Herb Alpert: Christmas Album

For the past seven years, I have devoted a December post to a favorite vintage sleeper Christmas album. As readers know, I love the genre and how albums from different decades capture not only the season but also the feel of a decade and moment in time.

My pick this year is Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass: Christmas Album. Released in 1968, this one has it all—hip choir vocals and strings arranged by Shorty Rogers and tight trumpets by Herb. It's pure sixties pop. For years, this holiday album was out of print and cost a fortune if you could find it. Then in 2005, it was remastered and reissued by Shout Factory. There's a timeless, pink champagne quality to the music that both captures the yule's cheer and adds a playful feel of the Brass. What's more, the album includes one of my favorite Christmas songs: Burt Bacharach and Larry Kusik's The Bell That Couldn't Jingle. You'll find Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass: Christmas Album album here.

Here's Sleigh Ride...

 

Here are previous inductees to the JazzWax Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame...

2013—Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme's That Holiday Feeling! (1964)

Here are albums that have already been inducted into the JazzWax Holiday Album Hall of Fame... - See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2012/11/duke-pearson-merry-ole-soul.html#sthash.V0RZmXiQ.dpuf

2012—Duke Pearson: Merry Ole Soul (1969)

2011—Urbie Green: A Cool Yule Tide (1954). Out of print, I'm afraid, but here's a track...

Winter Wonderland

2010—Eddie Higgins: Christmas Songs (2004)


2009—June Christy: This Time of Year (1961)


2008—Jo Stafford's Happy Holidays: I Love the Winter Weather (1950s)