Christmas In July 2019-Part 59
Buenos dias! And welcome to part 59 in our little Christmas party.
1. The Combined Choirs Of St. Mary's Visitation Church, Dickson City, Pa.-The First Noel from Midnight Mass At St. Mary's (Dub Recording Company D.D. 1155/1156, Mono, 1965). I think this is the first non-Polish Christmas carol from these folks I've share this year.
2. Tenafly High School Concert Choir-E. Brock Griffith, Director-Soloists: Juanita Bradley, Eric Weiss-Go Tell It On The Mountain from Festival Of Christmas And Spring Music 1965-1966 (HMR Productions RC 93, Mono, 1966). I hope this one is a Christmas version of the song. That didn't work out so well last time...
3. The Students Of Pius X School & Renaissance Brass Ensemble-Jubilate Deo from Music In The Vatican Pavilion (The Vatican Pavilion-New York World's Fair 1964-65 PX-3, Mono, 1964). If you want more music from The World's Fair, go visit my friend Lee at his blog. It's a different World's Fair, and it's not Christmas, but you'll still enjoy it.
4. Paul Bley Trio-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town from Autobiography In Jazz (Debut DEB-198, originally recorded No. 30, 1953, Mono, 1955). For all you jazz fans, here's one I doubt you've ever heard. The sound is a little rough, but I like it.
5. The Manhattan Piano Quartet-Lawrence Krueger, William Blankfort, Alexander Dickstein, Marga Richter-Winter Scene From "The Nutcracker" from Concert Favorites Transcribed For Four Pianos (MGM E3130, Mono, 1954). Winter Scene? Is that from the ballet and not the orchestrated version? I don't recognize it.
6. Die Schönsten Deutschen Choräle-Ave Maria from Die Schönsten Deutschen Choräle (Peril Serie (Germany) PSLP 217, Stereo). I may have this all messed up. Everything was in German, so I may have the subtitle of the album as the artist, or maybe it's a description of what's on the record, I don't know.
7. Jack De Mello And His Orchestra-Dance Of The Menehunes from Jack De Mello In Concert (Music Of Polynesia 3xLP MOP 15000 For First Hawaiin Bank, Stereo, 1971). Now here's an interesting one. A three album set put out by a bank in Hawaii of mostly Hawaiian music. A menehuna is mythical elf-type person who used to like in Hawaii long before the Polynesian islanders populated the islands via their canoes. And for years I've had a Hawaiian Christmas album with a song about the Menehuna Santa, describing him and his elves. So when I saw this song, it immediately became a Christmas song in my head. And it's pretty good, so I think you'll enjoy it.
8. Conducted By Bruno Nicolai, Violin Soloist-Dino Asciolla-Death At The Pole (Morte Al Polo) from The Red Tent (Paramount Records PAS 6019, Stereo, 1971). Soundtrack stuff, no idea about the movie. May not be Christmas appropriate though, since someone appears to die at the pole.
9. Unknown Artist-Glory To God In The Highest from Choral Celebration Vol. V (Jenson Publications JP-4000, Stereo, 1983). A demo recording. And the bad news. I have way, way too many of these songs left. I'm going to have to start sharing them out more than once a download. I need to get a final count, but there are a lot of them.
10. The Macalester Concert Choir-Dale Warland, Conductor-Dorothy Benham, Miss America 1977, Soprano-Steven Baardson, Tenor-Jesu, Thou The Virgin Born from The Macalester Concert Choir (No Label G-0028, Stereo, 1977). Yes, you read that right. This track features Miss America at the time! I didn't even realize it when I picked up and bought the record. But when I got it home, I looked at the photoes and noticed a girl with a sash and a tiara. How cool is that?
And that's it for number fifty-nine! Something for everyone, I think. Here's the download link. See you later!
Interesting group of tracks. That Paul Bley record is a nice find!
ReplyDeleteAbout the Paul Bley track. I've sure it goes without saying, so....
ReplyDeleteSurely between the two of you, one or the other has to have seen/heard the Paul Bley before?
ReplyDeletejust when you thought it was safe to listen to christmas-in-july, ernie posts “death at the pole”. i see this and think, “naaahh, it can’t be”. so i listen. it sounds like mussorgsky in a bad mood. the liner notes are vague… oh, from some old movie, don’t know much about it. so i go hunting. yep, it’s from a 1969 soviet-italian (?!) movie called in english “the red tent”, based on an historical event in the mid-1920s. maybe you people are good at italian history, but i had to quick-study the following: apparently mussolini and the italians wanted a share of the international glory that was being doled out not only to polar explorers but also to headline-making aviators who seemed to accomplish daily one feat or another. in a stroke of genius, they decided to tackle both fields of endeavor at the same time by flying a dirigible over the north pole. (now what could possibly go wrong with a plan like that?) disaster, death, cowardice, abandonment, starvation, cannibalism, and world condemnation ensued.
ReplyDeletethat was real life. the movie was a separate disaster. americans have never taken kindly to foreign films. there’s an art-house crowd, but that’s about it. this was supposed to be an international blockbuster, a first major effort by the soviets. they tried. they really did. they got sean connery, the highest paid actor in the industry who had just announced he wouldn’t be doing james bond anymore; and claudia cardinale, arguably the most beautiful actress in the world. it boasted legendary soviet film maker mikhail kalatozov. and the dirge that started this little rant? it’s part of the score written by ennio (not berto) morricone!!! how could it miss? but it did. maybe a casualty of the cold war. maybe poor marketing. it took two years before they got a release in the usa. [i can just hear those soviet publicists from back in 1969, “we put film in building, people come.”] anyway, i didn’t say the music was bad (hey, neither morricone nor mussorgsky need a pat on the back from me). but it’s not “the happy elves at santa’s workshop” either.
+1 on the Paul Bley :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, I've had the Paul Bley for decades. That's what I meant when I said it goes without saying (so I didn't say it).
ReplyDeleteIt's been a very long day...
ReplyDelete