When bandleader
Stan Kenton was approached to record an album of holiday music in 1961 he agreed, on one condition -- no songs about singing snowmen or flying reindeer. The resulting album,
A Merry Christmas, is a polyphonic masterpiece that is at once progressive and traditional. Included are such well-known classics as "O Tannenbaum" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as well as lesser known gems like "The Holly and the Ivy" and "Once in Royal David's City." Featuring
Kenton's idiosyncratic style of arranging piercing trumpets over a wooly blanket of trombones and mellophones, this is beautiful, forward-thinking and angular music that addresses both complex classical harmony and
Basie-style swing. Epitomizing this is the intricate and delicate harmonic dissonance on "O Come, All Ye Faithful," a must-hear for Kentonites. As a bonus, the album includes
Kenton regular trumpeter
Maynard Ferguson's stellar 1960 medley "Christmas for Moderns," which features the high-note master's hip takes on such other holiday nuggets as "White Christmas and "Jingle Bells." Fans should also get a kick out of
Kenton's humorous 1963 spoken word piece "What Is Santa Claus?." ~ Matt Collar