Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer 1964

Burl Ives parlayed his talent as a folksinger into a wide-ranging career as a radio personality and stage and screen actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Rodgers & Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1938, had his own radio show by 1940, and made his major-label recording debut in 1944. His first charting single was 1948's "Blue Tail Fly" with the Andrews Sisters, and he soon took traditional folk tunes like "Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)" and "On Top of Old Smoky" to the U.S. Top 20.

20th Century Masters - The Christmas Collection reissues all but one song from the recordings for the Supremes' 1965 holiday record, Merry Christmas, the group's only contribution to the seasonal market. Though none of these tracks were recorded at Motown's studios (only the vocals were), Merry Christmas was one of the label's best Christmas records; Diana Ross' charming innocence brought across the novelties ("Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Me") as well as the sacred tunes ("Born of Mary," "Children's Christmas Song"), and the harmony backing of Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard made the Supremes' version of "White Christmas" the best ever by a rock group.

Ramsey Lewis’ ‘More Sounds of Christmas’ is the 1964 Argo follow-up to his very popular 1961 release, ‘Sound of Christmas.’ It features Ramsey’s trio throughout, as well as a number of tracks with string arrangements. The stand-out track is the trio’s deeply-swinging version of “Jingle Bells” – with the melody played on pizzicato cello! The track was a hit upon its initial release and is a natural addition to Christmas playlists. The only prior release on an exceptionally rare Universal Japan CD coupled with the ‘Sound of Christmas’ album.

Burl Ives parlayed his talent as a folksinger into a wide-ranging career as a radio personality and stage and screen actor. He made his Broadway debut in the Rodgers & Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse in 1938, had his own radio show by 1940, and made his major-label recording debut in 1944. His first charting single was 1948's "Blue Tail Fly" with the Andrews Sisters, and he soon took traditional folk tunes like "Lavender's Blue (Dilly Dilly)" and "On Top of Old Smoky" to the U.S. Top 20.

Don Patterson was an American jazz organist. Patterson played piano from childhood and was heavily influenced by Erroll Garner in his youth. In 1956, he switched to organ after hearing Jimmy Smith play the instrument. "Holiday Soul" is an album of Christmas, recorded in 1964 and released on the Prestige label. This is Don Patterson's most commercially successful album, which reached #85 on the Billboard 200 in 1967.