Four Christmas classics in one package – two from Verve, two from Chess Records! First up is the album Ella Fitzgerald Wishes You A Swinging Christmas – a wonderful Holiday album that's stayed fresh for years! Ella's got a perfect style to interpret these numbers – working with Frank DeVol and Russ Garcia in a set of lightly jazzy versions of Christmas favorites like "Sleigh Ride", "Jingle Bells", "Winter Wonderland", "White Christmas", "Frosty The Snowman", and one of the best versions of "What Are You Doing New Years Eve" ever recorded! The Sound Of Christmas album by Ramsey Lewis is a classic – and probably one of the best-selling Christmas jazz albums of all time! Ramsey and his classic trio with Redd Holt and Eldee Young serve up a tight set of grooves based around Holiday favorites like "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Winter Wonderland", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "The Christmas Song", and "Sleigh Ride" – and also carve out a few nice originals like "Christmas Blues" and "The Sound Of Christmas". Side one features the trio on its own, and side two features added arrangements by Riley Hampton – swirling around to expand the groove even more! Christmas 64 – also issued as Christmas Cookin – is as cookin a Christmas album as you'll ever find! Jazz organ giant Jimmy Smith works with Billy Byers to craft some sublime instrumentals that have his Hammond interpreting Christmas classics like "We Three Kings", "White Christmas", "Silent Night", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". If you know Jimmy from the time, you know that he can really make tracks like these groove nicely – and take them to places you never expected! Last up is the album Have Yourself A Soulful Little Christmas, from guitarist Kenny Burrell – on which he grooves nicely and gently over arrangements by Richard Evans, perfectly crafted in that soul jazz mode of his 60s work for Chess – not Kenny's most challenging format, to be sure, but proof that he often works better in a more structured environment than a freer one. Titles include "Away In A Manger", "My Favorite Things", "Little Drummer Boy", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "Merry Christmas Baby", and "Go Where I Send Thee". LP, Vinyl record album

Ramsey Lewis had such great success with his first album of Christmas instrumentals for Chess Records, he soon hopped back in the studio for a second record – but one with a very distinct difference! This time around, the trio's a bit unusual – in that it features regular bassist Eldee Young, but also the great Steve McCall on drums – a percussionist who'd later really flourish in the 70s, and gain great fame for his work in the group Air! The presence of McCall is no surprise, though – Malachi Favors and Muhal Richard Abrams also make appearances on early 60s Chess jazz albums – but it does give the record a nicely special sort of sound, as does the added instrumentation on some tracks too. About half the set features the trio, and the rest features a bigger group that's arranged by King Fleming and Will Jackson – jazz trio with a bit of strings, including some nice harp, and a touch of trombone from John Avant. Titles include "We Three Kings", "Snowfall", "Plum Puddin", "Little Drummer Boy", "Snowbound", "Egg Nog", and "Jingle Bells". LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet cuts for the Christmas season – a great batch of jazz, vocal, and R&B numbers pulled from the postwar years – excellent songs and singles from a time when the best sort of Holiday music was coming out on record, year after year! The set's a great addition to the ever-growing Bear Family Christmas collections – and like the rest, it really shows a strong understanding of what makes a great Christmas tune so great – not just a hit, or a familiar chart number from the past – but new takes on old tunes, or fresh songs that really show just how much Holiday music was flooding the record business back in the day! The package is great, with notes on each track – and titles include "Ole Santa" by Dinah Washington, "Mambo Santa Mambo" by The Enchanters, "I've Had A Very Merry Christmas" by Jerry Lewis, "Happy New Year Baby" by Johnny Otis, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" by Ramsey Lewis, "Christmas Ball" by Georgie Auld with Bill Darnel, "Jingle Bells" by Knuckles O'Toole, "Jing A Ling Jing A Ling" by The Andrews Sisters, "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson, "Come On Santa Let's Have A Ball" by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards, and "Mister Santa" by Dorothy Collins. LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet cuts for the Christmas season – a great batch of jazz, vocal, and R&B numbers pulled from the postwar years – excellent songs and singles from a time when the best sort of Holiday music was coming out on record, year after year! The set's a great addition to the ever-growing Bear Family Christmas collections – and like the rest, it really shows a strong understanding of what makes a great Christmas tune so great – not just a hit, or a familiar chart number from the past – but new takes on old tunes, or fresh songs that really show just how much Holiday music was flooding the record business back in the day! The package is great, with notes on each track – and titles include "Ole Santa" by Dinah Washington, "Mambo Santa Mambo" by The Enchanters, "I've Had A Very Merry Christmas" by Jerry Lewis, "Happy New Year Baby" by Johnny Otis, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" by Ramsey Lewis, "Christmas Ball" by Georgie Auld with Bill Darnel, "Jingle Bells" by Knuckles O'Toole, "Jing A Ling Jing A Ling" by The Andrews Sisters, "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson, "Come On Santa Let's Have A Ball" by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards, and "Mister Santa" by Dorothy Collins. CD