Reception

Track listing

1. "Sleigh Ride
   Sleigh Ride
   "Sleigh Ride" is a popular light orchestral piece composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946; he finished the work in February 1948. Lyrics, about a person who would like to ride in a sleigh on a winter's day with another person,...
   
   " (Leroy Anderson
   Leroy Anderson
   Leroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler...
   
   , Mitchell Parish
   Mitchell Parish
   Mitchell Parish was an American lyricist.-Early life:Parish was born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky to a Jewish family in Lithuania. His family emigrated to the United States, arriving on February 3, 1901 on the SS Dresden when he was less than a year old...
   
   ) - 6:25
2. "The Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine K. Davis
   Katherine K. Davis
   Katherine Kennicott Davis was a composer, pianist, and author of the famous Christmas tune "The Little Drummer Boy".-Biography:...
   
   , Henry Onorati, Harry Simeone
   Harry Simeone
   Harry Moses Simeone was a distinguished music arranger, conductor and composer, best known for arranging the famous Christmas song "The Little Drummer Boy", for which he received co-writing credit.-Early years:Harry grew up listening to stars performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City,...
   
   ) - 5:47
3. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
   Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
   "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane...
   
   " (Ralph Blane
   Ralph Blane
   Ralph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.-Life and career:Born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blane was the son of grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School...
   
   , Hugh Martin
   Hugh Martin
   Hugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
   
   ) - 2:00
4. "Jingle Bells
   Jingle Bells
   "Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and commonly sung winter songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857...
   
   " (James Pierpont
   James Pierpont (musician)
   James Lord Pierpont was an American songwriter, arranger, organist, and composer, best known for writing and composing Jingle Bells in 1857, originally entitled "The One Horse Open Sleigh". He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Winter Haven, Florida...
   
   ) - 5:10
5. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
   Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
   "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie, and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934....
   
   " (J. Fred Coots
   J. Fred Coots
   John Frederick Coots was an American songwriter. He wrote over 700 songs.He is most famous for the song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", a song that became one of the biggest best sellers in American music history....
   
   , Haven Gillespie
   Haven Gillespie
   James Lamont "Haven" Gillespie was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. He was the writer of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" as well as "You Go to My Head", "Honey", "By the Sycamore Tree", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Breezin' Along With The Breeze", "Right or Wrong," "Beautiful Love",...
   
   ) - 4:07
6. "Go Tell It on the Mountain
   Go Tell It on the Mountain (song)
   "Go Tell It on the Mountain" is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers...
   
   " (Traditional) - 3:44
7. "Wassail Song
   Here We Come A-Wassailing
   Here We Come A-wassailing is an English traditional Christmas carol and New Years song, apparently composed c. 1850...
   
   " (Traditional) - 3:04
8. "Silent Night
   Silent Night
   "Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
   
   " (Franz Gruber, Joseph Mohr) - 4:12
9. "O Little Town of Bethlehem
   O Little Town of Bethlehem
   "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a popular Christmas carol. The text was written by Phillips Brooks , an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. He was inspired by visiting the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his...
   
   " (Phillips Brooks
   Phillips Brooks
   Phillips Brooks was an American clergyman and author, who briefly served as Bishop of Massachusetts in the Episcopal Church during the early 1890s. In the Episcopal liturgical calendar he is remembered on January 23...
   
   , Lewis Redner
   Lewis Redner
   Lewis Henry Redner was an American musician, best known as the composer of the popular Christmas carol "St...
   
   ) - 1:14
   • Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ on February 25 (track 1) & August 19 (tracks 2-9), 1969

Personnel

• Duke Pearson
  Duke Pearson
  Duke Pearson was an American jazz pianist and composer. Allmusic notes him as being a "big part in shaping the Blue Note label's hard bop direction in the 1960s as a producer."-History:...
  
   - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , celeste
  Celesta
  The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
  
  
• Bob Cranshaw
  Bob Cranshaw
  Melbourne R. "Bob" Cranshaw is an American jazz bassist. His career spans the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long association with Sonny Rollins...
  
   - bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
   (tracks 1-8)
• Mickey Roker
  Mickey Roker
  Granville "Mickey" Roker is an American jazz drummer. Roker was born into extreme poverty in Miami to Granville and Willie Mae Roker...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
   (tracks 1-8)
• Airto Moreira
  Airto Moreira
  Airto Moreira is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. He currently resides in Los Angeles.-Biography:...
  
   - percussion (tracks 2-8)