'A Classic FM Christmas' - The Ultimate Classical and Jazz Album
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 | Product Details: Release Date: 01 December 2008 Record Label: Universal Classics Rating:   Sales Rank: 5700 | | Look for similar items by category:
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| | Customer Reviews: Something for every Christmas mood (20 December 2008)It looks like a bizarre mix: Louis Armstrong (the wonderful " `Zat You, Santa Claus ?") and Russell Watson (Panis Angelicus) on one Christmas album. Classical and jazz together: you probably wouldn't want to listen to them together in one sitting. But as a collection of festive music you wouldn't want to be without at Christmas, this two-CD album really works. I'm not a huge jazz fan, but the selection contains well-known tunes from classic artists - Eartha Kitt (`Santa Baby'), Oscar Peterson (`A Child Is Born') and Nina Simone (`Little Girl Blue') among many others, all sounding sharp and fresh. The classical CD has carols, classical pieces and `modern classics' such as "Walking In The Air", with performances from the likes of All Angels, the Choirboys, King's College Choir and Katherine Jenkins. Over forty tracks in all on the two CDs - excellent value, with something for every Christmas mood. 'Jingle jazz, jingle all the way' (29 November 2008)While maybe not the `Ultimate' Christmas Album from Classic FM - they have for many years released a new festive selection and I'm sure this won't be the last - this is certainly one of the most innovative thanks to its combination of traditional classical hymns and a selection of familiar festive music arranged jazz style, one disc being dedicated to each style of music. The `jazzing up' of Christmas hits is nothing new to the pop music world, and certainly forms part of the recording repertoire of most jazz musicians, but it's rarer to find a combination of the two on one album release of greatest hits, and in this case some truly great, all American, artists. Names like Louis Armstrong, Eartha Kitt, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Count Basie and many more endorse the quality of the jazz versions of familiar `chestnuts' (in the kindest festive sense of the word) such as `Santa Claus is Coming to Town' and `Jingle Bells'. The Classics too offer a set of tried and trusted favourites, plus a few contemporary songs by Patrick Hawes and John Rutter, and as with the Jazz disc are performed by well established household favourites like Katherine Jenkins, Jonathon Ansell, Aled Jones, Lesley Garrett, Hayley Westenra, All Angels, the great Pavarotti and loads more. Its great too to see Russell Watson's name on the tracklist and back in the Classic FM `good books', but I guess they could hardly leave him out considering he won the title of `Nation's Favourite Male Singer' in a 2008 listeners poll by the radio station! An excellent pairing of styles, complementing each other rather than contrasting, and well worth a venture even for those with only a slight interest in jazz music. Brilliant idea! (27 November 2008)Awesome!!!! I'm French but I'm a complete fan of U.S Xmas songs and Looooove Jazz, Ella being my fave so finding a Xmas song sung by her, Awesome! + I love traditional Xmas Carols too,especially the German ones mind you (I mean nothing beats the original Silent night or Stille Nacht by a German Choir )but hey I'm happy with English Carols too,so what a brilliant idea to combine Traditional and Jazz! Yeepee! :o) Could these not be released as seperate CD's? (24 October 2008)I know it always good to try something new, but some people hate Jazz (me included!) and some people hate classical. So is Classic FM not instantly limiting sales but combining both classical and jazz on the 1 boxset? Much better idea to have a Jazz Christmas and a Classical Christmas. Having said that, the classical end looks good, but I won't be buying it because of the jazz disk! I can't really sell a jazz CD that I don't want on its own without the rest of the set! Well, maybe I will, but I probably won't listen to the Jazz disk! |
