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Peter: Happy holidays, T-Bone! Does anyone call you T-Bone? If not, I’m gonna start it. Did I ask you that already? Maybe I already started it. Today we’re doing a classic Christmas album, it’s Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas! There are a few songs on here that are holiday classics, but I was not familiar with the rest of the album. How about you, T-Bone?

Tyler: T-Bone is acceptable. T-Money, also welcome. Other monikers negotiable.

This one was new to me! All of the songs here I knew as performed by countless other artists, not the immortal Ella. Kinda crazy.

Peter: I wasn’t at all familiar with her story, but she lived quite a life. Wikipedia says that as a teenager, “She worked as a lookout at a bordello and with a Mafia-affiliated numbers runner.”

Tyler: Being the lookout at a bordello has gotta be a tough gig. Better than being on janitorial, I guess.

Peter: Agreed. It also says she spent time in “the Colored Orphan Asylum” in The Bronx. Yikes.

Tyler: Oh dear. Not promising.

Peter: Spoiler alert: she became a famous singer!

Tyler: Talk about a triumph.

A legendary singer at that. One of the greats.

Peter: They should make a movie about her. They probably have but I didn’t see it.

Anyway, Allmusic promises “This is as good as jazz Christmas albums get.” I don’t listen to a lot of jazz Christmas albums so I’ll have to take their word for it, but let’s get to it, shall we?

Tyler: Let’s indeed. “Jingle Bells!”

We are off to the races.

Peter: Yeah, it’s got a great bass line. Great momentum. The whole band is great.

And she sounds great, of course!

Tyler: Along with the background singers, who go rogue with counterpoint lyrics.

Peter: Yeah, they’re fun.

Tyler: I also love the randomness of concluding with “I’m just crazy ‘bout horses!”

Peter: This song was written in 1857!

Tyler: That’s pre-Brill building, no?

Pop-culture roots humor!

Peter: It’s why people love us!

Next up is “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”

Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie! Coots and Gillespie, the Lennon/McCartney of 1930s Christmas music, I assume.

Tyler: You hate Santa, right? Along with Rudolph and Frosty?

Peter: My Grinchiness proceeds me.

Tyler: What foul spirit has come to mock the season! Thy name is Peter!

Peter: Yes, you are correct. I will say, I think this version of “Santa Claus, etc.” is absolutely the right approach to this kind of material. It’s light and fun without being schmaltzy.

Tyler: Fitzgerald riffing on Santa’s red suit is delightful.

Peter: It is. I actually genuinely like this version. It’s that good.

Tyler: “Santa Claus, etc.”, outtake from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Next up is “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” They’ve stripped away the doodads and goofery, and what’s left is a fine and lovely version of a pleasant classic.

Peter: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is probably my favorite secular Christmas song. This version swings and swaggers in a way that I don’t think I’ve heard elsewhere. It’s an interesting interpretation.

Tyler: It’s punchy.

Peter: It is.

Tyler: It’s got an energy that is unusual for this song. I like it!

Peter: Funny story, the line “until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow,” was later changed to “hang a shining star upon the highest bough,” at Frank Sinatra’s request. He was recording a Christmas album and wanted to “jolly it up,” a bit.

Tyler: I’ll be damned!

When the Chairman spoke, folks listened.

Peter: Amen.

Tyler: “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” asks our next song. I’ve long thought this one has a special melancholy.

Peter: For sure.

Tyler: This is another comparatively stripped-back production that really pleases the ear. Not overdone, not dressed up, just the woman singing a torch ballad over a perfect, smart band.

Peter: It’s great, but I’ll tell you what my problem is. I don’t like the holidays intermingling, Tyler. I like this song, but I don’t want it on a Christmas collection. Let New Years have its own album, I say!

Tyler: “‘Auld Lang Syne’ And Other Hit.”

Peter: It’d be a double a-side single. That’s all we’ve got.

Tyler: The next Christmas song here is another quietly-actually-non-Christmas song. “Sleigh Ride.”

Peter: It’s true! I think we talked about this a little when we did Christmas Gift For You.

Tyler: I think you’re right. Things haven’t changed! The fight rages on!

Peter: The Ronettes made this song a classic, but this version is also good.

The horns are fun.

Tyler: I like it. It’s not overcooked. I expected more cheery backup vocals.

Peter: It’s kind of slinky? I agree, it’s a fun take on it.

