25 Days of Christmas Albums: Sound of Christmas ✧ Ramsey Lewis ✧ 1961

If one does much record digging, they will invariably cross paths with Ramsey Lewis, particularly his trio. He had a couple hits in the 60’s, but I think his business model was largely to generate a lot of material--most often three (!!!) albums a year throughout the 60’s. For instance, Sound of Christmas was followed by The Sound of Spring, which seems like a solid marketing move. He’s released 80 albums in his career.
I mention this not to denigrate his music, but to point out that I expect Ramsey Lewis Trio often gets skipped over much as Ferrante and Teicher or Herb Alpert records typically do, either pandering to the lowest common denominator or victims of their own success depending on who you speak to.

I am particularly drawn to the gentle, downtempo version of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and the tonal counterpoint of a “Here Comes Santa Claus” boogie on Side A. The B Side is where I think the trio hits its stride. “The Christmas Song” feels like they kept the first take in the best way possible, and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” takes you on a blues-infused interpretation of that song unlike anything else I’ve heard.