Here's a bonus version of "Jingle Bells" to celebrate the 100th birthday of the handsome, trumpet playing bandleader Ray Anthony, who was born on January 20, 2022 and is still around!
Ray cut a ton of records in his day, but didn't get around to recording a Christmas album until 1995 with "Dream Dancing Christmas," which featured this version of "Jingle Bells":
In addition to Ray's trumpet, the album features a couple of his trademarks, the Glenn Miller style arrangements and the "Dream Dancing" title.
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| 19-year-old Ray Anthony (first trumpet on left) with Glenn Miller's band in the 20th Century Fox movie "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941) |
One of Ray's earliest jobs was playing trumpet with Glenn Miller's band as a teenager, so when the Miller style had a revival in the 1950s, Ray at least was qualified to use it!
And Ray had a best-selling series of albums on the Capital label back in the day with "Dream Dancing" in the title featuring lush versions of standards, so this treatment of "Jingle Bells" was a nice throwback in 1995 (was that really 27 years ago?)!
Happy birthday, Ray!
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