"Jingle Bells" - Part 67 - Going Hollywood!

We head back to the 1950s and the R 'n' B field with "Jingle Bells" for this cut by the Jackson Trio issued on Hollywood Records in 1955:

That's very cool!

Here's the flipside, which features to Ebonaires vocal group:

An intriguing sound on that one!

The label credits Eugene Jackson on sax on "Jingle Bell Hop" and Freddie Jackson on vocals on "Love for Christmas," and as I understand it, they were brothers and various non-Jacksons filled out the trip at various times.

Whatever the case, I think those sides were first released on the Hollywood label, although they sound to my ears a little earlier than 1955. But not every rhythm and blues act was jumping on the rock and roll bandwagon.

Although the original record is hard to find, those tracks pop up quite a bit on various compilations. The 1956 LP at the top of the page would appear to be the first. (Dig the gift tag in the bottom right that reads "To Baby From Daddy." Is that "Baby" on the later cover at the bottom? 

It includes a lot of great tracks, most of which had been released on other independent labels and were later acquired by Hollywood Records.

The most famous number is also the earliest, the original version of "Merry Christmas, Baby" by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers:

Pianist/vocalist Charles Brown does the heavy lifting on the record (and probably wrote most of the song) and became associated with the song, which has had a ton of covers/remakes over the years.

Here's the label of 1954 reissue of the recording on the Hollywood to help illustrate:

That's a lot of rearranging, including losing the comma in the title!

Also originally on Exclusive is this great 1948 number by Mabel Scott:

I think that's awesome and it's been a mainstay of my 1940s Christmas playlist for years!

Of some note is that Mabel Scott was married to Charles Brown for a time in the late 1940s/early 1950s.

The label of the 1954 Hollywood reissue continues the trend of calling everything the "original":

The term original actually does apply here, as Patti Page released a cover of "Boogie Woogie Santa Claus" as the original flipside of her mega-hit "The Tennessee Waltz." A somewhat odd juxtaposition which caused later issues to include a different flipside!

The compilations also always include this one by pianist Lloyd Glenn and his Combo on Swing Time Records in 1951:

Just about every reissue I've seen of this cut just call it "Sleigh Ride," which I think leads to the tune being confused with Leroy Anderson's famous 1949 composition, but it's not an R 'n' B version of that song.

As usual, Hollywood's reissue adds to the confusion by calling it "The Original Sleigh Ride":

But whatever they're called and whatever label they're on, some great tracks!