The Singers Unlimited: Christmas - Singers Unlimited, The

---

---

Tired of the same old Christmas carols sung the same old way? Then the Singers Unlimited’s 1971 MPS album “Christmas” is the perfect stocking stuffer. Leader Gene Puerling’s advanced harmonic concepts influenced Take Six, Manhattan Transfer, and Brian Wilson. Legendary jazz singer Jon Hendricks compared Puerling to pioneering saxophonist Charlie Parker, exclaiming "Gene broadened the harmonies, like Bird did with bebop.” Arguably the best-known of the 15 albums SU recorded for MPS, “Christmas” contains such classics as “Deck the Halls”, “Silent Night”, and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, arranged in Puerling’s signature style. The a capella quartet modulates between the traditional and the jazz-inflected modern, at times exuberant, at times reflective. Seven originals were penned by jazz trumpeter Alfred Burt. First intended as Christmas cards for friends and family with lyrics by Burt’s Episcopalian pastor-father, the compositions have since become distinctive season standards. Sounding as clean and pure as a child’s breath on a cold winter morning, “Christmas” is a holiday gift that is a joy to listen to at any time of the year.