Mel Torme

Classic Christmas: Mannheim Steamroller's Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Let me just get this out of the way right off the bat: I don't care for Mannheim Steamroller. I think their music is odd and a little creepy. But, that doesn't mean 1 ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Ella Fitzgerald's Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​There is an admission that I have to make having written all these Classic Christmas posts this year. When I think of Christmas, I don't think of carols or choirs or ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Originally titled The Magic of Christmas, when it was released in 1963, this collection of Christmas songs was basically cobbled together in support of what many -- m ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Elvis' Christmas Album

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​In 1957 at the near peak of his early success, Elvis Presley did what many artists did: He made a Christmas record. The result was what would become one of the best s ... More >>

Classic Christmas: The Perry Como Christmas Album

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​When we think back now about the 1950's, we tend to idealize them as the birth of rock and roll, when kids were wearing leather jackets and rebelling against their pa ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Bing Crosby's White Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Bing Crobsy was the first crossover pop star. He made movies, music, appeared in both radio and television programs and did all of it successfully and, more important ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Charles Brown & Friends' Merry Christmas Baby

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Blues musician Charles Brown released and re-released Christmas songs numerous times throughout his career. The Texas City native got a lot of mileage out of Christma ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​On the popular '70s and '80s sitcom The Jeffersons whenever George wanted to get Weezie in the mood, all he had to do was mimic the voice of Johnny Mathis while singi ... More >>

Classic Christmas: The Andy Williams Christmas Album

​There are two reasons we think of Andy Williams fondly. First, there is the classic episode of The Simpsons when Bart, Milhouse, Nelson and Martin travel to Branson where they see Williams perform. A teary-eyed Nelson said, "I didn't think he'd do "Moon River," but then -- bam! -- second enco ... More >>

Classic Christmas: A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​Christmas music comes in all shapes and sizes. From jazz and blues to hip hop and heavy metal, everybody thinks they have an interesting take on holiday classics, but ... More >>

Classic Christmas: A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra

​There are many arguments to be made about music, but one that I doubt anyone could actually win is the one that goes, "There was someone in music at some point cooler than Frank Sinatra." Trying to make that argument is like trying to say Kobe was better than Michael. Sure, you can say it, bu ... More >>

Classic Christmas: The Carpenters' Christmas Portrait

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. ​In the '70s, there was a smoothness to the music. It was cool and mellow and as sensitive as a bear skin rug and a glass of Burgundy. And nothing epitomized that time ... More >>

Classic Christmas: Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. There are seminal moments in the life of a child and it is not uncommon that some of them involve holidays, Christmas in particular. There's a comfort as a child that comes ... More >>

Classic Christmas: George Winston's December

Over the holidays, we're looking back at some classic Christmas albums taking some track by track and just digging on others. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while, a record or artist outside the mainstream will make a blip on the pop culture radar, like Norah Jones' sudden ascendance ... More >>

A Modern Throwback: Mel Torme's Christmas Songs

​Mel Torme holds a special place in the hearts of Gen Xers because of his re-occurring appearance on Night Court and his classic guest stint on Seinfeld. In fact, Torme put in quite a bit of time on TV and in films despite the fact that his main gig was as a singer and composer. Torme was old ... More >>

Odd Pairs: Ten Upcoming Nights of Music Bring Wild Variations

Photo by groovehouseTry to guess who's playing the same night as Toadies.​Diversity is a big deal in H-Town. In fact, our cultural diversity creates such a wide variety of musical styles, it is hard to figure out just what kind of music town we are. In places like Memphis, Nashville, Seattle a ... More >>

Capsule Stage Reviews: Five Guys Named Moe, The Hollow, Hunter Gatherers, The Mousetrap

Aftermath: Dick Dale, Merry Prankster And Heavy-Metal Grandpa, At HOB

Photos by Brittanie Shey​ Dick Dale is the grandfather of surf-rock, if your grandfather dressed like a 70-year-old Steven Segal, practically invented heavy metal (his 100-watt amp goes all the way to eleventy) and turned a traditional Greek song into a 1960s anthem. Like most grandfathers, he's m ... More >>

A Brief Guide To Super Happy Fun Land's SXSW Overflow Fest

www.myspace.com/jodyseabodyandthewhirlsHouston psych-rockers and Overflow artist Jody Seabody & the Whirls​Thursday marks the beginning of Super Happy Fun Land's SXSW Overflow Fest, two weeks of performers stopping by the East End art space/music venue/sock-monkey emporium on their way to and ... More >>

Five Days of Giftmas: Music Lovers

Photo by GroovehouseThe old Cactus Music sign​Sick of corporate Christmas? Try shopping local. Hair Balls presents a 12-part series highlighting ideas for holiday gifts made and sold in Texas. Hair Balls is headed to Cactus Music tonight for another in-store, and it got us thinking -- Cactus ... More >>

Authors’ Day at Brazos Bookstore

Web exclusive!

Requiem for the Balinese Room

Toni Price

Born to Be Blue (Antone's Records)

Grady Gaines and the Texas Upsetters / Calvin Owens

Jump Start (Gulf Coast Records) / The House Is Burnin' (Sawdust Alley)

Various Artists

Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music (Columbia Legacy)

Omara Portuondo

Cuban lounge music

Local Rotation

Local Music Reviewed

The Real Diva

Nancy Wilson returns from jazz-pop limbo

Canadian Werewolf in Houston

Rotation

Being Franks

Rotation

Sound Check

Press Picks

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