By the time the calendar turned to the decade of the 1950s, "Winter Wonderland" was established as a standard, which led to more recordings in more genres.
We start with cool jazz exponent Chet Baker as part of his Quartet with a 1953 recording on the (aptly named) Pacific Jazz label:
I dig the sleigh bells! I guess Shelly Manne is playing them?
Next up from 1954 is Ralph Flanagan, leading his band with a Miller-esque arrangement from the RCA Victor various artists LP "To Wish You a Merry Christmas":
I think that's a nice record, but I imagine it would have sent Chet Baker and his boys running out of the room screaming!
To show it wasn't totally square in 1954, here's organist Bill Doggett with his R & B take on King Records:
A nice groove!
We move to 1956 with the mellow sounds of Jackie Gleason, from his "Merry Christmas" album on Capitol Records:
So lush and romantic!
Keeping the lushness going, we hit 1957 for this cut by Camarata from his "Winter" album on Disneyland Records:
That's really nice!
If any evidence is needed to show Tutti Camarata's versatility, we only need to listen again to the All Mouse Symphony from the same year:
I'll say it again - that's brilliant!
Still in 1957, we keep the raucousness going with British clarinetist Terry Lightfoot and his Jazzmen on the Columbia label:
"It's Trad, Dad!"
Moving ahead one year to 1958 but a few decades in jazz development, we encounter the modern jazz sounds of pianist Red Garland with his Trio from the Prestige album "All Kinds of Weather":
Still sounds fresh!
To close out the decade, here are the Three Suns with some space-age pop sounds from their 1959 "A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas" on RCA Victor:
That's the Suns' third time walking in "Winter Wonderland," as they recorded a ton of Christmas music!
So, maybe that's two handfuls, but some interesting sounds from the 1950s!
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