Christmas In July 2026-Part 25

It's the 25th, so that means it's exactly 5 months until Christmas. I hope this little smattering of Christmas music in July will help you bide some time until the big day arrives in December. Here are ten more tracks to help you through the long hot days of summer. 

1. The Dolmetsch Ensemble-Sugar Plums (The Best Of Hoffnung, 1974)

I thought this was going to be a reworking of Tchaikovsky, and I think I hear a little tiny bit in there, but not as much as I would have liked. This series of records from the Hoffnung music festivals is a weird one.

2. The Northern Illinois University Wind Ensemble-Stephen Squires, Conductor-Joyful Sounds Of The Season (A Christmas Celebration) (Alfred Concert Band Music (1988), 1988)

Haven't had any demo music for you in a while, dunno where this one was hiding.

3. Robert Shaw-The Cleveland Orchestra & Chorus-Robert Page, Director-Hallelujah Chorus (Hallelujah!-The World's Favorite Choruses, 1977)

Handel from Cleveland via a budget compilation. I'm sure this track was released elsewhere prior to showing up on this album, and there's a good chance I've shared it with you from that earlier release.

4. The Children's Marching Chorus And The Toyland Band Conducted By Bill Simon-Jingle Bells March (Favorite Marches For Children, 1962)

My favorite track of the day, pulled from the album you see above. I don't know what I've ever heard Jingle Bells performed as a march, yet here it is.

5. The Daphne Hellman Quartet-Swingin' Shepherd Blues (Holiday For Harp, 1959)

We've talked about Swingin' Shepherd Blues this month a little bit, and here's a version as performed on the harp. Nice.

6. The Arlingtones, Jay Giallombardo-Director-I'll Be Home For Christmas (A Chorus For All Seasons)

Not sure if this is the last track from this side full of Christmas music. There may be one more.

7. The Concordia College Choir-Victor Hildner, Director-Advent Motet (Entrance Scene) (The Concordia College Choir, 1956)

Ditto what I said above about a side full of Christmas music. Not sure if this is the end or not, but we're close.

8. Gooding Amusement's German Organ-Winter Wonderland (Christmas With The Gooding Band Organ, 1984)

Same note as the above two. I need to do some more research and see if there's another track or not.

9. The Gauger Brass-Bugler's Holiday (The Gauger Brass)

An interesting take on the Anderson trumpet classic here. The rest of the record is religious stuff, not sure what motivated them to include this, other than perhaps wanting to highlight their trumpet prowess.

10. Toy Band-Theme V (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)

Yet another small snippet of Greensleeves from this record. Didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I started recording all the possible Christmas music from this one. Five days in a row and the end is not yet in sight here. 

And that's it for today. Hope something in the pile today strikes your fancy. Be sure to come back tomorrow for more! 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 24-Bonus!

This is an extra special bonus post of Christmas in July music, shared for no other reason than I noticed a cool theme among a handful of records I had songs to share from and I thought it would be cool. Unfortunately, I noticed it too late and some of these records are duplicates of things I have already shared out for the month. Wish I had come up with this earlier, but it's too late now. So if you want, you can delete some of these tracks since you already have them. Anyhow, the theme here is that all of these records were autographed. I don't know that they're real or fake, but I don't have any reason why someone would try to fake the autographs of folks you've never heard of. Let's dig in and see what we've got here.

1. Dick Robertson-The Mockery Of Christmas (Season's Greetings From Our Friends, 1980)

We start out with a record I brought back with me from New Mexico after spending Christmas out there last year. We had a chance to visit a few actual record store in Albequerque one day and that's when I came up with this one. It was actually after Christmas but they still had some Christmas records out. This was the only thing that caught my eye and it wasn't even a real Christmas record no matter what the cover may look like. I think the company behind this record was actually a paper manufacturer, so you just never know.

2. Lloyd Lindroth And His Quartet-Holiday For Strings (Harpist's Bazaar)

Next up is a record I know I've shared already this season, but I couldn't resist revisiting it when I noticed that great autograph on the back. Love the cool little sketch of a harp in there.

3. Tuskegee Institute Choir-William L. Lawson, Director-Behold The Star (Spirituals, 1971)

This may be the most neatly-written autograph of the whole bunch, you can tell he comes from a different generation when penmanship was more import. Looks like it might have even been a fancy fountain pen, too. 

 

4. Antonio Curbello, Tenor & Cesar Morales, Organist-Panis Angelicus (Marist Sings AKA Cantos Marianos)

 

I almost missed this one, but it's right there on the front cover. Thought it might just be some scribbles from a previous owner, but it's one of the artists on the record, complete with bespoke inscription. I shared a small bit of history with this artist earlier this season when I shared a different track from this album.

