Walter Schumann's Two Christmas LPs and More

Walter Schumann (1913-58) was a talented arranger-conductor who unfortunately died young, but not before he contributed many well-regarded LPs, film scores and even the Dragnet theme.

His recorded specialty was choral music with the Voices of Walter Schumann, who issued two Christmas LPs and a few singles, which are gathered together for this post. There also is a substantial bonus at the end of the discussion. And please see the link to a Tony Martin Christmas collection that is new on the singles blog.

Christmas in the Air

By mid-century, the US was becoming increasingly urbanized and diverse, but its self-image was of a homogenous small town, as depicted on the covers of the 1951 LP Christmas in the Air. A church steeple was often found in the commercial art of the day. It appears on both the front and back of this 10-inch Capitol LP.

The song "Christmas in the Air," written by Schumann and Sheldon Allman, leads off the LP and appears briefly several times thereafter as a connecting thread.

After "Jingle Bells" and "Silent Night," Schumann included a brief recording of "The Carol of the Bells," a Ukrainian melody with English words by Peter Wilhousky. This is followed by "White Christmas" and the Burgundian carol "Patapan."

Side 2 contains a lively version of the spiritual "Wonderful Counselor," which has a solo by the magnetic Jester Hairston. Next is Britten's setting of the Welsh Carol "Wolcum Yule," followed by Hairston's "Mary, Mary." "Winter Wonderland" and "Adeste Fideles" complete the LP program.

As a bonus, I've included the choir's 1951 single of David Rose's "Holiday for Strings," which shows off their vocal virtuosity.

LINK to Christmas in the Air

The Voices of Christmas

By 1955, Schumann had joined RCA Victor records, which that year released a fine 12-inch LP called The Voices of Christmas.

Side 1 contains "Sleigh Ride," "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," "The Christmas Song," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "What Child Is This?", "Rise Up Shepherd and Follow," "The First Snowfall," "Fum, Fum, Fum" and "Christmas Tree."

"Fum, Fum, Fum" is a Catalan carol that exists in many versions. It's not clear which is heard here, although Schumann is credited as the arranger.

"The First Snowfall," a favorite of mine, was written by Sonny Burke and Paul Francis Webster. This was among its first recordings.

"Christmas Tree," with an highly effective solo by Bill Lee, is not "O Tannenbaum," but a version of "Ja, das ist ein Schnitzelbank." The same tune would appear again in Christmas garments for "Must Be Santa," which can be found on Holiday Sing Along with Mitch, although not on this blog.

Side 2 includes "Christmas in Killarney," "The First Noël," "Frosty the Snowman," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," "The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers," "Lully, Lully, Lu," "Christmas Gift," "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S," "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and "Christmas Chopsticks (It Was the Night Before Christmas)."

"Lully, Lully, Lu" is not "Lully, Lullay," the Coventry Carol, but another tune of unknown (to me) origin.

Jester Hairston

Jester Hairston solos on his own, charming, R&B-flavored "Christmas Gift." 

"C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" is a country tune by Jenny Lou Carson and Eddy Arnold that is best heard in Arnold's version, which is conveniently included in the bonus LP below.

"Christmas Chopsticks (It Was the Night Before Christmas)" is just as it portends, "The Night Before Christmas" set to chopsticks. It works better than you might expect.

There is a bonus cut as well - "The Sound of Christmas," which is an optimistic, declamatory piece somewhat reminiscent of "Christmas in the Air." The label says Schumann wrote it with Wells and Millar. Wells is possibly the songwriter Robert Wells. Victor issued it as a single in 1953, then included it on the LP below.

LINK to The Voices of Christmas

To Wish You a Merry Christmas

I transferred this 1954 RCA Victor LP many years ago, and have refurbished it for this occasion.

The artists are all well known. As mentioned above, the LP includes Eddy Arnold's "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S" along with Walter Schumann's "The Sound of Christmas."

From Life Magazine

The one unusual item is Dinah Shore's recording of "Happy Christmas Little Friend," which Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wrote at the behest of Life Magazine. With such a distinguished lineage, expectations had to be high, but this was not the famed duo's best work and the song has been forgotten.

The biggest hit on the LP, particularly in retrospect, was Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby," written by Phil Springer and Joan Javits.

Otherwise, the LP includes:

• Perry Como - "White Christmas"

• The Three Suns - "Silver Skates"

• Vaughn Monroe - "Frosty the Snowman"

• Hugo Winterhalter - "Blue Christmas"

• Eddie Fisher - "O Come, All Ye Faithful"

• Tony Martin - "Silent Night"

• Henri René - "The Christmas Song"

• Ralph Flanagan - "Winter Wonderland"

LINK to To Wish You a Merry Christmas

The Tony Martin Christmas Collection

The Tony Martin version of "Silent Night" on the RCA Victor LP above is one of the seven titles in a Christmas collection by that singer newly available on Buster's Swinging Singles.

Although Tony didn't record much holiday material, what he did record is very worthwhile. The material goes back to almost the beginning of his career and continues to 1956.

Gordon Jenkins' Seven Dreams

I've had a couple of requests for this record, another musical fantasy by Gordon Jenkins, less popular than Manhattan Tower but still worth hearing.

It's not hard to figure out why this never achieved the renown of Manhattan Tower - that composition had a story arc, the romance of New York and some relatively well-known songs.

This work - which indeed is composed of seven dream scenes - has no such continuity and a dark undercurrent, and is punctuated by an annoying alarm going off every few minutes. There are no hit songs, unless you want to consider "Crescent City Blues" a hit song because much of it was "borrowed" a few years later by Johnny Cash for his "Folsom Prison Blues". "Crescent City Blues" is performed here by Jenkins' wife, Beverly Mahr.

Bill Lee with his own record

The "dreamer" on this LP is studio singer Bill Lee, one of the Mellomen singing group along with Thurl Ravenscroft (who also makes an appearance on this LP). Lee did extensive work for Disney, and was a well-known vocal double, dubbing the singing voice John Kerr in South Pacific and Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music, among others. He is very effective here.

John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan

Appearing on the corny but affecting "The Pink Houseboat" is the husband-and-wife team of John McIntire and Jeanette Nolan, who were fixtures on American television for many years. Also prominently featured on the concluding "The Girl on the Rock" is the excellent Laurie Carroll. I don't have any information on her, but would assume she was a studio singer.

The cover on this LP is by Alex Steinweiss, signing as "Piedra Blanca". It is one of his more effective post-Columbia designs, although the background looks like something the cat brought up. You may notice among the murk on the center left that Gordon Jenkins autographed my copy of the record.

This was a very long record for the time (1953), and as a result the sound was cut at a low level. The first side was mastered a half-tone sharp, probably to make the side a little shorter and the cutting easier. I have corrected the pitch in this transfer.

As I said, you will find much to like here if you enjoy Manhattan Tower. The first song is recognizably the same sound world as the earlier work, and the final number has a similar ecstatic feel. However, it is, as I mentioned, a curiously dark work, and at the end, the dreamer remains asleep permanently, forsaking reality and yielding to his fantasy.

LINK to remastered version in ambient stereo (April 2025)