Six String Santa (LaserLight)

Joe Pass

Released in 1992

JazzTimes 10 Classic Jazz Christmas Albums

YouTube:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lzVf4BQGfme0Co9lJE4UNFtg7nbFdLl2M

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/1SXRnss2fnudVkXZrVxIJX?si=sB9YW_a3RnmqlYSRRJqGyQ

About:

This is one of guitarist Joe Pass’s more obscure late-period records. Pass and his regular working quartet of the early ’90s (rhythm guitarist John Pisano, bassist Jim Hughart and drummer Colin Bailey) perform a variety of famous Christmas-related songs, plus his own “Happy Holiday Blues.” The tasteful renditions swing and include quartet pieces, some two-guitar duets and a few unaccompanied solos from the great Pass, resulting in one of the better Christmas albums around.

Track Listing:

1. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne) 03:39

2. (There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays (Robert Allen / Al Stillman) 03:58

3. White Christmas (Irving Berlin) 03:14

4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional) 03:20

5. O Christmas Tree (Traditional) 03:31

6. Angels We Have Heard on High/Joy to the World (Traditional) 04:36

7. Happy Holiday Blues (Joe Pass) 05:16

8. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear (Edmund Sears / Richard Storrs Willis) 04:28

9. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (J. Fred Coots / Haven Gillespie) 04:45

10. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ralph Blane / Hugh Martin) 04:36

11. Winter Wonderland (Felix Bernard / Dick Smith) 04:13

Personnel:

Joe Pass: lead guitar

John Pisano: rhythm guitar

Jim Hughart: acoustic bass

Colin Bailey: drums

Recorded February 2, 1992, at Stage & Sound Studios, Hollywood, CA

Produced by Ralph Jungheim

Engineer: James Mooney

Second Engineer: Jerry Wood

Editing and Mastering: Bill Lightner

Review:

One of Joe Pass’ final recordings before his 1994 passing, Six String Santa is a quartet date featuring the legendary guitarist’s last band (rhythm guitarist John Pisano, bassist Jim Hughart, and bassist Colin Bailey). For Pass, who could get all the accompaniment he needed out of his own guitar, this qualifies as a fleshed-out ensemble, but he makes it sound both stripped-down and charming. Includes perhaps the warmest rendition of “O Christmas Tree” ever attempted in jazz, Guaraldi’s included—complete with a cascading masterpiece of a solo.

Michael J. West (JazzTimes)