Download "All About That Bing" from the Jive Aces FREE via Facebook. (Thanks to Sounds of Christmas for the tip).
Claudia Burson grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Classically trained, her style of Jazz is Old School. Clean and elegant. She's got a Bebop soul with the sophistication of a Bill Evans. You don't find all that much good Christmas Trio Jazz and you almost never find it free. The Claudia Burson Trio's brand new release "Peace" contains a few wonderful Christmas/Winter songs. There must have been an overload because the group is making this full length Christmas album, "Joy", available for free streaming and/or download. The only downside is that there is no "full album" download that I could find--the songs have to be downloaded individually. But it's worth it. Head to Claudia's web site to listen and download "Joy" or to purchase "Peace".
It's not often you see a free Christmas song that features the legendary Pacquito D'Rivera, so, when you do, you grab it. Cuban born Pacquito D'Rivera is the winner of five Grammy Awards and seven Latin Grammys. Though he's recorded some great Bebop, he's mostly known for his contributions to Latin Jazz and Classical music (he's the only artist ever to win Grammys in both Latin Jazz and Classical categories). He performed "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" on the 1981 Columbia release "God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen".
On this live recording of "Jingle Bells", Pacquito plays with the American Saxophone Quartet. The arrangement is excellent, the performance sublime. Any lover of Jazz will enjoy this free gift from Sons of Sound, an independent music publisher, production company, and record label.  See, the reason I'm actively trying to not post music that some of my Festive Friends are posting is because I want you to visit them as often as you visit here. More so, even. I love what these folks do. Be it Brigitte at Lie In The Sound, Jim at Christmas Underground, Guuz and friends at Christmas A-Go-Go, "Rudolph" (Francis) at Mistletunes or any of my other favorite holiday haunts, they've got unique tastes and insights and they each find plenty of stuff I would never find without them. It's not a "credit" thing; its about rewarding the effort. Trust me, there's a lot of effort involved. And there's plenty of stuff out there (and an infinite supply of ear destroying garbage) that we could all go our separate ways and never duplicate. Now, as Jim has pointed out, there's nothing inherently bad about overlap. Sometimes, its a very good thing. But I also think its cool that we push each other to dig deeper (I am never getting to bed before daylight again until after Christmas, am I?). All that said.....
There is just some stuff I need over here for my own head. And this find from Guuz over at Christmas A-Go-Go is one of them. Jazzy Funk and Deep Hip Hoppy Soul from Higher Hands, a Maryland group. "Christmas On Hudson St." has five tracks, including what I believe is the first cover of Sharon Jones' great "Ain't No Chimneys In The Projects". I love these dudes. And I don't think "I Saw Three Ships" has ever been so funked up. Dig it! An instant download at Bandcamp. Technically, The Parmesans are a Folk Pop trio from San Francisco, but this mix of tunes from a Charlie Brown Christmas has more than a little Jazz in it. I suppose that's nearly unavoidable if you really like Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack. It starts as "Linus & Lucy" (always my favorite from the special anyway), but they'll get to "Christmas Time Is Here" if you hang in for a bit. Nice sound whatever you call it.
It ain't always easy to find good Christmas Jazz that's also free. But there's, for sure, some out there. James Oakwood makes a lot of music in a lot of different styles, but I dig this Jazzy Bluesy Funky holiday groove from the Oak Man. "Minutes After Midnight" is all the more remarkable when you realize that that's all him, all the instruments and vocals. Ah, the marvels of modern technology. Technically, "Minutes After Midnight" was last year's James Oakwood Christmas single. This year's track is "Xmas Hamper", much more a Progressive Rock deal, but also plenty good. Its Christmas. So remember to feed your head. And James Oakwood's Christmas songs are a nice way to do that. "Minutes After Midnight" is free on Soundcloud. "Xmas Hamper" is free on ReverbNation.  I'm speechless. Wow. Let me say, first, that this collection contains 42 tracks and I have neither the time nor energy to listen to them all right now nor to type them all out. That said, there is some truly amazing music on this collection.
