Song:Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Album:Gotham City
I am always asked about jazz Christmas albums. So I thought I would do this classic by jazz legend Dexter Gordon. The only problem is it was never released on one of his albums and there's an alternate take which only confuses matters. As many fans are aware, Gordon moved to Europe in the 60s. He returned to the US in 1976 and signed with Columbia Records. Of course Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is a Christmas classic first performed by Judy Garland in the 1944 film Meet Me In St. Louis. Gordon recorded it in 1980 around the time he recorded the album Gotham City. But it wasn't recorded for that album. It looks like it was recorded for the 1981 various artists Christmas jazz album God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen. The musicians are different too. Musicians on Gotham City are Woody Shaw on trumpet, Cedar Walton on piano, George Benson on guitar, Percy Heath on bass and Art Blakey on drums. The band on Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas appears to be Gotdon's touring band at the time of Kirk Lightsey on piano, David Eubanks on bass and Eddie Gladden on drums. This band also appears on the 1982 album American Classic released on Elektra Musician. Gordon recorded a shorter alternate take that appears on some various artists comp. When Sony re-released Gotham City in 2012, they added both versions of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas as bonus tracks. The album is available as a digital download. It was soon after this that Gordon began to have health problems. And he also starred in the 1986 film Round Midnight which got him an Oscar nomination. He died on Apr. 25, 1990 at age 67. Here's a video of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Dexter Gordon.
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