Christmas In July 2026-Part 34

Here we are on the 34th day of Christmas in July, it's not even July anymore but I'm still finding more stuff to share with you. In fact, I found eleven leftover tracks from last Christmas in July that I never got around to sharing! If you were around then, you might remember that I had a couple dozen of those arrangers' demo albums to share, many of which had a dozen or more tracks which made it hard to get them all shared in my allotted time. When the end of the month came along, I had these eleven tracks left, but they were almost all from the same company and from only a small handful of different albums. If memory serves, I had to go somewhere near the end of the month and was unable to post for a few days. I intended to post more when I returned but never got back into it. So those tracks have sat there unused for a year now and I figured I'd sprinkle them into the pile and make this year's sharity go a little further. Still going to have to duplicate some albums from day to day, but it's not as bad as doing it all in one day. Wish I had remembered I had those unused shares earlier in the season, but better late than never. Let's see what's in the stack!

1. Hylo Brown & The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers-Little Footprints In The Snow (Hylo Brown Meets The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, 1963)

We start the day off with some bluegrass featuring a couple of established artists joining forces on a great track.

2. Hoagy Carmichael With The Pacific Jazzmen-Arranged And Conducted By Johnny Mandel-Winter Moon (Hoagy Sings Carmichael, 1957)

The headline track of the day is the great Hoagy Carmichael. I really love that cover picture of him, huddled over that piano like he's tuckered out after a long piano recital. He doesn't have the best voice (like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits) but he makes up for it in feeling. He wrote a Christmas song that I've heard as performed by The Mills Brothers, I wonder if he recorded it at some point himself? Yes, looks like he did, and I shared it here, but it's not him on vocals. Looks like I actually shared out the track in question today sometime back nine years ago, but it was from a reissue, this time I've got the original LP.

3. Reginald Foort, F.R.C.O.-Nutcracker Suite: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies (Waltz And Ballet, 1956)

The Nutcracker nut of the day is from this organ spectacular album. I think this is also the last track from this LP I have to share with you. Getting closer to the end so I'm wrapping up a lot of different series pretty quickly. Can't have any loose ends, unlike last year...

4. Stuttgart Festival Band-William Harrison, Conductor-Greensleeves (Have Band Will Travel-Music Minus One Trombone)

The last of the play-along tracks from this album. Anybody out there play trombone? I don't think I know anyone who ever played that instrument.

5. The Drew University College Choir-Lester Berenbroick, Director-Carolyn Kessinger, Double Bass-This Day A Child Is Born (In Concert)

I kind of like the simple green cover of this one. The music is OK, but I was really drawn to that cover. I think if you put a great cover on a mediocre record, it sells better than a great record with a mediocre cover. You can't help but judge the book by it's cover sometimes.

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

Don't ask me which version of Ave Maria this is, I don't remember. They all seem to run together.

7. Mary O'Hara-Song For A Winter's Night (Mary O'Hara At The Royal Festival Hall, 1984)

I almost made this the featured LP today but I really liked that picture of Hoagy so I went with that. I think this is a Gordon Lightfoot song that's not very well known, but I always enjoy it when I hear it. This is supposed to be a live album, but the applause sounds dubbed in to me and the music sounds like it's from the studio, not the concert hall. Your mileage may vary though.

8. Jenson Publications-I Saw Three Ships (Superior New Works For Concert Band-Vol. IX, 1981)

And now we get into the leftover tracks. As I mentioned, these are all demo recordings of fancy arrangements being marketed to high school bands. They're not bad, but they're often simplistic and frequently faded out out long before the song is over. Can't be giving away complete tracks that somebody might try to steal and share during Christmas in July 45 years later...

9. Jenson Publications-Snow Trail (Superior New Works For Concert Band-Vol. IX, 1981)

Another song from the exact same album as the last one. Just go back and read what I wrote above one more time.

10. Jenson Publications-Christmas Greetings (New Music For Concert Band-Volume 27-Easy Edition, 1990)

At least this one is from a different LP, but it's still more of the same. That's all I've got for you today, so take it or leave it. Thanks for stopping by, we'll see you tomorrow. 

MEGA