The O'Zone: Hark! The Herald Angels Swing
On October 30, 1889, Will Lyle pulled out his banjo and played “Jingle Bells” for Thomas Edison on what is thought to be the first Christmas recording ever made.
However, it is a lost recording and no longer exists.
It was recorded on an Edison cylinder (which are very delicate and easily damaged). That’s their story, anyway.
The oldest surviving Christmas recording was again a version of “Jingle Bells,” this time recorded in 1898 by the Edison Male Quartette, and here it is…
A Definition of Terms: Singles vs LPs
The three standard speeds, or Revolutions Per Minute levels for records, are:
- 33 and a third for LPs and full albums
- 45 for singles and some audiophile records
- 78 for very old shellac records.
I bring this up now, just in case vinyl is not a thing for you. Also, it’s important to point out that there were singles (45s) before LPs.
Cylinders and 78s are largely extinct except among collectors.
For our purposes, we are sticking with recorded holiday music as opposed to the once popular, now ancient hymns such as “Jesus Refulsit Omnium” written by St. Hilary of Poitiers or “Corde Natus ex Parentis” written by the Roman poet Prudentius both written in the Fourth Century. Others, like “The Boars Head Carol”, written in 1521, are still in use today, as well as “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”, and “O Come All Ye Faithful” or “Good King Wenceslas.”
Many Christmas carols and the tradition of caroling find their roots in pre-Christian winter solstice celebrations and customs like wassailing. Early Christian leaders adopted these celebrations into the new Christian holidays.
Yule was one of these pagan celebrations marking the turning of the seasons from winter back to spring. The circle dance festivals were known from the olde French word carole. The door-to-door tradition of singing known as wassailing came from singing to well off neighbors, and the idea of “singing for your supper” also came from this tradition.
It all comes down to singing in the long cold night
It keeps the chilly winds away
It’s a song in the night
To get you to another day.
Hmmm, Good Idea but...Will it sell???
The first record to sell a million copies was a single:
World renowned tenor Enrico Caruso recorded “Vesti la giubba” in 1902. But in 1925, “Christmas Ball Blues” by Bessie Smith was widely recognized as the first blues or jazz record.
Benny Goodman and His Orchestra recorded “Jingle Bells” on July 1,1935. It was released on a Victor 78 RPM record and became a #18 hit on the charts that year.
In 1946, the Nat King Cole Trio recorded Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song”. Cole loved it and pushed to record a second version with strings that same year, over the label's objections.
Capitol Records’ hesitance was rooted in the pervasive racial segregation and discrimination at the time. At that point, all popular Christmas songs had been recorded by white artists. However, because Nat Cole’s single “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons” was an immediate commercial success the label was convinced to release “The Christmas Song”, which went on to become a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Nat King Cole recorded the song a total of four times throughout his career with the 1961 recording recognized as the definitive version.
The success of “The Christmas Song” helped break racial barriers in the music industry and became an enduring holiday classic.
In 1942, Bing Crosby first recorded Irving Berlin’s
“White Christmas”, although the original master was damaged due to frequent use and repressing.
Crosby eventually re-recorded the version most often heard today in March 1947 (recognizable by the addition of flutes and celesta at the beginning). The fact that it remains the best selling single of all time may have led to the damage of the original master. It has sold over 50 million physical copies worldwide. The song became a huge hit during World War II for the evocative lyric that brought a sense of home to the front.
The song first appeared in the movie Holiday Inn where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. A decade later, due to the popularity of the song, the musical movie titled White Christmas was developed. Today, it is the film you see more often at Christmas than its precursor, Holiday Inn.
THE LP Under the Tree
The first noteworthy Christmas album in a jazz or jazz-adjacent style was A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra, released on LP in 1957.
Probably a little more jazz-adjacent than jazz but this was the first LP…it took a little while for things to get SWINGIN’.
The other component that (and probably the “main” component) preventing holiday-themed jazz albums was financial…would it break even?
The jazz Christmas album was yet to be seen as a saleable product but the jazz-adjacent Christmas recordings were proving themselves. While not a jazz album, Elvis Presley’s Christmas album (released in 1957) topped the charts and set a precedent for holiday albums in the early LP era.
Fortunately, by 1960, holiday-themed jazz albums were off and swinging. Here are a few perennial favorites.
1960: Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas
Iconic! Released on Verve, widely considered one of the definitive jazz Christmas albums of all time! Swinging Christmas is more swinging and secular, while, in contrast, Ella Fitzgerald’s Christmas (released in 1967) focused on more sacred songs.
To put it another way, one album is Saturday night, and the other is Sunday morning. Ella is at her prime, and Swinging Christmas certainly still gets airplay every Yule.
1961: The Sounds of Christmas by the Ramsey Lewis Trio
Ramsey Lewis on piano, Eldee Young on bass, and
Isaac “Redd” Holt on drums. Critics widely praised the record for its playful, joyful, swinging Ramsey Lewis sound that interprets Christmas classics and original tunes. It was so successful that a follow up, More Sounds of Christmas was released in 1964.
THE BIG ONE!
1965: A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio
The soundtrack to the TV special of the same name became the most famous jazz Christmas album of all time. Essentially, this is both beloved and memorable, which is especially true of the original songs.
I still wonder how Schroeder gets all that sound out of a toy piano? The TV special broke lots of rules.
No laugh track, real child actors, and real jazz!
The original Guaraldi album was covered like crazy by many. Denver’s own Annie Booth has an album and does a live run every Christmas.
Jerry Granelli of the original Guaraldi Trio recorded his own version. Cyrus Chestnut recorded A Charlie Brown Christmas in 2000. David Benoit, George Winston and Wynton Marsalis also recorded material from the classic recording.
My personal favorite: 1989’s A Crescent City Christmas Card by Wynton Marsalis (and a bunch of awesome guests)
As I try to include spoken word, we will wrap with an all time Christmas favorite influenced by Wynton’s hero, Louis Armstrong: “Twas The Night Before Christmas.”
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