An entire album of Christmas Jazz guitar? Free? Thank you Santa! Visit Chuck Anderson at his home on the web.
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I can't help but think it's really cool that Stubby's gets visitors from all around the globe (might even be getting more if I paid a little more attention to the International page). One of the sites that sends us a lot of traffic is the German site, Lie In The Sound. Brigitte Kloiber does a heck of a job there. And, from time to time, they've credited us with finding a song or two. Long past time to repay the favor. Lie In The Sound has been doing an Advent Calendar (or "Adventskalender", with commentary provided in both German and English...how cool is that?). And, very recently, they featured this terrific song from Annette Berlin. Her voice is a bit like Zee Avi's with a touch of Macy Gray. and the song has the feel of a standard done modern. You'll see what I mean. The backing vocals really make the whole think work, in my opinion. Lie In The Sound cautions that "Christmas In Berlin" may not be the winter wonderland or the marshmallow word the song would have you believe. Pick up the song on Bandcamp. And pay a visit to Lie In The Sound to get a whole bunch of other great stuff we've missed around here. Sarah McLachlan does Christmas music well. So well. This terrific new original eclipses even her beautiful full-length "Wintersong", I think. Well, maybe that's a bit strong. But "Space On The Couch For Two" is a really great song (written by the students of her school of music) and it's free. For charity. Free for charity? How does that work again? Well, the idea is the song is free, but Sarah is hoping you'll feel the spirit and drop a dollar in the pot. Sarah's raising money for her free school of music for children, something she decided was necessary when schools began cutting all their art and music programs because at least one party in government (and probably both) don't see the value. Damn DC punks. Anyway, watch the cool video, then head over to the web site Sarah set up for this. Whether or not you contribute is entirely up to you. Admittedly, I just grabbed the song. One of the best (and most fun) sites to go searching through, if you're looking for something completely different, is WFMU's Beware Of The Blog. WFMU is a listener supported independent radio station in the Northeast that has a completely free-form format--meaning the announcers there play anything and everything, pretty much as the mood strikes them. Beware Of The Blog features recordings that are not just a little off the beaten path--these recordings have never been anywhere near a path, beaten or otherwise. If someone once pressed to vinyl the sounds of their precocious little rugrats raising hell or if some label once upon a time thought an album of music to crochet sweaters to seemed like a good idea, these recordings will eventually find their way to Beware Of The Blog. Bob Purse, who has his own blog--The Wonderful And The Obscure--is a frequent contributor to the WFMU blog and he's the one we can credit for uncovering this long lost gem. His own blog has been featuring song-poems for quite some time and the Vellez label was known to have issued song-poems, but that wasn't the only thing they released. "My Christmas Won't Be So Blue" (backed with "Jingle Bells") does not appear to be a song poem release. The Allison Sisters were daughters of a North Carolina Methodist minister, it appears, and they recorded and released a very few sides in the late 50s and early 60s. Their Christmas single bears a radio station notation of "12-12-61", indicating this was released in 1961. If you're like me, you are constantly looking for something....well, to use Bob's blog title, Wonderful And Obscure. The Allison Sisters qualify on both counts. Go find, listen to, and download if you like it, "My Christmas Won't Be So Blue" and "Jingle Bells" at WFMU's Beware Of The Blog. An independent artist from Ireland, Nina Hynes has paused in her recording of "Goldmine" (expected for release on vinyl early in 2012) to create this special cover of "Christmas Time Is Here" from "A Charlie Brown Christmas", with the help of Fabien Leseure. Nina's always had a thing about using sounds in unusual yet magically musical ways and she's absolutely managed to capture something quintessentially Christmas here without in any way altering Vince Guaraldi's original intent. You can download Nina & Fabien's "Christmas Time Is Here" on Bandcamp (as a "name your price" download) or via Soundcloud (thanks to the Irish web site Nailer 9). We were tipped to this one by our friend Ernie of Ernie (Not Bert). Seems Donny & Marie Osmond are touring with a live Christmas show...Chicago, Detroit, Broadway. They may not be coming to your town this winter, but Donny has a present for you anyway. It's a new Christmas song that he and Marie sing in the show. "If Everyday Could Be Christmas" is yours free for the asking. But you gotta ask. Nicely. Send Donny an email at [email protected] and ask. Nicely. And you'll get a sweet early Christmas present from Donny--bring your own wrapping paper. It's a classic Christmas song, too--the kind of