Santa Claus Blues

Santa Claus Blues

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 22, 1993)
• Original Release Date: 1988
• Label: Jass
• ASIN: B000001OTA
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #312,865 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Santa Claus Blues - Blue Five, Clarence Williams

2. Christmas Morning Blues - Victoria Spivey

3. Santa Claus, Bring My Man Back - Duke Ellington, Ozie Ware

4. Winter Wonderland - Ted Weems

5. Jingle Bells - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra

6. Santa Claus Came in the Spring - Putney Dandridge,

7. What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin'?) - Louis Prima & His New Orleans Gang

8. Swingin' Them Jingle Bells - Fats Waller

9. I Want You for Christmas - Dick Robertson

10. Good Morning Blues (I Want to See Santa Claus) - Count Basie Orchestra

11. Ev'ry Day's a Holiday

12. Meet Me Under the Mistletoe - Dick Robertson

13. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Woody Herman & His Orchestra,

14. Happy New Year, Baby - Johnny Otis & His Orchestra, Johnny Otis & His Orchestra

15. Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney - Ella Fitzgerald

16. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra

17. Merry Christmas, Baby - Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra

18. Christman Song - Ken Kersey, , Jack Teagarden

19. Cool Yule - Steve Allen, Louis Armstrong, Commanders

20. 'Zat You, Santa Claus? - Louis Armstrong,

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's Get Bluesy-Woozy for Christmas!, December 23, 1998

By A Customer

Jump start your holiday listening with this fabulous collection of treasures from the past! This is a seriously fun CD that will blow away anyone with a pulse when they hear it for the first time. Especially noteworthy is the great Satchmo singing "Zat You Santa Claus?," and a 20-year-old Ella Fitzgerald singing "Santa Claus Got Stuck in My Chimney." Satchmo also closes the CD with a reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

All you recent converts to swing and jump blues - this is one for you. "Boogie-Woogie Santa Claus," and "What Will Santa Claus Say (when he finds everybody swinging!)" are worth the price of this CD alone.

You'll be the hero of the holiday party when you bring this one along! Talk about blowing Andy Williams out of the water....!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's the best, June 17, 2004

By	sue holter (Bend, OR United States) - See all my reviews

I bought the tape back in the 80's at Tower Records. Then lost it. I'm heartbroken because it's my absolute favorite Christmas music. I have it on "order" through Amazon and I keep upping the price I'll pay, but nothing has shown up for the two years I've had my request on file.

People seem to love it or hate it, but it's just the thing for people who are overloaded with the typical Christmas stuff. This one is good year 'round.

5.0 out of 5 stars What will Santa Claus say ? ? ? , December 25, 2007

By	Eric A. Isaacson (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Santa Claus blues is the swing'nest set ever of authentic blues and jazz takes on Christmas, going back to historical takes from the 1920s. This is the real thing.

Highlights include the title track, "Santa Claus Blues," recorded by Clarence Williams' Blue Five in 1925, featuring Louis Armstrong on trumpet and Sidney Bechet on soprano sax. This is the same tune that the Red Onion Jazz Babies recorded in 1924, with no vocals. Here we get the lyrics - a real treat - sung by Eva Taylor.

This is followed by a 1927 recording of Victoria Spivey, accompanied by Lonnie Johnson and Porter Grainger, on the "Christmas Morning Blues." Victoria Spivey's plaintive voice has never been matched - and this is one of her finest performances. The song reminds us that early jazz and blues artists lived in a world of gross racial injustice and repression. "My man is so deep in trouble," laments Spivey, "the white folk couldn't get him free." I cannot listen to the piece without feeling horror at how my country treated African Americans, and overwhelming respect for the artists who gave us America's greatest musical art forms - jazz and the blues.

Other songs include a 1928 recording of Ozie Ware and Duke Ellington's Hot Five covering "Santa Claus, Bring My Man Back," a 1934 recording of Ted Weems and his Orchestra covering "Winter Wonderland," a 1935 recording of Benny Goodman and his Orchestra playing "Jingle Bells," and a 1935 recording of Putney Dandridge and his Swing Band covering Johnny Mercer's "Santa Claus Came in the Spring," featuring Teddy Wilson on piano, Red Allen on trumpet, and either Ben Webster or Teddy McRae on tenor sax.

Then Louis Prima and his New Orleans Gang ask: "What will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin'?" The 1936 recording is pure joy.

Fats Waller is "Swingin' them Jingle Bells," in a 1936 recording that, unlike most of the music on this disk, has been included in some other various-artists collections of Christmas music.

This is followed by 1937 recordings of Dick Robertson and his Orchestra, featuring Bobby Hackett on cornet, giving us the hokum of "I Want You for Christmas," Count Basie and his Orchestra with "Good Morning Blues (I Want to See Santa Claus)," and Art Bowlly and his Orchestra on "Ev'ry Day's a Holiday."

Dick Robertson and his Orchestra ask you to "Meet Me Under the Mistletoe" in a 1941 recording, while Woody Herman and his Orchestra proclaim that "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" in a 1942 session.

Filling out the disk are:

Johnny Otis and his Orchestra with "Happy New Year, Baby" (1947);

Ella Fitzgerald on "Santa Claus Got Stuck in my Chimney" (1950);

Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra playing "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" and "Merry Christmas, Baby" (no date given);

Jack Teagarden singing "The Christmas Song" (a.k.a. "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") (1954);

Louis Armstrong with the Commanders on Cool Yule" and "'Zat You, Santa Claus?" (1953);

Louis Armstrong with Benny Carter's Orchestra on "Christmas in New Orleans" and "Christmas Night in Harlem" (1953);

Louis Armstrong reading Clement Moore's poem "The Night Before Christmas" (1971).

Louis Armstrong's Christmas music is a joy. But the real attractions here are the rarities from the 1920s. They are great recordings, by great artists, and should be better known than they are.

The musicianship is first rate and the collection is seamless. Each song flows naturally to the next. And there's not a clunker among them. This is truly an amazing Christmas collection - I value it above all others. And I own quite a few.

Eric Alan Isaacson

P.S., If you love it as much as I do, then check out the 1934 recording of "Christmas Night in Harlem," by Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, with Jack Teagarden and Johnny Mercer on vocals. (track 18 on I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues) And before you jump to conclusions about the references to "kink out" in his Christmas stocking, remember that Jack Teagarden played in racially integrated bands when the practice was still taboo. The recording is a period piece, no doubt, sung by a man who was truly in the vanguard of racial integration.