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The combination
of Big Bands and American traditional music is as much a
part of our heritage as Motherhood and Apple Pie. The
great bandleaders of the Swing Era routinely turned to their
roots for inspiration. Benny Goodman serenaded audiences
with Sweet Georgia Brown, couples swayed to Tommy
Dorsey’s Deep River, and Glenn Miller gave us
his rendition of Little Brown Jug.
In Swing Out Santa,
Clark Murray carries on the tradition he began in Swing
Out America with Swing arrangements of Yuletide melodies. The
orchestration of these melodies features two distinct Big
Band ensembles—a Hot
Band consisting
of the classic complement of trumpets, trombones and saxophones
and a Cool Band which
showcases clarinet and trombone sections accompanied by
vibes.
Murray finds
the inspiration for his Swing arrangements in the popular
West Coast Big Band venues leading the revival of Swing—notably
San Francisco’s Top of the Mark and the Beverly Hilton’s
Coconut Club. This album represents a new direction
for Murray, whose first two critically-acclaimed releases, Coeur
du Soleil and Yosemite Journey, followed New Age
stylings.
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