And to All a Good Night

This is definitely the Christmas CD to get if you want something jazzy and hip and not the same old same old. Of the dozen songs here, I think the only one that was familiar to me was Irving Berlin's "Count Your Blessings." Didn't know there were so many appropriate popular tunes for the holidays that didn't make the sophisticated listener grimace.

Clipper Anderson reports that he's known as "Mr. Christmas" around the house and has been collecting these tunes for some time now. He feels they deserve a wider audience, and hopefully this album will aid in that. "The Bells That Couldn't Jingle" came from a Christmas album by the Tijuana Brass, and "Where Can I Find Christmas" from the movie for TV The Bear That Slept Thru Christmas. So you can get an idea where Anderson came up with some of these.

Some top compositional talents are represented: "It's Christmas Time" is Victor Young's, Henry Mancini penned "Every Christmas Eve," and "November in the Snow" is from bandleader/arranger Billy Mays with words by Mark Murphy. Burt Bacharach is the source of the closing "Christmas Day." As you can see by the credits, this was a family affair for the Ivesters. All the performers are top rate; this is an unexpected and most enjoyable CD.