I'll be Home for Christmas
Let this album gently pull the holiday stress out of your season!
40 minutes (10 tracks) of secular Christmas tunes arranged for Jazz Orchestra. You'll hear acoustic piano, jazz trap set, upright bass, breathy saxophone, vibraphone, jazz guitar, and strings gently bringing back those old favorites like "Let it Snow", "White Christmas", and others.
The gorgeous cover art picture was graciously
provided by Jane Loughney, a local Washington state photographer.
You can view her work at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/janeloughney and this picture
specifically at:
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2321662190028906950jQoVbF.
Many many thanks to Ms. Loughney!!
1. I’ll be Home for Christmas
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Listen
Slow, almost wistful rendition of this classic Christmas song. For many
folks out there, Christmas time can be lonely. I am hoping that this arrangement
will draw families closer together such that they think of each other during the
holiday season even if they cannot be together.
2. Let it Snow
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Listen
This song is meant to be happy and playful and therefore I arranged it that
way. Straight-ahead arrangement with acoustic piano, upright bass, trap set,
vibes and jazz guitar. My hope is that this track puts a pep in your step all
through the holiday season!
3. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
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Listen
Slow, moody, smooth arrangement of this gorgeous tune.
4. Silver Bells
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Clean, upbeat arrangement of this Christmas tune. I was trying to achieve a
bell-type tinkly sound that would echo the main melody.
5. White Christmas
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Listen
Gorgeous lullaby arrangement of this wonderful Christmas tune. This is hands
down my favorite track on the album.
6. Winter Wonderland
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At first my wife didn’t like this arrangement at ALL, but I assured her that
it would grow on her and now she likes it (and that’s a GOOD thing).
7. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)
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Slow, smooth sultry rendition of this timeless classic. My musician friends
and I found it amusing that some of the lower sax notes sound like a tugboat
going out to sea. I left them in there because I thought they sounded cool!
8. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
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Straight-ahead rendition of this Christmas tune. I had the HARDEST time
getting good timing with the ride cymbal on this track. I finally trashed all
the ride cymbal work and redid it from scratch until I was happy with it.
9. Sleigh Ride
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Listen
Straight-ahead, sometimes double-time arrangement of this Christmas tune.
Listen for the flute melody halfway through. Reminds me of a little blue bird
singing along happy as a lark (but then he wouldn't be a blue bird anymore would
he?). Undoubtedly the most complicated tune on the entire album. You would not
BELIEVE how many chord changes are in this tune. I almost left this track off
the album because I wasn’t sure I could do it justice, but I hung in there and
with some cheering from my greatest fan, I managed to finish it.
10. Mary did you Know?
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Listen
Slow and meaningful arrangement of this gorgeous tune. Nylon acoustic guitar
takes the melody. This song is dedicated to Kris Marston since she loves this
song so much. I hope I arranged it to her liking.
For you "techies" out there:
This entire CD was produced using a
SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum EX sound card and
Cakewalk Home
Studio 2002 with the GP One Grand Piano SoundFont by Alan Cheung as well as other
jazz-oriented SoundFonts
from EMU. I then recorded .wav files of each track using
Cool Edit 2000 and the
Auditorium 1 reverb within the Audigy. Finally, I converted the .wav files to
.mp3 format using Cool Edit 2000.