Music Review: Have a Merry Little Christmas by Al Hirt

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun, jazz filled arrangements of Christmas songs

Cons: Second half isn't as fast or inventive

The Bottom Line: 

Al Hirt, trumpet jazz

Combine for a great Christmas

Short, enjoyable

Jazzy Christmas Fun

I have the most eclectic Christmas music collection imaginable.  I've got quite a few CD's by artists I only listen to at Christmas time.  Since I grew up listening to them, however, they immediately push me back to happy memories of childhood.  Al Hirt's Have a Merry Little Christmas is one of those discs.  It's very short, but I do love it.

Al is best known for his trumpet playing and Dixieland style jazz.  And that's what you'll find with the nine tracks on this disc.  In fact, there is only singing on a few of them.  "Nutty Jingle Bells," which opens the disc is one.  There's a choir singing, and Al himself sings at times, doing his best Louis Armstrong impression.  No, i don't know what makes them so nutty, since the lyrics are pretty much the same as what you'd hear elsewhere.  But when the trumpet comes out, you'll find yourself tapping along.

On the other songs with singing, Al leaves it all to the chorus.  For example, the medley of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" and "Here Comes Santa Claus" features the choir quite extensively.  Again, it's an upbeat song with lots of trumpet.  The chorus does some humming of the melody through the first song once before singing out right.  But in the background you can hear Al making kissy sounds with his trumpet.  This is the only version of the song I have, and the few times I've heard another version, it just sounds wrong to me.  When they switch to the second song, Al plays it through once and then the chorus starts singing with bits of trumpet here and there.  It's a very fun track.

Now, the choir is still around for some of the other songs.  Take for example "Sleigh Ride."  While Al has the melody with his trumpet, they are humming background music over the piano and other instruments that are playing along.  This one is fun because of how Al manages to trill his trumpet.  I don't see how any man can play the instrument like that, but it sound lovely.  There's also a section where what must be a xylophone is played, and it adds an unique touch.

The choir occasionally gets to sing on the other tracks.  For example, in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," they sing the title a few times at the beginning and again near the end.  Nothing else, however.  Instead, they are providing backup to Al's fast, fun trumpet playing.

The first five tracks are very fast, but things slow down for the final four.  It's interesting since when this was released as a record, these last four tracks were on side two all by themselves.  (And when it was a record, it was just called Have a Merry Little.  They didn't add Christmas to the title until the CD rerelease.)  The choir sets to sing quite a bit on "Silver Bells."  After a play through once, they sing with Al and his trumpet provide more of a background.

But the choir is completely gone on "The Christmas Song."  Instead, it's an orchestra and sleigh bells providing the background to the trumpet on melody.  And Al still manages to get some fun trills in on this song.

The opening notes of "O Holy Night" are actually on a harp, but it's not long before there's a full orchestra backing up Al's trumpet.  He plays this one mostly straight, and it does sound beautiful.  Likewise, "Silent Night" is quiet, mostly straight forward arrangement, although this time the main backing instrument is a piano.

But these two songs highlight my biggest problem with the disc.  All the upbeat, fun songs are in the first half.  As much as I love them, I get a little bored with the second half.  I love to listen to this one on shuffle, however, because then you do get things mixed up.

At only 9 tracks, this one comes in at just barely over 24 minutes.  You don't get a ton of music for your money.  But what you get is very good.  Sadly, it appears this CD is out of print, at least for the moment, which means you'll pay even more for these songs.

Right out of college, I went for a few years without Al Hirt and Have a Merry Little Christmas.  As soon as I got it, I realized just what I had been missing.  This is a fun way to jazz things up and put a different spin on the songs you hear all the time during December.

CD Length: 24:09

Tracks:

1. Nutty Jingle Bells

2. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer

3. Medley: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus/Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)

4. Sleigh Ride

5. Santa Claus is Coming to Town

6. Silver Bells

7. The Christmas Song

8. O Holy Night

9. Silent Night