Ordinarily, this is the type of collection I'd breeze right past. The cover art tells you that this is, essentially, Video Game music. And, ordinarily, Video Game music is presented 8-bit style, which can be fun in small doses, but not over 42 tracks. But that's not what you get on "Super VG Christmas Party". There is music, here, of many stripes--inspired by video games, but fully produced and...just amazing. Over 100 musicians from around the world were involved in recording the music, here. The Symphonic Rock music I sampled puts the Trans-Siberian Orchestra to shame. There's Ambient and Indie Pop. There is at least one track with an Americana influence. And then there's a perfect union of Jazz flute and shredding Rock guitar on my favorite track (so Far), "Holiday Haze" by The Returners. To be sure, there were some tracks I didn't care for. But with 42, I think you're likely to find several you'll love. And its all FREE. My personal favorites of what I've sampled included "Holiday Haze", "Snow Dancing In The Schoolyard", the mellow as heck "White Crossing", the Jazz guitar "Esto Gaza", and the hard rockin' "Flight of the Santa Man". It does appear to be all instrumental, if that bothers you. But still....FREE. Check it out on Bandcamp.  Hanukkah's coming. Be here afore you know it. I usually try to post a few free Hanukkah songs before it comes, but I've been hoarding all my Hanukkah presents because I don't want to run out before the holiday does. Remember, we like doing an eight night countdown on the front page. I think we're good--I don't think we'll need our own Hanukkah miracle to last the eight nights. But, just to be on the safe side, I've been hoarding a bit. Still, surely we can give you at least one free Hanukkah track now.
This nice trio Jazz recording of "Ma'oz Tzur" ("Rock Of Ages") is from Rick Hirsch. Rick not only composes music and plays sax, he also teaches music (should you be wanting the sheet music for "Ma'oz Tzur", you should have a look around Rick's website). He's played with some of the greats--Clark Terry, Tito Puente, Phil Woods, Max Roach, The Temptations, The Four Tops--and written music for many others. In addition to "Ma'oz Tzur", free on Soundcloud, you can find several more Christmas and Hanukkah songs (though not generally for download) in Rick's Soundcloud feed. Hot Club Jazz is Jazz in the tradition of Django Reinhardt. It's generally a swinging acoustic kind of Jazz centered on guitar and violin. Among others, Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, Billy Tipton, and Jimmy Rowles all called Spokane home. Who knew that Spokane had such a long and proud Jazz history? Apparently not too many folks. At least that's what the members of the Hot Club of Spokane learned by talking to the people of the city and surrounding areas. The Hot Club's bandleader and guitarist, Garrin Hertel is also the publisher of Nostalgia Magazine, devoted to the history and culture of the local area. He believes its important that the citizens of Spokane learn of the city's prestigious Jazz history so that they might keep it alive and pass it on to future generations. And, to that end, Hot Club of Spokane is currently raising money via Kickstarter to record a CD that will feature the Jazz music written and/or made famous by Spokanians of the past (Spokanites? Spokaners?).
As a bit of a warm up, Hot Club of Spokane has dropped a few Christmas songs for all to enjoy, including the most famous Christmas song of all time made popular by the most famous Jazz singer from Spokane, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas". Of course, this group does it Hot Club style. In addition to "White Christmas", Hot Club of Spokane has provided winning covers of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "Baby Its Cold Outside", "Christmas Night In Harlem" (as "Christmas Night In Hillyard"), and "Zat You Santa Claus". All are available free through Soundcloud. If you like what you hear, be sure to support the band by helping them reach their Kickstarter goal.
|
The FREE ListHere we hope to direct you to some of the Christmas music on the web that can be yours absolutely free. We will not direct you to mp3 or sharity sites, here, but only to artist sites, label sites, and other authorized and unquestionably legal locations. Archives2010 FREE List Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
