Christmas just isn’t Christmas without Christmas music. But it doesn’t have to be the same old pop tunes or traditional carols every year. Thankfully, there are plenty of Christmas jazz albums to choose from. Here’s just five seasonal sizzlers that will make your festivities swing.
Browse our full list of seasonal titles with our Christmas Collection
Louis Armstrong – Louis Wishes You A Cool Yule
The great Louis Armstrong never actually released a Christmas album, but he did cut a handful of supremely festive singles during the 1950s, which are collected on this hugely enjoyable compilation. Sung with a gravelly croon, “White Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland” – recorded with Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra – are as warm and sleepy as a glass of eggnog by an open fire. “Christmas Night In Harlem” and “Christmas in New Orleans” are brass-heavy Big Band fun brought to life by Benny Carter’s Orchestra, with Armstrong dealing serious chops on the horn.
Hippest of all, though, are the two tunes – “Cool Yule” and “Zat You Santa Claus?” – cut in 1953 with The Commanders, a jumping Big Band led by drummer Eddie Grady. Here, Armstrong is at the height of his powers, swinging hard and clearly having a ball as Grady and the boys tear it up with whip-smart energy. Christmas cracker, anyone?
Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas
The First Lady Of Song’s 1960 Christmas album presents a pristine selection of seasonal songs with not a carol in sight. With sumptuous accompaniment from a studio orchestra arranged and conducted by Frank DeVol, plus a small jazz ensemble, Ella interprets evergreen favourites, pouring forth her velvety tones like the richest cream on a Christmas pudding. If you thought Bing Crosby had the last word on “White Christmas,” try Ella’s gorgeously cosy version with tinkling vibraphone and a woozy, last-dance-of-the-night mood. Or check out the infectiously up-tempo “Jingle Bells”, transformed with hip rim-shot clickety-click and bongo rhythms while Ella effortlessly rolls out deliciously syncopated variations on the melody.
It’s the perfect balance of sentimentality and sophistication. And it really does swing. Ella retuned to the festive theme in 1967 with a second Christmas album, this time featuring all religious tunes – but her 1960 secular session is the gift that keeps on giving.
Vince Guaraldi – A Charlie Brown Christmas
Vince Guaraldi was a hard-working pianist on the San Francisco jazz club scene until a commission to compose a TV soundtrack changed his life forever – and helped define the sound of Christmas for generations to come. In 1965, Guaraldi was brought on board to provide the music for a Christmas special based on Charles M. Schultz’s much-loved Peanuts cartoon strip. The result was an utterly inspired suite of tunes old and new that perfectly capture the bittersweet mix of melancholy and innocent joy that permeate Schultz’s tales of Charlie Brown and co.
Deftly performed by a light-footed trio featuring bassist Fred Marshall and drummer Jerry Granelli, the soundtrack brings a gentle sense of swing and a cool melodicism to interpretations of traditional tunes including the German folk song “O Tannebaum” (aka “O Christmas Tree”) and presents gloriously catchy originals such as “Linus and Lucy.” Throw in a children’s choir on the wonderfully schmaltzy “Christmas Time Is Here,” and you have a timeless classic that still brings tears to the eyes.
Duke Pearson – Merry Ole Soul
As Blue Note’s A&R man and an in-demand producer, pianist Duke Pearson could probably have got away with recording whatever he wanted for the label. In 1969, that meant convening the crack rhythm section of bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Mickey Roker and recording an album of Christmas tunes injected with a hearty dose of jazz. Pearson’s genius as an arranger shines through on this quirky date. “Silent Night” is a lazily laid-back blues. “The Little Drummer Boy” is a feisty feature for Roker, built around his stunning snare work. “Sleigh Ride” generates a thrumming bass throb, with Pearson adding glittering celeste.
Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira provides an extra kick on a couple of tunes – transforming “Jingle Bells’ into a perky bossa and adding clattering bongos to a hyperactive “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” tackled at break-neck speed with just a hint of Oscar Peterson. The whole date pings with happy energy.
Samara Joy – A Joyful Holiday
Bringing the tradition of the Christmas album right up to date for the 21st century is singer Samara Joy, with her 2023 release A Joyful Holiday. Though still only in her early 20s, Joy brings an assured maturity to half a dozen 1950s Christmas standards, mixing the sounds of classic vocal jazz and ecstatic gospel. There are some inspired collaborations too. “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” teams her with pianist and alumnus of trumpeter Roy Hargrove’s band, Sullivan Fortner.
A dreamy “O Holy Night” features three generations of her own gospel-singing McLendon family. And a beautifully soulful live rendition of “The Christmas Song” is a breathtaking duet with her father, Antonio McLendon. A family Christmas never sounded so good.
Read on…The Story of Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas
Daniel Spicer is a Brighton-based writer, broadcaster and poet with bylines in The Wire, Jazzwise, Songlines and The Quietus. He’s the author of a biography of saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, a book on Turkish psychedelic music and an anthology of articles from the Jazzwise archives.