5. Ralph Wolf And The Thomas Celebrity-Brazilian Sleighbells (The Celebrities)

Another autograph that's right there on the front cover.  I hope Eva enjoyed listening to her record before it came my way. Not sure why she got rid of it, but given the age of most of these records, I doubt she was going to listen to it ever again.

6. Walter Pons Trio-Greensleeves (Frankfurt/Main: Steingenberger-Hotel Frankfurter Hof, 1960)

Last up is an autograph that comes to us all the way from Berlin. I couldn't pass up another signature with a date. I like how he mentioned his bandmates. I'm sure someone was very pleased with the special souvenir of these stay in Berlin almost 60 years ago.

And that's it, maybe I shared fewer of these previously than I thought. Looks like there's only one in here you'll need to delete if you don't want any duplicates. That's not too bad. We've still got a week to go, so keep checking back for more records, though I don't think I have any more autographs. 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 24

If my numbers are correct, this share gets me down to just under 100 songs left in the pile. Which is a good thing because with only about seven days left, it means I can start sharing a few more songs per day, or perhaps I can go longer than the 31 days in July. Do you have a preference? Let's take a vote. Leave me a comment. Do you want more songs per day, or would you like a few extra days tacked onto the end? Better vote fast though because I'll have to start sharing out more songs quickly, it may even be too late.

1. Red Garter-Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Santa's Musical Grog)

One more song from a long side of Christmas tunes on this record. Wish some more info on this band would turn up. It's one of those things where the details have just been lost to time and bad memories.

2. Stanley Black Conducting The London Festival Orchestra AKA The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra-March (Tchaikovsky-Nutcracker Suite/Serenade For Strings, 1967)

Our Nutcracker installment of the day.

3. John Gary-Thank The Lord (For This Thanksgiving Day) (John Gary)

A Thanksgiving track, so I should have shared it at the beginning of the season but I didn't have it at the time. Didn't know about it in fact, a visitor mentioned it and I happened to stumble across it last Saturday at the gay thrift store. It's pretty good, wish I'd had it at the beginning of the year. I think this will make the best-of for sure. This budget-label release gathers up tracks that Gary recorded at small labels (or maybe just one label, not sure) before he hit the big time. I'm sure it competed with much more deliberate album releases at the time it came out.

4. Leopold Stokowski And His Orchestra-Shepherd's Christmas Music (In Dulci Jubilo-A Baroque Concert, 1967)

Stoki plays for some shepherds at Christmas time. I hope they appreciate the effort.

5. Unknown Artists-That Man Over There (From The Score Of Meredith Willson's Here's Love 10" 33 RPM)

Another great track from that rare ten inch demo recording I dug up a couple months ago. Compare this version to what's on the official sound track and you can see how much it changed.

6. The Eric Rogers Chorale And Orchestra-Hallelujah (Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, 1964)

Nobody beats the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on this one, but they give it a good try.

7. Victor Borge-The Little Match Girl (Victor Borge Presents His Own Enchanting Version Of Hans Christian Anderson, 1966)

The headliner track today, something I shared out long ago and I'm bringing it back today. This LP of Hans Christian Anderson stories as 'remembered' by musical comedian Victor Borge way created for Eastern Air Lines, they love to fly and it shows!

8. The Hal Kanner Orchestra And Chorus Featuring Sylvia And Keith Textor, Dick Brown, Jerry Packer, Bernie Nee, The Four Ladies, The Four Gentlemen-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Love And Marriage, 1956)

I'd never heard of this group before turning up this LP. I was a little impressed at the list of participants, though to be honest the only person I really knew was Keith Textor. He got his own entry in the RCA Victor Stereo Action series back in the day. Not sure if this recording rises to the level of all that, but it's nice.

9. The Robert Shaw Chorale-RCA Victor Orchestra-Robert Shaw, Conductor-Ave Maria (Hallulajah!-The World's Favorite Choruses, 1977)

A nice version from a budget compilation. This might be the same as one I shared earlier, I didn't check it closely enough. maybe, maybe not.

10. Toy Band-Theme IV (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)

And the obligatory daily version of Greensleeves from this kiddie record with the random dialog bits included. Enjoy! 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 23

Day 23, who remembers the KLF, aka The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu? Their magic number was 23. I guess that doesn't matter much but it was the only thing that came to mind today. There is a little bit of a theme today, many of the tracks are by unknown singer-songwriter types with songs that have a winter connection of some sort. Enjoy!

1. The Kinsman Quartet-Go Tell It On The Mountain (The Kinsman Quartet, 1971)

This was a lot more interesting than I was expecting. They did a good job with this arrangement.

2. Gordon Bok With Ann Mayo Muir-Snow Gull (Bay Of Fundy And Other Songs, 1975)

This is more in the folk vein that the singer-songwriter category, but I thought it sort of fit in.

