"Christmas Night" with Louis Armstrong

Christmas figured prominently in the early career of Raymond Scott (the son of immigrant Jews). He wrote his first hit, "Christmas Night In Harlem," in 1934 at age 25. During Xmas 1936, he debuted his soon-to-be world-famous band live on the Saturday Night Swing Club radio show. Two Christmases later, Paul Whiteman featured the Quintette, accompanied by PW's huge orchestra, performing Scott compositions at Carnegie Hall as part of the long-running Experiments In Modern American Music series where Whiteman had debuted Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue in 1924.

"Christmas Night In Harlem" was recorded as an instrumental in 1939 by Scott's Quintette. With lyrics by legendary Tin Pan Alley wordsmith Mitchell Parish, who co-wrote "Stardust," "Deep Purple," and another Yuletide standard, "Sleigh Ride," the tune was covered by Perry Como, Benny Carter, Johnny Mercer, Banu Gibson, The Beau Hunks, Clarence Williams, Paul Whiteman, Maria Muldaur, and Jack Teagarden. A new CD, 100 CHRISTMAS, presents Lester Lanin's version alongside classics by Bing Crosby, Willie Nelson, and Roy Orbison.

The most celebrated of all "Harlem" covers, however, is by Louis Armstrong, framed above alongside Scott during a 1938 CBS radio broadcast. Satchmo's recording is perennially reissued on holiday collections, including WHAT A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS.

Download The Metropole Orchestra's version of "Christmas Night In Harlem" from the CHESTERFIELD ARRANGEMENTS album here, as our holiday gift to you. And explore more of the many incarnations of Raymond Scott's earliest hit at Amazon.com or the iTunes Store.

New LOONEY TUNES Songbook

The new LOONEY TUNES SONGBOOK features 5 Raymond Scott classics:

• "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals"
• "In an 18th Century Drawing Room"
• "Powerhouse"
• "Reckless Night on Board an Ocean Liner"
• "The Toy Trumpet"

Order from: Amazon.com

If you're not a Seclusionist ...

... come to Boston on Monday for the concert.

Chesterfield artwork by the brilliant Kellie Strøm.

Chesterfield lites

Paul Whiteman loomed large in the 1920s and 1930s. Regardless of how one measures his actual jazz chops (his reputation as the "King of Jazz" was a laughable marketing ploy), he hired and encouraged some of the top talents of his day, including George Gershwin, Bix Beiderbecke, Bunny Berigan, Bing Crosby, the Dorsey Brothers, and composer/arranger Ferde Grofé.

He also worked with and obviously admired Raymond Scott, as The Chesterfield Arrangements will attest. In 1938, for his "Eighth Experiment in Modern Music" (a series that began in 1924 with the public premiere of Rhapsody In Blue), Whiteman commissioned large orchestral arrangements of three Scott tunes: "Mexican Jumping Bean," "Bumpy Weather Over Newark," and "Suicide Cliff." These were performed, with the original Scott Quintette, at Carnegie Hall on Christmas. Besides the RSQ, this spectacular showcase included Artie Shaw, Louis Armstrong, and dozens of jazz and Tin Pan Alley legends in their prime, performing works by Ellington, Gershwin, W.C. Handy, and others. The 1938 concert proved to be the "Experiment" series finale.

Five arrangements from the 1938 concert—including the three Scott titles noted above—will be recreated at the Berklee School of Music on May 5. The concert is part of a day-long tribute to Whiteman.

An afternoon forum, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Carnegie Hall gala, will include 94-year-old saxophonist Al Gallodoro (who performed at the '38 concert) reflecting on his Whiteman days. A young Gallorodo is pictured above with the legendary bandleader.