Acme Brass Co.
X-mas X-ing
© 2004 Kampini Records (825346440224)
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Jazz greats mix it up with Santa Claus. Five brass players and a jazz rhythm section cross Christmas Classics with Classic Jazz.
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A unique strand of "American" music parallels the "melting pot" or "tossed salad" metaphors for American society. This American brand of music mixes, blends, and often juxtaposes songs, fragments, and styles into new pieces. Many of my musical heroes are masters of the form: Charles Ives, Spike Jones, Frank Zappa, and Peter Schickele (in his "discoveries" of the works of P.D.Q. Bach.)
A similar tradition exists in the jazz world where composers write fresh themes over another song's chord progression and soloists quote bits of tunes during an improvisation.
With this CD, I've set out to create something with a foot in both the jazz and traditional schools, using Christmas melodies as the starting point. These selections don't sound like traditional shopping-mall carols, and I doubt they'd show up in any church service, but I hope the arrangements will entertain and gratify you while providing interest as entirely new creations built upon the tried-and-true.
(From the Liner Notes by Tom Kamp)
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Like getting four albums for the price of one
author: Carol SwansonWhat a blast! You know all of these songs, and you know none of these songs. The Acme Brass is flat-out fun on "X-Mas X-Ing," one of the more innovative holiday CDs to come down the pike. The five horns (trumpets/flugelhorns, French horn, trombone, bass trombone), piano, bass and percussion make some of the most amazing cross-blends of Christmas music available. So what's the story? This instrumental album's greatest strength lies in Tom Kamp's amazing arrangements. Using well-known holiday standards as starting points, Kamp has mixed, blended, and even juxtaposed song fragments and musical styles from other classic standards, creating brand new pieces. So, for example, The Acme Brass opens the 13-song set brilliantly with "Jingle Duke," which features a swingin' "Take the A-Train" melody and "Jingle Bells" floating on top. Duke Ellington definitely would have approved! "X-Mas X-Ing" is just full of delightful surprises. There are 42 songs crammed into about an hour, and you must listen closely to catch the various cross-references and asides. In addition to the excellent opening cut, my favorite tracks here include "The 12 Days of Christmas" done as 12-bar blues in all 12 key signatures, and "Santa Monk," which marries Thelonius Monk's "Blue Monk" with "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." Anyone who enjoys instrumental jazz, a gifted brass ensemble, and holiday music will get a kick out of X-Mas X-Ing. It's almost like getting four albums for the price of one!
A clever version of Christams standards- the thinking musicians Cd for the holid
author: Tracy DeRagonThere is nothing better than being surprised by Christmas music. At every turn of the CD, there was a clever combination of jazz standard and Christmas tune- my favorite-Blusette Isabella. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of more CDs to share with my savy musician friends! Thanks for a Christmas CD I can gladly share with my musician collegues and my children!