Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album

Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album
Original LP cover art
Studio album by Tony Bennett
Released	October 6, 1968[1]
Recorded	June 1967 (#2-3, 6-7) CTS Bayswater, London October 1, 1968 (#1, 4-5, 8-10) 30th Street Studios, New York City
Genre	Vocal jazz Christmas music
Length	29:07 original LP
Label	Columbia CS 9739
Producer	Jack Gold
Tony Bennett chronology
Yesterday I Heard the Rain (1968)Yesterday I Heard the Rain1968 Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (1968) I've Gotta Be Me (1969)I've Gotta Be Me1969

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album is a 1968 studio album by Tony Bennett, his first Christmas album.^[3] It was arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon.

Even though they have been friends since the early 1950s, Bennett and Farnon had not recorded together before, Bennett having such reverence for Farnon's work that he felt he "wasn't ready...(and) not developed enough as an artist to record with him".^[4] Farnon, who normally recorded in London, came to New York City for one of the two sessions that produced this album. Six tracks were recorded at Columbia's recording studios in New York City, and four in London.

In Bennett's autobiography, he recalls that the New York session was attended by such notable American arrangers as Don Costa, Marion Evans and Torrie Zito, all curious to see how Farnon worked. Quincy Jones subsequently threw a party for Farnon in New York City, and at the party there were so many famous musicians that Jones joked, "If a bomb goes off in this apartment, there won't be any more records made!"^[5]

The album was reissued on CD in 1994, with new cover art and a bonus track, "I'll Be Home for Christmas", recorded during a live appearance by Bennett on The Jon Stewart Show. It was reissued once more in 2007, again with different cover art and including a bonus DVD containing excerpts from Bennett's 1992 television special Tony Bennett: A Family Christmas.

Bennett later recorded two additional Christmas albums, Hallmark presents Christmas with Tony Bennett and the London Symphony Orchestra (2002) and A Swingin' Christmas (Featuring The Count Basie Big Band) (2008).

Track listing

1. "Snowfall" (Claude Thornhill) – 2:52
2. "My Favorite Things" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers) – 3:17
3. "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé, Bob Wells) – 2:36
4. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 2:38
5. Medley: "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"/"Silent Night"/"O Come All You Faithful"/"Jingle Bells"/"Where Is Love?" (Traditional)/(Josef Mohr, Franz Xaver Gruber)/(John Francis Wade)/(James Pierpont)/(Lionel Bart) – 5:47
6. "Christmasland" (Dennis Farnon, Brian Farnon) – 2:23
7. "I Love the Winter Weather"/"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" (Ted Shapiro)/(Irving Berlin) – 2:11
8. "White Christmas" (Berlin) – 2:05
9. "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith) – 2:15
10. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:03
11. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (Buck Ram, Kim Gannon, Walter Kent) – 2:02 Bonus track on CD reissue

Personnel

Performance

• Tony Bennett - vocal
• Robert Farnon - arranger, conductor
• Jack Gold, producer

References