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Sal Mando
Dec-06-2007, 5:42am
Greatest Christmas of all time is----- #Charlie Brown Christmas. # #Listen to "Christmas time Is Here Again" by Vince Guaraldi Trio

AlanN
Dec-06-2007, 6:58am
Hipster's Holiday is cool - Satchmo (Cool Yule), Eartha Kitt (Santa, Baby), Bird (White Christmas), Mel Torme (Christmas Song), others.

For mando related that I know of:

Grisman - Acoustic Xmas (of course)
NME - Gifts (great jazzy Sleigh Ride)
Loose Ties, Ben Winship on mando - a Christmas recording they did

Martin Jonas
Dec-06-2007, 8:13am
One of my favourite Christmas albums, and with quite a bit of mando on it, is "Drive The Cold Winter Away", by Horslips.

Of course if we are talking hardcore mando, there's also Pettine's "Christmas Song", recorded wonderfully by Alison Stephens on Con Espressione (http://www.astute-music.com/notes/as05.htm).

And then, there is this (http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/c/Pettine/all/1) CD of Christmas music played by a mandolin orchestra, but I haven't heard it and can't say whether it's any good.

Martin

John Uhrig
Dec-06-2007, 8:30am
For the past few years my favorites have been:

The Jethro Tull Christmans Album &
The New Mandolin Quartet----Christmas

JEStanek
Dec-07-2007, 1:04pm
My personal favorite is Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio too. #The best one... depends upon who ya ask and how they feel at the moment. #My other top picks are a Sir Georg Solti Messiah and the Carols from Trinity for choral works. #Dawg's Christmas CD is good fun too... #James Brown's Funky Christmas has its charms... John Doan's Wrapped in White has great old carols on a w i d e variety of vintage instruments. #Then there's the Medieval Baebes Mistletoe and Wine... or Finest Kind's Feasts and Spirits with readings from a Christmas Carol mixed in...

For a guy who's outlook often resembles Charlie Brown's I sure do like Christmas music. #It's funny, the tunes I remember the best are carols.

Jamie

edit: My favorite CBC track is Skating. I did the bass runs on it. I bet it would sound cool on mando.

DMosher
Dec-07-2007, 1:14pm
Not much on mandolin content but... #Bruce Cockburn's CD Christmas is a classic.

Jim MacDaniel
Dec-07-2007, 1:14pm
My all time favorite classic Christmas album is a toss up between Johnny Mathis, or The Nutcracker, and no Christmas in our household is complete without either.

My favorite quirky, as well as my favorite mando-heavy Christmas recording, is the Klezmonauts' Oy to the World (A Klezmer Christmas) (http://oytotheworld.com/).

I am also looking forward to getting the mando-heavy A Christmas Spanking (also available as MP3 downloads) (http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Spanking-Asylum-Street-Spankers/dp/B000MV9OLS/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1197051351&sr=8-1) from Austin's Asylum Street Spankers, which I expect to find in my stocking on Christmas morning.

Bob Wiegers
Dec-07-2007, 1:14pm
Grisman of course. Then (for you hipsters) Sufjan Steven's box set. very cool mellow arrangements of classics, and some interesting originals.

Clyde Clevenger
Dec-07-2007, 1:20pm
The Cheiftans The Bells of Dublin. With Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Marianne Faithful, Nanci Griffith and Rickie Lee Jones it brings out the Good Santa in me.

mandohubris
Dec-07-2007, 1:21pm
You can't go wrong with the Nutcracker by the Modern Mandolin Quartet (I've got the original - they re-recorded it last year; haven't heard that one yet). And the Mair/Davis Duo has a good holiday album of mandolin/classical guitar duets.

For solo fingerstyle guitar instrumentals, there is the Mike Marshall CD, and check out Doug Smith's Christmas guitar. There is also a compilation of solo guitar Christmas music called Contemporary Christmas Guitar, by Doug Smith, Laurence Juber and David Cullen, that comes with notated and tabbed music. Its available at the Acoustic Music Resource (NFI). And there is always all of John Fahey's christmas albums.

Oh yeah, Emory Lester has a good christmas CD too with lots of mando, including a stunning version of Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel on Solo Mandolin. Anyone have a tab for that? Mr. Lester seems to play every instrument ever invented.