Christmas music is timeless. Except for patriotic music, most other styles of music lose their impact as time goes by. If you look at top 100 charts from each decade, each chart is different. None of the music of one decade stays popular into the next decade. Last Sunday on our drive home from celebrating Thanksgiving in North Carolina, Kathy and I listened to some of our favorite Christmas music. Here is some of mine:
The Many Moods of Christmas - Robert Shaw with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus
Handel's Messiah - the Christmas portion
An Evening In December - incredible a capella music from the 80s
Christmas with the Annie Moses Band - wonderful young musicians
Jingle All the Way - Bela Fleck & the Flecktones - use a mixture of bluegrass, fusion of jazz, or anything else that catches their interest.
Il Divo - The Christmas Collection - an incredible men's quartet
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - Jay Rouse's wonderful arrangement for cello, piano & choir
Noel - Josh Groban - last year we performed Silent Night from this album - one of the best arrangements of this classic carol.
Christmas Colours - Maranatha Music - wonderful light jazz
Michael W. Smith - Christmas - one of the best
If On A Winter's Night - Sting
The Preacher's Wife soundtrack featuring Whitney Houston
The Wind Machine, a New Age bluegrass group - they have 2 Christmas recordings
The Christmas Album - David Foster, with a lot of wonderful artists
Anything from Mannheim Steamroller
As a musician, I have had the privilege of playing a lot of great Christmas music. Both in public settings as well as just for myself. I think being a musician gives you a greater appreciation for other musician's work. I will try and listen to at least a portion of each of the works from my list this year. If you are looking for some new Christmas music, go to iTunes and listen to samples of some of these albums. Merry Christmas.
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