''A Merry Christmas!'' is an album of

Christmas music 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 ma ...

by the Stan Kenton Orchestra recorded in 1961 and released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

.Vosbein, P
Stan Kenton Discography
accessed June 9, 2016
/ref> It was reissued as ''Kenton's Christmas'' in 1970 by Kenton's own Creative World label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Matt Collar noted ''A Merry Christmas'' is a polyphonic masterpiece that is at once progressive and traditional. ...Featuring Kenton's idiosyncratic style of arranging piercing trumpets over a wooly blanket of trombones and mellophones, this is beautiful, forward-thinking and angular music that addresses both complex classical harmony and Basie-style swing".

Track listing

# " O Tannenbaum" - 1:58 # " The Holly and the Ivy" - 1:52 # "

We Three Kings of Orient Are "We Three Kings", original title "Three Kings of Orient", also known as "We Three Kings of Orient Are" or "The Quest of the Magi", is a Christmas carol that was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857. At the time of composing the carol, Hopki ...

" - 2:14 # " Good King Wenceslas" - 1:45 # "

The Twelve Days of Christmas The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days a ...

" - 4:07 # "

Once in Royal David's City Once in Royal David's City is a Christmas carol originally written as a poem by Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in her hymnbook ''Hymns for Little Children''. A year later, the English organist Henry Gauntlett dis ...

" - 2:04 # " God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - 1:46 # " O Come, All Ye Faithful" - 3:17 # " Angels We Have Heard on High" - 2:11 # " O Holy Night" - 2:10 # "Christmas Medley: Joy to the World/

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 i ...

/ The First Noel/ We Wish You A Merry Christmas/ Silent Night/ Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" - 8:24 *Recorded at Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood, CA on February 21, 1961 (tracks 7-11), March 14, 1961 (tracks 1, 3, 5 & 11) and March 20, 1961 (tracks 2, 4 & 6).

Personnel

* Stan Kenton - piano,

celeste Celeste may refer to: Geography * Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada * Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas ** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celeste, ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

*Ernie Bernhardt (tracks 1, 3, 5 & 11),

Bud Brisbois Austin Dean "Bud" Brisbois (April 11, 1937 – June 1978) was a jazz and studio trumpeter. He played jazz, pop, rock, country, Motown, and classical music. Career Brisbois was born in Edina, Minnesota and began studying the trumpet at age 12. ...

, Larry McGuire (tracks 2, 4 & 6), Bob Rolfe, Dalton Smith, Sanford Skinner - trumpet *Bob Fitzpatrick, Paul Heydorff (tracks 1-6 & 11),

Tommy Shepard Thomas M. Shepard (March 31, 1923 – February 23, 1993) was an American trombonist who worked extensively in both Chicago and Hollywood as a regular recording artist for the top recording, television, and film studios. He had a trombone sound ...

(tracks 7-11) - trombone *Jim Amlotte, Bob Knight (tracks 7-11), Dave Wheeler (tracks 1-6 & 11) -

bass trombone The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to ...

*Joe Burnett (tracks 7-11), Dwight Carver, Keith LaMotte (tracks 1-6 & 11),

Gene Roland Gene M. Roland (September 15, 1921 in Dallas – August 11, 1982 in New York City) was an American jazz composer and musician. He played many instruments during his career, but was most significant as an arranger/composer and for his association ...

, Gordon Davison -

mellophone The mellophone is a brass instrument typically pitched in the key of F, though models in E, D, C, and G (as a bugle) have also historically existed. It has a conical bore, like that of the euphonium and flugelhorn. The mellophone is used as the m ...

*Clive Acker (tracks 1-6 & 11), Albert Pollan (tracks 7-11), - tuba *Pete Chivily -

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Artie Anton (tracks 1-7), Jerry McKenzie (tracks 1-6 & 11) -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

* Larry Bunker - percussion * Emil Richards - bells, percussion, vibraphone (tracks 1, 3, 5 & 11) * Ralph Carmichael (tracks 1-7 & 9-11), Stan Kenton (track 8) -

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merry Christmas!, A 1961 Christmas albums Stan Kenton albums Capitol Records Christmas albums Albums conducted by Stan Kenton Albums arranged by Ralph Carmichael Jazz Christmas albums Albums produced by Lee Gillette