There are just too many Christmas records scattered around the blog’s world headquarters. Guess things get that way after 40-plus years. You find a couple every year while digging, and — BOOM! — you find yourself with 100 or so between the albums and the CDs.
Many I know by heart, so they get played less often. Last week, though, I pulled out the crate with the Christmas (and comedy) records and started playing some I haven’t listened to. Most are pleasant enough, but nothing to write home about. That said, here are a couple of cuts I enjoyed last week:
“Jingle Bells,” the Mistletoe Disco Band,” from “Christmas Disco,” 1978. I especially enjoy the Three Degrees/MFSB/”The Sound of Philadelphia” thing going on halfway through. It would not surprise me if the Mistletoe Disco Band was out of Philadelphia.
Of all the styles of Christmas music I’ve listened to lately, Christmas disco is the most fun and most vigorously resists being elevator music.
“Jingle Bells,” Jimmy McGriff, from “Christmas With McGriff,” 1963. Cool Hammond groove on this soul/jazz version arranged by McGriff, who was just 27, just getting started, at the time.
Please stop back for our traditional Christmas Eve and Christmas Day posts.
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