"Jingle Bells" - Part 99 -With a Swing!

As we continue with "Jingle Bells," we run across a couple of pretty new versions that are based on classic records from the Swing Era.

We start off with the Airmen of Note, a terrific ensemble from the ranks of the United States Air Force Band. Their 2011 album "Cool Yule" featured Christmas songs patterned after big band hits.

Here's their take on "Jingle Bells":

That's a blast!

Leader Benny Goodman (left) with star drummer Gene Krupa

If the title of "Jing, Jing, Jing" wasn't enough, big band fans will immediately recognize that the arrangement is a takeoff of Benny Goodman's epic 1938 recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" on RCA Victor:

That's a classic by any standard. If anyone wants to know what the fuss about big bands was, play them that record!

Getting pretty close to the present day, we skip to 2019 for the album "O Howly Night" from Pittsburgh's Neon Swing X-perience with this version of "Jingle Bells":

That's also a blast!

The source material is a bit more obscure, but the title "Big Noise from the North Pole" will let aficionados know that it's based on "The Big Noise from Winnetka," a novelty duet by bassist Bob Haggart and drummer Ray Bauduc from the Bob Crosby band, as recorded on Decca Records in 1938:

That's just a unique performance!

Singer/leader Bob Crosby (far left) clowns around with Haggart and Bauduc!

To keep things interesting, Bob Crosby also recorded the song with the full band in 1940 (losing the "the" along the way!):

Bob's supporting vocal group the Bob-o-Links (get it?) included a young Johnny Desmond, seemingly light years before "The Stingiest Man in Town!"

And to keep it going, the talented bassist/arranger/composer/whistler Bob Haggart of "Big Noise" fame was much later the co-leader of The World's Greatest Jazz Band with former Crosby trumpeter Yank Lawson. 

The group recorded a Christmas album in 1972 titled "Hark The Herald Angels Swing," which featured this version of "Jingle Bells:

That's a fun cut from a fun album with stellar musicianship! I feel like I should know who does the Satchmo-esque vocal, but the liner notes don't say!

In any event, good job by the modern groups in keeping the spirit alive!