Next up is “The Christmas Song,” co-written by “the Velvet Fog,” Mr. Mel Tormé!

Tyler: This is kinda Nat King Cole’s song to lose, ain’t it?

Peter: Yeah, for sure.

I like the vibraphone? Xylophone? There’s precious little info on Wikipedia about the musicians backing her up. Whatever/whoever it is, I like it.

Tyler: Classic, cozy song, warmly delivered. Thumbs up.

Peter: Next up is “Good Morning Blues.” I don’t have any facts about this song and I was not familiar with it going in.

I think it’s the only non-classic on here?

Tyler: It’s a solid swanky li’l tune. I’d certainly never heard of it before.

Peter: More fun horns. It’s very jazzy. I like it, but it’s not very Christmasy, I must say. (She does mention Santa, but still).

Tyler: She wants her baby for Christmas. One side, Mariah.

It’s tough to write a good Christmas song. Many a great artist has failed miserably at the task.

Peter: It’s true.

Next up, it’s another “Not really a Christmas song” Christmas song. Right?

Tyler: “Let It Snow! et al.” No mention of Christmas anywhere. This is February music.

Peter: Doesn’t mention Santa once. Nothing about presents or trees. And forget about Jesus. This song has nothing to do with Christmas. Nothing. Nada.

That being said, I like it. It’s good. It’s a good song. Maybe we could put it on the New Years album.

Tyler: False! There is no mention of the new year! How dare you threaten the concept!

It’s a happy winter (?) tune.

Peter: So is the next one! It’s a two-fer!

Is “Winter Wonderland” a Christmas song?

Tyler: It’s another fraud. Fraud!

Peter: The lyrics to this are weird.

Tyler: Parson Brown is the only parson I know.

And he’s only a snowman.

Peter: Yeah, it’s confusing. There were two sets of lyrics and they sort of got mashed up. Per Wikipedia: “The snowman mentioned in the song’s bridge was changed from Parson Brown to a circus clown, and the promises the couple made in the final verse were replaced with lyrics about frolicking.”

Tyler: Ah yes. Frolicking.

Peter: Scandalous!

Anyway, it’s a weird song. But, Ella sounds great here! No surprise.

Tyler: Yeah, she’s batting 1.000.

Peter: This is a damn good album. I feel like I’m at a very hip party.

Tyler: Up next, another of your all-time favorites!

It’s “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

Peter: If I know Dasher, and Prancer, and Donner, and Vixen, how in the hell would I not know “the most famous reindeer of all?” It doesn’t make any sense, Tyler!

I know Pippen, and Rodman, and Longley, and Kerr, but who’s this Michael Jordan people keep mentioning?

I mean…

Tyler: Whaddayou know about Rudolph, and his nose? Ms. Fitzgerald would like to know.

Peter: I do like this version. She has a real way with these classics.

Tyler: She’s killing them. Christmas albums can be real schmaltzy. This one isn’t.

Peter: That is very true. Absolutely.

Tyler: You excited for our next track, Peter?? Yet another of your personal favorites!

Peter: “Frosty the Snowman.”

Tyler: Every year at this time you get to be visited by all these old cherished friends of yours. So sweet.

Peter: Yeah, I don’t like this song. And it’s not a Christmas song! Her version is about as good as it gets. Whatever. Let’s just move on.

Tyler: Not a fan of that jaunty backup croonery?

He could laugh and play just the same as you and me, Peter. Did he also pay taxes and brush himself off of cars?

Peter: He voted for Trump but told people he voted for Harris.

He’s concerned about the border!

He doesn’t pay attention to the Tweets.

Tyler: “I just wish he didn’t say that silly stuff.”

Peter: I do like this version. I shouldn’t be so dismissive. It’s good. She does no wrong here.

The whole album is Aces!

Tyler: It really is.

“White Christmas!” Another one suited for the Green Mill in Chicago.

Peter: Good call!

Tyler: It’s a terrific version.

Peter: I like this song a lot. It’s normally a bit more melancholy. This is another interesting interpretation. It’s a little more bouncy than we’re used to with this song.

Irving Berlin wrote this at the height of World War II. Hence the melancholy.

Tyler: I feel like, on this one, Ella dreamt of the white Christmas and got it.

Peter: I think we all did, T-Bone. And the White Christmas was inside of us all along. But not during other holidays, because they are their own thing.

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