''This Time of Year'' is a 1961 album by American jazz vocalist

June Christy June Christy (born Shirley Luster; November 20, 1925June 21, 1990) was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra. She pursued a sol ...

, arranged and conducted by

Pete Rugolo Pietro "Pete" Rugolo (December 25, 1915 – October 16, 2011) was an American jazz composer, arranger and record producer. Life and career Rugolo was born in San Piero Patti, Sicily. His family emigrated to the United States in 1920 and settle ...

. Christy's only

Christmas album 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 ...

, it consists entirely of original songs composed by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Connie Pearce and Arnold Miller.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called the album "unjustly neglected," writing that it "is that rarest of things -- a winter concept album of all new material that can be listened to even when the holidays are over."

Track listing

#"Christmas Heart" – 2:57 #"Ring a Merry Bell" – 3:05 #"Hang Them on the Tree" – 2:21 #"The Little Star" – 3:08 #"The Merriest" – 2:09 #"This Time of Year" – 3:34 #"Seven Shades of Snow" – 3:32 #"Sorry to See You Go" – 2:24 #"The Magic Gift" – 3:26 #"Winter's Got Spring Up Its Sleeve" – 2:36 All compositions by Connie Pearce and Arnold Miller.

Personnel

* June Christy – vocals * Frank Beach – trumpet *

Don Fagerquist Donald Alton Fagerquist (February 6, 1927 – January 23, 1974) was a small group, big band, and studio jazz trumpet player from the West Coast of the United States. Career Fagerquist was a featured soloist with several major bands, including M ...

– trumpet *

Dick Nash Richard Taylor Nash (born January 26, 1928) is an American jazz trombonist most associated with the swing and big band genres. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and began playing brass instruments at ten. He became more interested in this a ...

– trombone * Kenny Shroyer – bass trombone * Jim Decker – French horn *

Vincent DeRosa Vincent Ned DeRosa (October 5, 1920 – July 18, 2022) was an American hornist who served as a studio musician for Hollywood soundtracks and other recordings from 1935 until his retirement in 2008. Because his career spanned over 70 years, duri ...

– French horn * Richard Perissi – French horn *

Red Callender George Sylvester "Red" Callender (March 6, 1916 – March 8, 1992) was an American string bass and tuba player. He is perhaps best known as a jazz musician, but worked with an array of pop, rock and vocal acts as a member of The Wrecking Cre ...

– tuba * Sam Rice – tuba * Bob Cooper – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, oboe *

Bud Shank Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and thro ...

– alto saxophone, flute * Paul Horn – flute * Ted Nash – flute * Victor Arno – violin *

Israel Baker Israel Baker (February 11, 1919 – December 25, 2011) was an American violinist and concertmaster. Through a long and varied career he played with many of the greatest figures in the worlds of classical music, jazz and pop. He appeared on hund ...

– violin * Robert Barene – violin * Anatol Kaminsky – violin * Dan Lube – violin * Alfred Lustgarten – violin * Lou Raderman – violin * Albert Steinberg – violin * Gerald Vinci – violin * Virginia Majewski – viola * Ray Mehennick – viola * Stanley Harris – viola * Edgar Lustgarten – cello *

Eleanor Slatkin Eleanor Aller (Slatkin) (May 20, 1917 – October 12, 1995) was an American cellist and founding member, with her husband, Felix Slatkin, of the Hollywood String Quartet. Life and career Born in New York City, she was the daughter of cellist Gre ...

– cello * Catherine Gotthoffer – harp * Russ Freeman – piano * Al Viola – guitar *

Joe Mondragon Joe Mondragon (February 2, 1920 – July 1987) was an American jazz bassist. Early life Mondragon was born in Antonito, Colorado, and raised in the Española Valley region of New Mexico. Mondragon was of Apache and Hispanic origin. Career ...

– bass *

Red Mitchell Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell (September 20, 1927 – November 8, 1992) was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet. Biography Mitchell was born in New York City. His younger brother, Whitey Mitchell, also became a jazz ba ...

– bass *

Gene Estes The Wrecking Crew was a loose collective of Los Angeles-based session musicians whose services were employed for a great number of studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly rec ...

– drums, vibes, celeste, bell *

Shelly Manne Sheldon "Shelly" Manne (June 11, 1920 – September 26, 1984) was an American jazz drummer. Most frequently associated with West Coast jazz, he was known for his versatility and also played in a number of other styles, including Dixieland, s ...

– drums Tracks 1, 4, 6 Recorded

Capitol Tower The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of the city's landmarks. Construction began soon afte ...

, Hollywood, 12 January 1961 Tracks 7, 9, 10 Recorded Capitol Tower, Hollywood, 19 January 1961 Tracks 2, 3, 5, 8 Recorded Capitol Tower, Hollywood, 23 January 1961

References

June Christy albums 1961 Christmas albums Capitol Records Christmas albums Albums arranged by Pete Rugolo Albums conducted by Pete Rugolo Christmas albums by American artists Jazz Christmas albums Albums recorded at Capitol Studios {{1960s-jazz-album-stub