Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night

Hey all--

Life is too busy and fun for much more than to say Merry Christmas to all and may you have a wonderful holiday and a happy new year. Here is Wynton wishing you the same.

Peace all.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Holiday Music 09 Installment Two: For the Kids

Yes I said I would be posting about holiday music and yes I said I imagined it was going to mostly focus on jazz as that seems to be the mood I am in, but see we had this little snow blizzard thingy that changed things. First it resulted in a lot more time hanging inside with the boys (who basically had their holiday break extended to two full weeks by the snow) and that meant more holiday music oriented toward their tastes. And that means, you get to hear about one of my favorite kid holiday discs.

Now the Veggie Tales cartoons are not for everyone I realize, but I do find the humor to be of that special kind that makes both kids and adults giggle alike and that is true on A Very Veggie Christmas. The basic premise of the disc is that the various characters (yes they are all vegetables) are all gathering at Bob the Tomato's place for a sing off with each character singing a holiday song in a different style (kinda). This is complicated by the fact that (stay with me here) Larry the Cucumber was in charge of food and has ordered it from the Oscar the Polish caterer who runs notoriously late and so the food jokes run throughout the disc until Oscar finally arrives--with various wrapped meats.

I won't go on here--you will get the gist from the music and banter below featuring Pa Grape and Family, the French Peas (my personal favorite--anyone have a good French Christmas music recommendation BTW?), and the whole cast singing along with Oscar. It really is a good one for the kids--trust me that it has been well tested and approved by the boys in this household.

Veggies Talking

Go Tell It On the Mountain

More Veggies Talking

He is Born, The Holy Child

Still More Veggies Talking

The 8 Polish Foods of Christmas

And in case you aren't keeping track, it is almost time for Santa to take off!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Do you have anyone in your life who around this time of year notes that they had all their holiday planning done in July? And their shopping in August? And probably baked their cookies and sweets ahead and froze them in the sleepy days of September? Yeah, me too. And yes, I scoff at there sad, empty lives that leave them so much time to think about the holidays that far in advance and are unable to enjoy those things which are meant to enjoyed at the appropriate seasonal moments as indicated by the calendar. I mean really shopping for Christmas presents in August--haven't you heard of fresh tomatoes and corn?!

And are you not aware of the rule? You know the one: no singing Christmas songs or engaging in December holiday activities until after Thanksgiving! And really it is totally doable. See, here is all we have left to do:

• Send out Christmas letters and cards with appropriate personal touches added to various letters (or, more likely, we will just stuff them and send them so they go out before January).
• Finish shopping for the boys--luckily the "jolly old elf" takes care of the stockings so we don't need to worry about those (wink, wink).
• Deal with gifts for parents--struggle for idea with one set, and with how a digital frame works for the others (and then fall back on digital frame for both).
• Attend boys' recitals and holiday concerts.
• Go replenish the two pounds of butter we used up on Thanksgiving, get a few pounds of sugar and nuts for cookies--so many cookies--to be made and boxes stuffed and transported and delivered.
• Figure out presents for new nephew Nicolas and his big sister Ella.
• Make sure to find time to hang by fire and finishing reading The Christmas Carol to elder boys and other assorted holiday favorites to all as well as watch all the favorite holiday kid shows.
• Plan out all scrumptious-ness that will be prepared and eaten over days around Christmas.
• Try not to think too much about having to take it all down right after Christmas so we can get in the car and travel and focus on knowing we will be happy to be with our family once we get there.
• Gussy up this blog a bit with some holiday feel and make sure we post a lot on the Brothers K or The Artist will be disappointed that we posted less this year than last--it is all about progress and achievements for that one!

Totally manageable right? And really who wouldn't want to be busy this time of year--what are those other people doing now anyway? Spring cleaning?!

Holiday Music 09 Installment One: Carla Bley

Last year when The Room was still my virtual home, I did a series of posts on Christmas music which I imagined that I would make an annual feature--and indeed we shall--just here in the new space. We are particularly in the mood since we got a little snowy blizzard yesterday that involved snowmen, hot chocolate and of course hanging by the fire (one of the first of the year given the family room project--really, pictures coming). On to the music.

I am feeling that this year's look at holiday music will be pretty heavy on the jazz given what seems to be playing most often around our place. And it is going to start with a disc that came out this year and that I just recently acquired thanks to a rec from AccuJazz--which, by the way, has gobs or holiday jazz streaming if you are looking for such a site. The disc in question is Carla's Christmas Carols featuring Carla Bley (piano) Steve Swail (guitar) and the Partyka Brass Quintet. It is in many ways the perfect mix for me.

First, it is wonderful blend of jazz arrangements with a classical feel. The instrumentation is wonderful since, as someone who played trumpet for a long time, I love brass (but this is not your parents' brass quintet). It is mostly quiet, but with some nice upbeat tunes and moments within songs, but nothing schlocky like so many jazz holiday albums. As All About Jazz points out, Bley picks mainly traditional--that would be traditional, not boring--tunes and deals with them uniquely.

While others look for obscure Christmas tunes to lend themselves identity, Bley's choices are as conventional as they come—"The Christmas Song," "Ring Christmas Bells," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and "Jingle Bells" are but four of the twelve tunes that are so familiar as to be nearly Jungian. Still, this isCarla Bley, one of the great arrangers of the past half century, and her arrangements manage to tread the fine line between veracity and expansive, personal interpretation. There's no mistaking the "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire" melody of "The Christmas Song" but, while avoiding any "jazzin' up Christmas" schtick, Bley makes this an unequivocally jazz album, as flugelhornist Axel Schlosser lays down some bop-inflected lines during his solo.

Indeed. Here are a few samples starting with their beautiful version of "O Tannebaum" which opens the album, and then, one of my favorites, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (here, Part's I and II):

O Tannebaum

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Part I

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Part II

And if you are a Christmas music fan, a jazz fan and/or a classical brass fan, then, buy this album.