The Very Best of Christmas Jazz

Verve Presents: The Very Best of Christmas Jazz (2001)
Tracks :
01. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Ella Fitzgerald
02. Merry Christmas, Baby - Kenny Burrell
03. Christmas Eve - Billy Eckstine
04. Here Comes Santa Claus - Ramsey Lewis
05. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Joe Williams
06. Greensleeves - John Coltrane
07. The Christmas Song - Mel Torme
08. 'Zat You, Santa Claus? - Louis Armstrong
09. Winter Wonderland - Shirley Horn
10. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Bill Evans
11. Good Morning, Blues - Count Basie
12. Jingle Bells - Jimmy Smith
13. Silent Night - Dinah Washington
14. A Child Is Born - Oscar Peterson


Recordings: Aug 9, 1937-Apr 1996


There can be no Christmas without jazz music, November 1, 2008
By Eric C. Sedensky "late-to-jazz musician" (Madison, AL, US)
Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: Verve Presents: Very Best of Christmas Jazz (Audio CD)
If you like Christmas music, as I do, and you love jazz, as I do, I think this is the CD to buy. First of all, you have a great selection of standard, mostly secular Christmas songs: Rudolph, Here Comes Santa Claus, Jingle Bells, etc. But what really makes this CD for me is the line-up of jazz superstars. Louis Armstrong does his classic, 'Zat You, Santa Claus, Ella on Rudolph, Bill Evans on Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Oscar Peterson doing a wonderful version of Thad Jones' (not strictly a Christmas song) A Child is Born. You even have Mel Torme singing The Christmas Song, which he co-wrote and which was made famous by Nat King Cole. I'll leave it to the reader/potential buyer to look up what else you will get. Suffice to say, this is a wonderful selection of Christmas songs, jazzy as jazz gets, very approachable for jazz aficionados and those "not-so-much", and every one of these songs can brighten up any Christmas party play list. I highly recommend this CD.