''What a Night! A Christmas Album'', by American singer, pianist and bandleader Harry Connick Jr., was released on November 4, 2008., being his third Christmas album, since 1993's '' When My Heart Finds Christmas'' and 2003's '' Harry for the Holidays''. The album consists of new recordings of Christmas classics, and new songs written by Connick. The first public mentioning of recording the album, came in an interview in

The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune , The New Orleans Advocate'' (commonly called ''The Times-Picayune'' or the ''T-P'') is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana. Ancestral publications of other names date back to January 25, 1837. The cu ...

in June 2008. The album was first called ''Christmas Day'', but the title was changed in September 2008, to ''What a Night! A Christmas Album''. The track "Song for the Hopeful", is a duet with Kim Burrell. The song was written by Connick for the 2008 television film '' Living Proof''.What a Night! A Christmas Album

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

Burell is also featured on "Let There Be Peace On Earth". Connick has three daughters with his wife Jill Goodacre, and their middle daughter Sarah Kate, sings a duet with him on the track "

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 Himb ...

".Harry Connick Jr. Celebrates the Holidays With Seasonal Favorites and New Songs on 'What A Night! – A Christmas Album'
The Earth Times, October 6, 2008 When the track list was first announced, the songs "Christmas Time is Here" and "Trinity", was part of the album. In early October, those two tracks were replaced with two new tracks: "

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

", and an instrumental version of Tchaikovsky's " Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy".

Track listing

#" It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" ( Edward Pola, George Wyle) – 3:28 #"What a Night!" ( Harry Connick Jr.) – 3:24 #"

" ( Connick) – 3:24 #" Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" ( Johnny Marks) – 4:05 #" Please Come Home for Christmas" ( Charles Brown, Gene Redd) – 4:26 #" O Come All Ye Faithful" (traditional) – 4:15 #" Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairies" (

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popula ...

) – 2:46 #"Let There Be Peace On Earth" (Sy Miller, Jill Jackson) – 3:30 – feat. Kim Burrell #"

" (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith) – 3:50 – feat. Kate Connick #"

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is a Christmas song written in 1951 by Meredith Willson. The song was originally titled "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas". Perry Como was the first to record and release the song in 1951. The so ...

" (

Meredith Willson Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flautist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 1 ...

) – 3:30 #"Santariffic" ( Connick) – 3:58 – feat. Lucien Barbarin #" Jingle Bells" (

James Lord Pierpont James Lord Pierpont (April 25, 1822 – August 5, 1893)Lewis, DaveJames Pierpont Biography, AllMusic, retrieved December 16, 2011 was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, organist, and Confederate States of America, Confederate States so ...

) – 5:28 #"Zat You Santa Claus" (Jack Fox) – 3:40 #" We Three Kings" (Reverend John Henry Hopkins Jr.) – 4:45 #"Song for the Hopeful" ( Connick) – 4:35 – feat. Kim Burrell

iTunes bonus track

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" () is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a far ...

" (traditional) – 2:16 (album only) #Digital Booklet (album only)

Barnes & Noble Exclusive Version

Deck the Halls "Deck the Halls" is a traditional Christmas carol. The melody is Welsh, dating back to the sixteenth century, and belongs to a winter carol, " Nos Galan", while the English lyrics, written by the Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant, date to 1862. ...

" (traditional) – 2:57 #"Christmas Time is Here" (

Vince Guaraldi Vincent Anthony Guaraldi (; birth name, né Dellaglio, July 17, 1928 – February 6, 1976) was an American jazz pianist best known for composing music for animated television adaptations of the ''Peanuts'' comic strip. His compositions for this s ...

, Lee Mendelson) – 5:06 #" O Christmas Tree" (traditional) – 3:22 :Disc 2 (DVD) #Holiday interview with Harry #Photo gallery #" (It Must Have Been) Ol’ Santa Claus" #" I Pray on Christmas" #" The Happy Elf" * ''*also found on the '' Harry for the Holidays'' DVD

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

Arrangement 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 orchestr ...

by Harry Connick Jr. *Harry Connick Jr. –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* Lucien Barbarin –

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

* Kim Burrell – vocals, piano, keyboards *Kate Connick – vocals *James Hall & Worship & Praise –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

* Jonathan Batiste – vocals, keyboards, piano *Neal Caine –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Jonathan DuBose Jr. – vocals,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

*Charles "Ned" Goold –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

*Jerry Weldon –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

*Dave Schumacher –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

*Roger Ingram –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

*Tony Kadlek – flugelhorn * Joe Magnarelli – trumpet *Jeff Bush – trombone *Dion Tucker – trombone *Joe Barati –

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) 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 facilitate low register playing, and u ...

*Arthur Latin II –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*The Honolulu Heartbreakers – vocals

Tour

A Holiday Celebration Tour 2008, is a concert tour with his

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

to support the album. The tour was confirmed by the official Harry Connick Jr. website in September 2008. One of their stops included the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

Tour dates

References

External links

Harry Connick Jr.'s official websiteHarry Connick Jr.'s official Sony BMG Music page
{{DEFAULTSORT:What A Night! A Christmas Album Harry Connick Jr. albums 2008 Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Jazz Christmas albums Columbia Records Christmas albums