3. Archie Fisher & Garnet Rogers-The Winter It Is Past (Off The Map, 1986)

The first of the themed selections today. No idea who these guys are, which is the same with all the artists today. Maybe someone who is familiar with one or both of these folks can chime in with some info.

4. Jim Reeves-The Blizzard (40 Golden Greats, 1975)

Not a singer-songwriter, he just kind of snuck in here because I needed another song. But always good to hear from him.

5. Richard And Miche-In Silence Of Snow (Take A Chance, 1983)

I got the impression from the cover image that these two were married, but I have no idea really.

6. Toy Band-Theme III (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)

Our daily Greensleeves bit with an excerpt of story on top for good measure. I warned you there were a lot of these bits...

7. Eli Kaniel-The Insulted Winter (Eli Kaniel Sings For You, 1973)

Not sure if he wrote this or not, but I sort of figured it fit in here. I assume that's Hebrew he's singing since this LP is from Israel. Not sure what he means by Insulted Winter, and I don't speak the language so someone is going to have to explain it to me.

8. Odetta-Chilly Winds (Odetta At The Gate Of Horn, 1957)

Back to the folky stuff here with the well-known Odetta. Is this the oldest track in the pile today, I think it is.

9. Marsha Malamet-Coney Island Winter (Coney Island Winter, 1969)

The title track to our headlining LP today. I've visited Coney Island in the winter, and it really does look pretty lonely like that. Not like the beaches here in Florida where it's always a bit crowded.

10. Malcolm Dalglish & Grey Larsen-Christ Child's Lullaby (Banish Misfortune, 1977)

Our last selection today and the last of the themed selections.  Again, if you know who any of these folks are, please chime in and tell us all about them I love to hear about the folks whose music I share.

That reminds me, I got a comment recently on an old post from 2018 (which was actually a rerun from 2008) by a guy who's father played on the record in question. We exchanged a couple of emails and I was able to ID another Christmas record in the collection that featured his father's playing (actually the exact same tracks, but that's a long story). I love it when stuff like that happens, even if it takes eighteen years. Don't make me wait that long to hear about someone in today's share!

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 22

 

Howdy! Welcome to day twenty-two! Gotta be some good stuff in the pile today, I just know it. Let's dive in and see how deep the water is.

1. Leopold Stokowski And His Orchestra-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring (In Dulci Jubilo-A Baroque Concert, 1967)

We start with one of the great conductors and his take on a Bach classic. 

2. Red Garter-Jingle Bells (Santa's Musical Grog)

More musical grog from the man too cool to wear a black garter.

3. The Art Van Damme Quintet-The Things We Did Last Summer (The Many Moods Of Art, 1972)

This is the second version of this song by Art we've shared with you this season, only this time it's in stereo. I was surprised to find both versions in the same day at the same store, and they are both pulled from double albums! I was worried they were the same but give them a listen and you'll see that they aren't the same performance.

4. Tony Mottola-My Favorite Things (From "The Sound Of Music") (My Favorite Things-The Best Of Tony Mottola, America's Favorite Guitarist, 1975)

A not-really-Christmas track from America's favorite guitarist, or at least Enoch Light's favorite. Looks like I did a horrible job of photographing this album cover. I need to get my eyes calibrated back to a straight line.

5. The Rainbow Sound Of Bianco, His Harp And Orchestra-Greensleeves (Your All-Time Favorite Songs (As Chosen By Members Of The RCA Victor Record Club), 1964)

Who doesn't love Bianco and his harp? Certainly the members of the RCA Victor record club do, he was a popular offering in their club that wasn't available in stores. And if you really enjoy his style, he's got a full Christmas record that you can download right here, also a record club exclusive!

6. Toy Band-Theme II (March And Dance With Toy Band-My First Golden Record Library Volume 10)

Another short version of Greensleeves (same as the track above, sorry) with a little bit of weird out-of-context narration. You need some randomness in your life.

7. Bowmar Orchestral Library-Waltz Of The Flowers (Stories In Ballet And Opera)

Library music, and today's only Nutcracker representation.

8. Stuttgart Festival Band-William Harrison, Conductor-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Have Band Will Travel-Music Minus One Trombone)

Break out your trombone, I've got some music here that you need to complete.

9. Unknown Artist-Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (Mockingbird Flight, 1975)

An actual Christmas song, but one with no credits. Still very enjoyable.

10. Valery Lloyd-Watts, Piano-Cradle Song (Recital Favorites, 1978)

From an LP dedicated to the Suzuki Method of piano education. It's a nice little version and the cover is pretty nice, too. 

Is that it? I think it is. Plenty of goodies in the pile today, hope you found something to enjoy. If not, come back tomorrow, I've got more for you. 

MEGA