Merry Mancini Christmas
Henry Mancini
Like his good friend Esquivel, Henry Mancini mixed some mean orchestral Christmas cocktails. But where Esquivel was possessed by wackiness and whimsy, Mancini played things fairly straight and still managed to create a sound that defined his career and an era. Sadly, the selections here are pedestrian, even by the well-trodden holiday boulevard standards. “White Christmas,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” and “The Christmas Song” all benefit nonetheless from Mancini’s genius for timing and dynamics. Even the mundane “Frosty the Snowman” gets some new life breathed into him thanks to Mancini’s arrangement, and “Carols for Another Christmas” is a good example of Mancini’s hip restraint. Merry Mancini Christmas, while not the maestro at his best, still imparts some of that madcap, martini-era holiday spirit as only Mancini knew.
- The Little Drummer Boy
- Medley: Jingle Bells/Sleigh Ride
- The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
- Medley: Winter Wonderland/Silver Bells
- Medley: Frosty The Snowman/Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
- White Christmas (From The Paramount Picture 'Holiday Inn')
- Carol For Another Christmas
- Medley: Silent Night/O Holy Night/O Little Town Of Bethlehem
- Medley: God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman/Deck The Halls/Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
- Medley: We Three Kings Of Orient Are/O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)
- Medley: It Came Upon A Midnight Clear/Away In A Manger/The First Noel