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| Joe Gransden and his Big Band The Christmas Song |
With the first flurries of snow, the smell of wood burning
in an open hearth and a brisk winter chill settling into the morning air, everyone
is getting ready to enjoy a festive holiday season this year. Whether you’ll be
trimming a Christmas tree, stringing decorative lights on your house or
lighting a menorah these wonderful rituals are always better completed with
some holiday music playing in the background. I myself can’t wait till
Thanksgiving has past to bring out my stack of Christmas jazz. My collection is an eclectic mix of old and
new. Some of my favorites include Frank Sinatra’s A Jolly Christmas, Bing Crosby’s White Christmas, Ted Rosenthal’s Wonderland, Marcus Roberts’ Prayer
for Peace and a couple of collections Jazz
to the World and A Jazzy Wonderland
to name just a few.
This year I got a chance to preview the new Joe Gransden Big
Band Holiday recording The Christmas Song
and suffice it to say I have a new album to add to my holiday collection. The Atlanta
based bandleader/trumpeter/vocalist has put together a fabulous album with his knock
out big band and a gorgeous string section that is a must have for anyone who
loves their holiday music served up hot, jazzy and with some swing.
Balladeer Gransden has been leading his big
band since as far back as 2006. Keeping such a large group together for such an
extended period is a testament to Joe’s hard work and determination to preserve
the big band sound. His rotating group of first-call, local musicians are all standouts,
many of them performing nationally, some well-respected educators teaching a
new crop of jazz students at prestigious universities, all dedicated to the greater
sound of this big band.
Gransden has a medium timbre, silk glove of a voice that
has been burnished by long exposure and careful study of such vocal greats as Sinatra
and Bennett mixed with the more contemporary sounds of Bobby Darin and Harry Connick
Jr. He is an affable character who
engages with his audience with a self-deprecating humor and a million-dollar
smile.
On this album Gransden selects fourteen holiday songs, many
old-time favorites mixed in with a sprinkling of the blues. All are rendered bristling
and new by fresh arrangements that utilize the band’s big sound with a few augmented
by a lush string section.
The opener “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” finds
Joe’s mellifluous tenor fronting a rousing arrangement by Jeff Jarvis which
just propels you off your seat. The strong walking bass by Starkey and brief
but bright piano solo by Banks is complimented by a gorgeous string
accompaniment.
The children’s classic “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”
features a wonderfully swinging brass arrangement by Wes Funderburk with Joe
crooning away with true Sinatra swagger. The band cooks, as the big round sound
of bassist Starkey takes a solo before John Sandfort wails on his tenor.
Christmas can also bring the blues to some and Joe’s Sinatra-esque
“That’s Life” sounding version of the Charles Brown and Gene Redd “Please Come
Home for Xmas” is made all the more poignant with some stirring saxophone work
by altoist Mace Hibbard behind the Jeff Jarvis arrangement.
The band is given free rein to rock on the festive “Winter
Wonderland” on an Eric Alexander arrangement.
Perhaps my favorite on the album is the very hip Jim Basile arrangement
of the Nat King Cole favorite “Nature Boy.” The band just slays on this one and Gransden offers some of his finest trumpet solo work on this classic.
Starkey and Varnes keep the pace swinging and Banks accompaniment is subtle and
superb. Gransden’s voice is at his most sincere and he hits some
difficult notes with a polished panache.
No holiday album would be complete without a version of “A
Christmas Song” dutifully playing with a yule log burning in the fireplace in the background. No one can
approach the iconic sound of Nat Cole on this classic, but Gransden does a
credible job of singing it with humble believability. The big band is missing here,
but for the bass, the piano, Sam Skelton on flute and Jeff Jarvis' flugelhorn backed by a sea
of strings.
Another favorite is the slick arrangement by Wes Funderburk
on the hip “Cool Yule.” I’ve never heard this song before, but it will easily be
added to my Christmas song rotation at home. Here Gransden sings this swinger
with a cool aplomb, encouraging the trombone section before rendering his own soaring
trumpet solo. Vocalist John Hopkins lends his raspy voice near the end in a
short duet with Gransden for the finale.
The band is given another chance to use its multiple voices
on a frantic version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” with another spectacular
arrangement by lead trombonist Wes Funderburk. Tenor man John Sandfort gets the
call on this one and tears it up on his horn as the band pulses behind him. Gransden gets another
feature on trumpet which he uses to play a dancing solo that he brings to a
soaring climax. The band simmers to a
boil.
The album continues with “It’s A Most Wonderful Time of the
Year,” which is played in two different tempos.
The perennial “White Christmas”
has a Woody Herman, Four Brothers inspired, saxophone section feature, arranged by
Vince Norman, that just swings in wonderful synchronicity. Gransden offers a warm flugelhorn solo in contrast.
The heartwarming “Have Yourself a Merry Little
Christmas” is deftly arranged as a quartet piece by pianist Banks and opens
with a muted trumpet played by Gransden that he overdubs against his own mellow
vocal.
“Angels We Have Heard on High” is
played with a big boisterous sound by the big band. This Eric Alexander
arrangement calls for two trumpets at different registers often playing
simultaneously, with Gransden taking the lower register solo and lead trumpeter
Kevin Lyons taking the higher part, at times sounding very baroque in his attack.
The last two songs are both based on a Wes Funderburk
arrangement of “Holly Jolly Christmas.” Drummer Varnes leads off with a cadenced
snare solo that leads into a fun call and response saxophone duel between
altoists Mace Hibbard and Sam Skelton. The band is pumping on this and Gransden’s
vocal delivery is smooth and cheerful. They end the album with a brief reprise of
the chorus.
If you’re like me and enjoy a month or so of holiday sounds bellowing
throughout your home, then Joe Gransden and his Big Band’s The Christmas Song is a must have.
Personnel : Mace Hibbard, lead alto; Sam Skelton, alto
saxophone; John Sandfort, tenor saxophone: Mike Walton, tenor saxophone; Don
Erdman, baritone, saxophone; Wes
Funderburk, lead trombone, Tom Gibson, trombone, Kevin Hyde, trombone; Lee
Watts, bass trombone; Chip Crotts, lead trumpet; Clark Hunt, lead trumpet;
Kevin Lyons, trumpet; Hardin Butcher, trumpet; Melvin Jones, trumpet; Kenny
Banks Sr. piano; Neal Starkey, bass; Justin Varns, drums.
Strings: Violins, Mary Burndrett, David Edwards, Ginny
Respress Fairchild, Kathryn Koch, Angele Lawless, Patrick Ryan, Jessica Stinson
and Andy Zabrinski. Cellos: Barney Culver, Roy Harran, Strings Contractor:
Jonathan Wright. Strings Conducted by Jeff Jarvis.
Recorded at Brighter Shade Studios, Atlanta, GA by John Driskell
Hopkins and Thom “TK” Kidd
September 5th , 6th & 7th 2017.
