[Harp-L] "In a Yuletide Groove" is a kick-ass Christmas album

["William Lifford, CP" <william.lifford@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all Harp-L'ers,

Saw the posts earlier this month on Chris Bauer's "In A Yuletide Groove" 
CD and thought I'd chime in.

I ordered this album from Amazon (digital download, only $9, not a bad 
deal at all) last week and I have listened to it maybe thirty times 
since then.  I think it is a fantastic album and well worth the money.  
I know someone had posted that the songs are too familiar and that 
lesser-known Christmas tunes should have been used, but Christmas is one 
of the few holidays where there is actually a 'standard repertoire'....  
so, even though I have heard many versions of these songs, I prefer 
these on "In A Yuletide Groove" because (a) they have harmonica, (b) 
they have *awesome* harmonica and not just 'meh' harmonica; and (c) the 
band *kicks ass*.  Even if you are tired of the actual songs,  the 
quality of the harmonica and the band make this a no-brainer to put into 
rotation in your music collection.

The album is beautifully recorded and the sound of the band is amazing.  
Chris's chromatic harmonica is toneful and he is really superb 
musician.  As a blues player primarily, I have no idea how to do any of 
the things Chris can do on the chrom, but I love listening to it.  I 
like the uptempo songs the best.

On "I'll Be Home For Christmas", the harmonica sounds like a small 
orchestra with softly playing horns and clarinet.   I think Chris is 
tongue-blocking only one hole (instead of the two or three holes us 
blues chrom players usually do) and playing the two adjacent notes to 
the blocked hole.  Chris, can you explain your technique on this?  Also, 
he gets great vibrato on the ends of these harmonizing notes (or is it 
intervals?  I don't know anything about music theory).

"Frosty" begins with some harmonica band playing as an intro, with bass, 
chord, and chromatic harmonica... and then the song kicks in with 
tongue-blocked octaves.  Awesome.

  "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town"  features Rob Paparozzi singing and 
playing diatonic harp, trading licks with Chris on the chrom. It's a lot 
of fun and Rob throws in a few Sonny Terry-style whoops in there.

All in all, a pretty awesome album of Christmas music with toneful 
harmonica and great in-the-groove playing.  I do agree that many 
Christmas albums sound as if the artist "phoned it in", but not this 
one.  Highly recommended by me and easily worth the nine bucks for the 
download  (since my opinion is awesome).

Bill

--
William Lifford, CP
Progressive O&P, Inc.
1111 Willis Avenue
Albertson, NY 11507
516-338-8585
www.ProgOandP.com