thing you could easily hear Andy Williams singing. I listened very hard and I didn't hear Marie on this track, so I'm guessing she only sings it in the show, not on the mp3. Oh well. Can't have everything. December 1st is when Roger McGuinn lays his annual Christmas treat on us. Roger, of course, is best known for his work with the 60s Folk Rock band the Byrds. But, these days, it's pretty much all Folk for McGuinn. Still plays a mean Rickenbacker, though. For 2011, Roger has recorded "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and you can download it from his Folk Den. Look off to the right and you'll notice there are 19 "Seasonal" tracks available (although the most recent before this one was, I believe, a tribute to Spring. You'll also find tunes suitable for the season under "Spiritual" and you might find a few more scattered throughout. How bout something traditional? I'm crediting the vocalist Kelly Longmire on this one, though the song is the thing. "Christmastide's Coming Soon" is a new composition from Dan Fergus and Andrew Lidgus (that's Andrew on the piano) and it's Fergus and Lidgus who are making the song available as a free download through their web site. They reason that folks are getting tired of hearing the same old Christmas standards over and over again and so they set about to write a new Christmas standard. There isn't much information on Fergus and Lidgus on ferguslidgus.com, and their Facebook page just says that they write songs. Not much online about Kelly Longmire, either. She may or may not be a singer from Chicago who has done some backup work for R&B singers and done a bit of gospel on the side. May or may not be. Well.... It's a nice song. And it's free. A "boy band" of a different sort, Libera is a group of UK children brought together in angelic song. The non-profit choir features roughly 40 boys aged between seven and sixteen at any given time, performances usually featuring about 19 of them. They are recruited from throughout the greater London area, from all walks of life and any and all religious denominations. Libera evolved from the long choral tradition of the Anglican parish of St. Philip's. In the mid-80s, the choir began to record non-traditional music, releasing a full album in 1988. In 1995, choral director Robert Prizeman first attached the name "Libera" to the choir after what was to become their signature song, the Libera Me portion of the Requiem Mass. Prizeman has been instrumental in Libera's ever growing popularity through his original arrangements of traditional music as well as his many original compositions--often written with specific soloists in mind. Libera is releasing their first ever holiday set, "The Christmas Album", on November 1st of this year, though the boys have appeared in a support role on the Christmas albums of Aled Jones (and on "The First Noel" from Neil Diamond's second Christmas album in 1994, when they were known as "Angel Voices"). As a preview of "The Christmas Album", EMI Classics is offering a free download of "Joy To The World". Sign up for your free download here. 1. Prelude 2. Veni, Veni, Emmanuel 3. The First Nowell 4. Christmas Improv 1: Snow Outside Is Falling 5. Cantique de Noel 6. Interlude 7. Un Flambeau, Jeanette Isabelle 8. Coventry Carol 9. Christmas Improv 2: Cocoa At The Fireside 10. W Zlobie Iezy 11. Ukranian Bell Carol 12. Christmas Improv 3: Icicles 13. Stille Nacht 14. Postlude ARTIST SITE If I were listening to it cold, which I was, I'd call it a New Age album, so that's what I'm gonna call it. New Age got a bad rap when both the term and the music were overdone back in the day. But, done right, there's nothing that hits the sweet spot any sweeter than a good New Age Christmas album. And this little project is mighty sweet.
Truth is, Matt Wheeler's solo piano "Christmas On The Northshore" owes more to his Church background than to a genre whose best days were likely before his birth. Homeschooled in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this son of a Bible software programmer (and Homeschool Choir director) and stay-at-home mom, Matt is currently working towards a Masters Degree in music in Duluth, Minnesota. He also teaches music (at his very own studio), composes original music, scores films, blogs, and is working to spread the Homeschool Choir experience to anyone interested. "Christmas On The Northshore" demonstrates the kind of tender touch Christmas music is too rarely afforded and Matt's playing is alive with genuine spirituality. As New Age music goes (yeah, I'm sticking with that), this is more Paul Sullivan than George Winston. And there ain't nothing wrong with that. In fact, my initial mental analogy upon first listen was that this album was a Minnesota answer to Sullivan's "Christmas In Maine", one of my very favorite Christmas albums. It's absolutely free at Matt's web site--don't even have to bring your email address. Just Matt's Christmas gift to the world. Somewhere, a Little Drummer Boy is feeling a tinge of jealousy...and admiration. Now if Matt's sister plays harp like Kim Robertson....... |
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
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