Once again, it's that time of year to announce my choice for induction into the JazzWax Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame. This year marks the Hall's 15th season and one of JazzWax's oldest traditions.
This year, let's welcome Shorty Rogers's The Swingin' Nutcracker, a hip and happening original interpretation of Tchaikovsky's music. You'll find the album here.
The Nutcracker Suite was first performed in 1892 as a two-act ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. George Balanchine updated The Nutcracker in 1953, which had its premiere by the New York City Ballet on February 2, 1954, at Manhattan's City Center of Music and Drama.
CBS first televised Balanchine's Nutcracker, on Christmas Day of 1958. In 1959, the first stereo LP album set of the complete ballet, with Ernest Ansermet conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, appeared on Decca Records in the U.K. and London Records in the U.S. The New York City Ballet moved to the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center when it opened in April 1964 and performed its first Nutcracker there on December 11, 1964.
Four years earlier, two major jazz bands recorded jazz versions of the Nutcracker. Why not, since by then Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady, West Side Story and South Pacific were being given the jazz and big band treatment. On May 3, 1960 Shorty Rogers began recording his Nutcracker interpretation in Los Angeles for RCA. On May 26, Duke Ellington began recording his version for Columbia in New York. Billy Strayhorn wrote six of the arrangements and Ellington penned three. It's unclear whether Columbia had been tipped off about what Rogers was doing or whether the two labels' A&R chiefs had the same idea at the same time.
Either way, both albums were released during the holiday season of 1960. Ellington's version became the bestseller while Rogers's languished and disappeared for decades. I've always preferred Rogers's version. His interpretive score is inventive, daring and packs lots of swinging punch. Ellington's, by contrast, is pretty, but for me, it's wooden and plods along. The only delights come from the soloists. Rogers's rendition, by contrast, engages and has a strong passing gear. [Photo above of Shorty Rogers]
Here's the full album...
Now meet the rest of the JazzWax Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame, in order of their year of induction, with links to buy or listen. Most are probably also available at Spotify or on YouTube. Assembled and shuffled in Apple Music, they make a standout compilation playlist...
Inducted in 2021—Helen Merrill's Christmas Song Book (1991).
2020—Guitars for Christmas (2003).
2019—Christmas With the George Shearing Quintet (2003).
2018—Gap Mangione's Family Holidays (2005).
2017—Doris Day: Complete Christmas Collection (1964).
2016—Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas (1960).
2015—Two albums with the same name: Bobby Timmons' Holiday Soul and Don Patterson's Holiday Soul. Both trio albums were recorded for Prestige in Nov. 1964—the former on the 24th and the latter on the 25th.
2014—Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass: Christmas Album (1968).
2013—Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme's That Holiday Feeling! (1964).
2012—Duke Pearson: Merry Ole Soul (1969).
2011—Urbie Green: A Cool Yule Tide (1954).
2010—Eddie Higgins Trio: Christmas Songs (2004).
2009—June Christy: This Time of Year (1961).
2008—Jo Stafford's Happy Holidays: I Love the Winter Weather (1950s).
