Go Tell It On The Mountain

Mark's AltXmas Playlist for 2005
CD cover art for Go Tell It on the Mountain/Blind Boys of Alabama; link to larger image CD cover art for Yule Struttin'/Blue Note Various Artists; link to larger image CD cover art for Christmas Collection/ Louis Armstrong & Friends; link to larger image
Once upon a time, I ran as fast as I could to get away from Holiday Muzak at the shopping mall. One of my earliest newspaper columns railed against the psychotropic effects of hearing Jingle Bell Rock twenty times a day. I risk convulsions and catatonia even now after brief exposure to that one. About a decade ago, something changed. I was searching for something. I began to hear clues in some of the schmaltziest songs. The grace notes were taking me somewhere. Every December I listened for it to come around again -- not the sight but the sound of that transcendent Star spinning in the silent night. That's how the AltXmas playlist began. Read more
Set 1

1. "Go Tell It On The Mountain"/Blind Boys of Alabama with Tom Waits [Source]

2. "Go Tell It On The Mountain"/Mahalia Jackson [Source]

Had the Sunday School Methodists sung out as Mahalia sang, jubilantly straight from the heart, this little lamb might not have strayed so far from the fold. Read more

3. "Born in Bethlehem"/ Blind Boys of Alabama with Mavis Staples [Source]

4. "Joy to the World"/ Blind Boys of Alabama with Aaron Neville [Source]

5. "Joy to the World"/ Dave Brubeck [Source]

6. "Run, Run, Run to Bethlehem" /Dave Brubeck [Source]

Set 2

7. "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" /Dave Brubeck [Source]

8. "Jingle Bells" / Duke Ellington [Source]

CD cover art for A Dave Brubeck Christmas; link to larger image

9. "Jingle Bells"/Count Basie [Source]

10. "Cool Yule"/Louis Armstrong with the Benny Carter Orchestra [Source]

The Satchmo Set

Pops was postmodern at least a generation before there was anything modern to subvert. Read more

11. "Zat You, Santa Claus?" / Louis Armstrong with the Benny Carter Orchestra [Source]

12. "White Christmas" / Louis Armstrong [Source]

13. "Twas the Night Before Christmas" /Louis Armstrong [Source]

CD cover art for Christmas Through the Years/ Louis Armstrong; link to larger image

Have A Yule That's Cool!

CD cover art for Gospel Christmas ~ Silent Night/Mahalia Jackson; link to larger image
Set 4

14. "A Merrier Christmas"
/ Thelonius Monk compser, Benny Green piano [Source]

15. "A Merrier Christmas"
/ Thelonius Monk compser, Dianne Reeves vocal[Source]

16. "The Christmas Song" /Lou Rawls [Source]

17. "Merry Christmas, Baby" /Elvis Presley [Source]

When he wasn't trying to squeeze into one of those sequin jump suits, Elvis could loosen up and get down. Read more

Set 5

18. "Silent Night" /Stanley Jordan [Source]

Stanley Jordan's take is badass. Can I say that about a venerable Christmas hymn? Read more

19. "Silent Night" / Dave Brubeck [Source]

20. "Silent Night" /Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama [Source]


CD cover art for White Christmas/Elvis Presley; link to larger image
Mark Willis/New Media Workshop
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