Christmas with the Bands

Tonight we have a quick collection of singles from the big bands of the 30s and 40s, starting with a singing duo who will be more familiar to people of my generation as television stars. They are Ozzie and Harriet before they were Ozzie and Harriet - when they were Ozzie Nelson, bandleader, and Harriet Hilliard, singer. On this 1935 Brunswick item they duet on the ubiquitous Jingle Bells. (Frankly, neither Oz nor Harriet was much of a singer.)

The Nelsons

Arrangers who wanted to make their scores seem extra-Christmassy tended to lead into the tune they were working on with a few bars of Jingle Bells. That's the case with the next two songs under discussion. The first one is the flip side of the Nelson opus - Santa Claus is Coming to Town. This is one of the few records by Joe Moss and his Society Dance Orchestra. The vocal is by Dick Robertson, who made a great many records during the 30s.

Frankie Masters

The next number is a particular favorite of mine - Hello, Mr. Kringle, here in a version by Frankie Masters and his band. This is from 1939.

Les Brown

We skip ahead a few years and to a much different sound world on Les Brown's 1946 recording of When You Trim Your Christmas Tree. We leave the bouncy numbers behind for this moody recording, which is reminiscent of the contemporary work of Claude Thornhill. Unfortunately, I don't know who arranged it, but the vocalist is Jack Haskell, who became a regular on Jack Paar's late night American TV show in the late 50s.

Finally we have two 1947 sides from Tiny Hill, a moderately successful band leader in the 40s into the 50s. He sings on Send Me Your Love for Christmas, and turns the chores over to Buddy Milton for Auld Lang Syne, our closing number.

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