Ray Charles
The Spirit Of Christmas
Concord Records
www.concordmusicgroup.com

Frank Sinatra
Christmas With Sinatra and Friends
Concord Records
www.concordmusicgroup.com

Kermit Ruffins
Have A Crazy Cool Christmas
Basin Street Records
www.basinstreetrecords.com
By George W. Harris

These three enjoyable discs are great stocking stuffers for any fan of
Christmas, be it the ones that love this time of year for Santa, or the
birth of our Savior

Concord has been shoveling out stuff by Ray Charles by the bucket load,
and there’s been nary a clunker among them. This 1985 set has him in
the heady company of Rudy Johnson/ts, Kevin Turner-Jeff Pevar/g and
Freddie Hubbard/tp (!) for a bright stet that includes some churchified
versions of “Little Drummer Boy” and “What Child Is This.” Charles is
in fine form, and does an inspiring duet with Betty Carter on “Baby,
It’s Cold Outside.” A definite winter winner.

Sinatra’s disc is a hodgepodge of recordings from the Concord vaults,
putting together individual Christmas songs from kindred spirits like
Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett and Mel Torme. Ray Charles’ duet with
Betty Carter shows up again, and Tony Bennett’s famed duet with Bill
Evans on “A Child Is Born” pushes the significance to Christ, but
musically, it’s hard to beat. Torme’ does “The Christmas Song” as if he
wrote it (oh yeah, he DID!), and Clooney does a Bingless “White
Christmas.” The rest is Blue Eyes crooning through an obscure “The
Christmas Waltz” and “Whatever Happened To Christmas” among a few more
standard tunes. Interesting collection.

As the old saying goes, if you’re only tool is a hammer, all of your
problems are nails. Crescent City trumpeter/vocalist Kermit Ruffins
puts a ‘Nawlins spin on this cheerful and lively collection of carols.
Each song has that classic two beat punch, with Ruffins’ joyful trumpet
calling the angels to Bethlehem on “Silent Night.” His vocals are Louie
Prima jive at its best, most fun on his duet with Michaela Harrison on
“Baby It’s Cold Outside.” This disc will get you in a celebratory mood
for the happiest day in history.