Tony Bennett – Snowfall – The Christmas Album

What can I say?  It’s Tony Bennett!  This is Tony’s first and only Christmas album produced during the first part of his career.  Of course, Tony Bennett would come out of the shadows in the 90’s and 2000’s to restart a career that has defied anything that had come before.  Afterall, Tony is in the Guinness Book of Records for being the oldest person to release an album of new material.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto was born in Queens, New York in 1926.  Growing up poor and losing his father at age 10, Tony was surrounded by Italian immigrant family members that helped him get a start in the music business.  Starting to perform at 13, he set upon his desire to be a professional singer.  Having to drop out of school to help support his family, Tony Bennett was then drafted into the Army towards the end of the war.

After the war, he resumed his singing career, getting his first recording contract in 1950 at age 24.  His first few singles were #1 hits, and his career was off to a good start.  Tony Bennett quickly became a voice to contend with amongst the likes of already established singers like Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.

Tony Bennett released many albums on Columbia throughout the 50’s and 60’s.  He focused more on jazz arrangements rather than straight ahead pop arrangements.  His biggest hit “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” was released in 1962.

During the British Invasion of 1964, Tony found it more difficult to attain hits and his career was starting to fade.  Still, he released many albums throughout the 60’s on the Columbia Label.

When you look at Tony’s career along with the other standard singers of the day, he differentiated himself from the others through his jazz stylings.  His Christmas album, Snowfall – The Tony Bennett Christmas Album, is no different.  Switching musical directors from Ralph Sharon in 1965, this Christmas LP features the orchestrations of Robert Farnon.

The cover of this CD re-issue is different than the original LP.  Original artwork features a watercolor of Tony Bennett from the left side that takes up the whole image with a smaller watercolor of Tony looking up to the falling snow placed at the bottom.  The current artwork has been used on CD re-issues since the start of this one from 1994.

The original album features 10 tracks, and this CD has one bonus track.  The CD insert is very good!  Included in a 3-part fold out, are track listings with writers and publishers.  Original orchestra and choir members are listed by name, listed by instrument.  You don’t find that too often on a CD re-issue of something that was originally released in 1968.  Also included are supervisors, engineers, producers, etc.  So, I have to give the artwork and information guys kudos for their efforts.  The only information missing is recording dates.

Comprised of Christmas standards, the album opens with My Favorite Things, from “The Sound Of Music”.  Although not really a Christmas song by lyrical content, by Tony Bennett including it on his Christmas album, he made it so.  It presents a strong opening for this album.

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) features a more traditional, lush arrangement with Tony giving it a classic treatment.  This is one of 4 songs on the album that were recorded in London England.

It always seems that some songs are more suited to one singer than another, and initially I thought Tony Bennett singing Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town would not be a song that would suit his vocal stylings as well as other performers, but here he does a great job of communicating the child-like sentiments that the song evokes. Even allowing himself to chuckle child-like while delivering the lush, big band arrangement.

A medley of Christmas songs follows with lush orchestrations and a vocal choir that sounds eerily like the Percy Faith Singers.  The CD liner notes include a list of the choir personnel but does not name them as the Percy Faith Singers and I cannot find any verification on that, but they do have that Percy Faith sound.

The 5^th track features a song titled Christmasland, written by Dennis & Brian Farnon, Robert Farnon’s brothers who were also orchestra leaders.  I believe this song was written specifically for this album for it doesn’t show up on any of my other Christmas CDs.

The 6^th song, a medley of I Love The Winter Weather / I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm is another song recorded in London and one of the stand out selections on this LP.  The arrangement combines the two songs so that the opening selection also closes the song.  A very nice arrangement and one of my personal favorites of this CD.

White Christmas is probably one of Tony Bennett’s more popular Christmas songs, appearing on many Christmas compilation CDs.  It features a big band arrangement over traditional orchestral arrangements.

The final song on the CD is the title track, Snowfall.  The song was originally the opening track on the LP and why it was moved to the end of the re-release is anybody’s guess.  The CD’s track order is the same as the original album, except for this one change.  Originally written as an instrumental by Claude Thornhill, lyrics were added later by Claude Thornhill’s wife Ruth. 

Once again, in my opinion, some songs are performed better by other artists, and here, Snowfall, which traditionally has a very lush arrangement, is better suited to a softer, female voice.  I think Doris Day did the best job with the vocals than anyone else.  Not to say Tony Bennett doesn’t do a good job here, he does.  He gives it his signature style and delivers one of the softer arrangements of this LP.

The CD release includes one bonus track, the song I’ll Be Home For Christmas, performed live on MTV’s The Jon Stewart Show from 1994.  This was when Tony Bennett’s career saw a resurgence among younger listeners who had never heard of him before.

I like Tony Bennett.  He has a unique voice, and he prefers more jazzier arrangements of the standards than other singers such as Perry Como, Andy Williams or Bing Crosby.  He does a great job here with his first Christmas offering.  (Tony Bennett would produce 2 more Christmas CDs later, one in 2002 with the London Symphony Orchestra and another in 2008 with the Count Basie Big Band.  Look for those sometime later in this blog’s future).

As for me, Tony Bennett is one of the best singers of Pop Standards and I find his Christmas selections very welcoming during the Christmas season.

I give this CD :

*****