More bells jingling all the way on Sky Arts with the Len Phillips Swing Orchestra directed by Joe Pettitt live from the Stables, Wavendon.
The singers predominated and they did the job well.
Gary Williams sang: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Winter Wonderland where he was joined by Ben Holder and Julia Sullivan.
Julia (pictured above) sang: Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Christmas Song, I'll be Home for Christmas and duetted with Gary on The Christmas Waltz.
Ben Holder fiddled whist the band burned on The Man With the Bag and Sleigh Ride. Quite amazing - I thought he was going to saw the instrument in half! Must catch him again at a time when it's not Christmas!
A lot of arrangers were mentioned including Callum Au, Colin Skinner and Trevor Vincent. I'm also curious to know who arranged the Swingin' Christmas Medley that merged seasonal songs with snatches of classics by Miller, Dorsey, Goodman etc. classics. It was brilliant.
Not a lot of instrumentalists were featured. Bennett and Hogg had a trumpet duet on What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? and Thompson played impressively during one of Julia's vocals.
A pleasant afternoon's viewing. I'm not sure how 'live' it actually was or if it had been recorded in front of an audience earlier but - who cares? Lance
*I didn't catch the name of the second alto, the guitarist or the drummer - he didn't look like the guy on the band's website.
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