''A Swingin' Christmas'' is a Christmas album by

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...

, released in 2008, that features the Count Basie Big Band. Bennett's daughter

Antonia Antonia may refer to: People * Antonia (name), including a list of people with the name * Antonia gens, a Roman family, any woman of the gens was named ''Antonia'' * Antônia (footballer) * Antônia Melo Entertainment * ''Antonia's Line'', or ...

duets with him on one track. The album received a Grammy Award nomination for

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album is an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented ...

at the

52nd Grammy Awards The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares P ...

. The album cover parodies

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

's 1942 painting, '' Freedom from Want''.

Marketing campaign

To promote the release of the album Bennett granted numerous interviews, and made a number of television show performances, from the time of its release through the holiday season. This included a special free street performance outside of

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the business. It became a div ...

department store at 4:30 p.m. on November 20 in New York City in which he performed three songs – "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and "

Jingle Bells "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed t ...

" – before the unveiling of the store's window displays. He performed a concert at New York City's Apollo Theater on December 16 that was billed as his only show in support of the album with the Count Basie Big Band.

Track listing

# "

I'll Be Home for Christmas "I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song written by the lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent and recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longe ...

" (Gannon, Kent, Ram) :12# " Silver Bells" (Evans, Livingston) :17# "All I Want for Christmas Is You (A Christmas Love Song)" ( Alan Bergman,

Marilyn Bergman Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (November 10, 1928 – January 8, 2022) were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated telev ...

Johnny Mandel John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925June 29, 2020) was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Benn ...

) :18# " My Favorite Things" ( Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) :55# "

Christmas Time Is Here "Christmas Time Is Here" is a popular Christmas standard written by Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson for the 1965 television special ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'', one of the first animated Christmas specials produced for network television in t ...

" (Guaraldi, Mendelson) :59# "

Winter Wonderland "Winter Wonderland" is a song written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith. Due to its seasonal theme, it is often regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its original recording by Richard Himbe ...

" (Bernard, Smith) :31# "

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics. I ...

" (Blane, Martin) :36# "

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was then ...

" (Coots, Gillespie) :53# "

I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" is a popular song copyrighted in 1937 by its composer, Irving Berlin, and first recorded by (i) Ray Noble (January 5, 1937), Howard Barrie, vocalist, and (ii) Red Norvo (January 8, 1937), Mildred Bailey, vocali ...

" – with Antonia Bennett (Berlin) :31# "

The Christmas Waltz "The Christmas Waltz" is a Christmas song written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne for Frank Sinatra, who recorded it in 1954 as the B-side of a new recording of " White Christmas", in 1957 for his album ''A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra'', and i ...

" (Cahn, Styne) :22# "

O Christmas Tree "" (; "O fir tree", English: O Christmas Tree) is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song which was unrelated to Christmas, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree. History The modern lyrics were written in 1824 ...

" (Traditional) :27

Versions

Many retailers featured different variations: *

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

carried an edition featuring a bonus DVD with a documentary on the making of the album as well as a host of concert performances. * FYE carried an edition featuring a bonus DVD with a documentary on the making of the album as well as a special holiday-themed postcard reproducing Bennett's artwork. *

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

carried an edition with ten of Bennett's holiday-themed artwork postcards. * Barnes & Noble carried an edition with Bennett's version of "Christmas Auld Lang Syne" exclusive to the retailer. B&N also carried a deluxe version with a DVD and the exclusive track. *

carried an edition with Bennett's version on "

", exclusive to the retailer.

Personnel

* Tony Bennett – vocals *

Monty Alexander Montgomery Bernard "Monty" Alexander (born 6 June 1944) is a Jamaican jazz pianist. His playing has a Caribbean influence and bright swinging feeling, with a strong vocabulary of bebop jazz and blues rooted melodies. He was influenced by Louis ...

– piano * Lee Musiker – piano (7, 9, 11) * Gray Sargent – guitar * Paul Langosch – double bass * Harold Jones – drums The Count Basie Orchestra * Grant Langford – alto saxophone * Marshall McDonald – alto saxophone *

Doug Lawrence Douglas Lawrence Osowski, known professionally as Mr. Lawrence, is an American voice actor, writer, animator, storyboard artist, director, and comedian. He is best known for his work as a writer and voice actor for the Nicktoons ''Rocko's Mode ...

– tenor saxophone * Doug Miller – tenor saxophone * John Williams – baritone saxophone *

Scotty Barnhart William "Scotty" Barnhart (born October 27, 1964) is an American jazz trumpeter. A two-time Grammy winner, he has played since 1993 as a featured soloist with Count Basie Orchestra. In September 2013, Barnhart was announced as the new director of ...

– trumpet * Kris Johnson – trumpet * Michael Williams – trumpet * James Zollar – trumpet * Clarence Banks – trombone * Barry Cooper – trombone * Dave Keim – trombone * Alvin Walker – trombone Production * Danny Bennett – executive producer *

Phil Ramone Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business pa ...

– producer * Dae Bennett – recording, mixing * Alessandro Perrotta – assistant engineer * Travis Stefl – assistant engineer * Bob Ludwig – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swingin' Christmas, A Tony Bennett albums Count Basie Orchestra albums 2008 Christmas albums Albums produced by Phil Ramone Christmas albums by American artists Swing Christmas albums Collaborative albums Columbia Records Christmas albums