Wells was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in 1922 in Raymond, Washington, the son of Edna Irene (Bradford) and Nathan Levinson. He attended a local business college and later the University of Southern California, where he majored in speech and drama. He served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells. Early life Melvin Howard Tormé was born in Chicago, Illinois, to William David Torme, a Jewish immigrant from Poland, and Betty Torme (née Sopkin), a New York City native. He graduated from Hyde Park High School. A child prodigy, he first performed professionally at age four with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy" at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant. He played drums in the drum-and-bugle corps at Shakespeare Elementary School. From 1933 to 1941, he acted in the radio programs ''The Romance of Helen Trent'' and ''Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy''. He wrote his first song at 13. Three years later his first published song, "Lament to Love", became a hit for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Christmas Song
"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting by an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946. At Cole's behestand over the objections of his label, Capitol Recordsa second recording was made in August utilizing a small string section. This version became a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole again recorded the song in 1953, using the same arrangement with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, and once more in 1961, in a stereophonic version with another full orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Cole's 1961 version is generally regarded as definitive, and in 2004 was the most-loved seasonal song with women aged 30–49, while the original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974. In 2022, the 1961 Nat King Cole recording ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
"God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is in the Roxburghe Collection (iii. 452), and is listed as no. 394 in the Roud Folk Song Index. It is also known as "Tidings of Comfort and Joy", and by other variant incipits. History An early version of this carol is found in an anonymous manuscript, dating from the 1650s.. At page 291, Brown notes that "the main part of the collection, that is, what is transcribed between pages 1 and 119, was put together in a few years in the early 1650s". It contains a slightly different version of the first line from that found in later texts, with the first line "Sit yow merry gentlemen" (also transcribed "Sit you merry gentlemen" and "Sit you merry gentlemen"). The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. 1760. A precisely datable reference to the carol is found in the November 1764 edition of the '' Monthly Review''. Some sources claim that the carol dates as far back as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights,Starr, Larry and Waterman, Christopher, American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Oxford University Press, 2009, pg. 64 and had his first major international hit, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", in 1911. He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. For much of his career Berlin could not read sheet music, and was such a limited piano player that he could only play in the key of F-sharp; he used his custom piano equipped with a transposing lever when he needed to play in keys other than F-sharp. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" sparked an international dance craze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Christmas (song)
"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The song was written by Berlin for the 1942 musical film ''Holiday Inn''. The composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards. Since its release, "White Christmas" has been covered by many artists, the version sung by Bing Crosby being the world's best-selling single (in terms of sales of physical media) with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. When the figures for other versions of the song are added to Crosby's, sales of the song exceed 100 million. History Origin Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song. One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-director-producer Frank Capra, although the Arizona Biltmore also claims the song was written there. He often stayed up all night writing. One ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jester Hairston
Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on black spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include "Amen," a gospel-tinged theme from the film '' Lilies of the Field'' and a 1964 hit for the Impressions, and the Christmas song " Mary's Boy Child." Early life Hairston was born in Belews Creek, a rural community on the border of Stokes, Forsyth, Rockingham and Guilford counties in North Carolina. His grandparents had been slaves. At an early age, he and his family moved to Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, where he graduated from high school in 1921. Hairston was very young when his father was killed in a job-related accident. Hairston was raised by his grandmother while his mother worked. Hairston heard his grandmother and her friends talking and singing about plantation life and became determined to preserve this his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary's Boy Child
"Mary's Boy Child", also known as "Mary's Little Boy Child", is a 1956 Christmas song, written by Jester Hairston. It is widely performed as a Christmas carol. History The song had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The friend asked him to write a song for a birthday party.''Boney M'', John Shearlaw and David Brown, Hamlin Paperbacks, 1979 , page 105 Hairston wrote the song with a calypso rhythm because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians. The song's original title was "He Pone and Chocolate Tea", pone being a type of corn bread. It was never recorded in this form. Some time later Walter Schumann, at the time conducting Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for his choir. Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from his old song and wrote new lyrics for it. Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the choir and sought permission to record it. It was recorded in 1956 and released as a single th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Away In A Manger
"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in the late nineteenth century and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain, it is one of the most popular carols; a 1996 Gallup Poll ranked it joint second. Although it was long claimed to be the work of German religious reformer Martin Luther, the carol is now thought to be wholly American in origin. The two most common musical settings are by William J. Kirkpatrick (1895) and James Ramsey Murray (1887). Words The popularity of the carol has led to many variants in the words, which are discussed in detail below. The following are taken from Kirkpatrick (1895): Variants Almost every line in the carol has recorded variants. The most significant include the following: * Verse 1, line 1: The earliest sources have "no crib for his bed". "No crib for a bed" is found in Murray (1887). * Verse 1, line 2: The earliest sources have "lay down his sweet head." "Laid" is first found in "Little Children's Book ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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