Timeless Christmas, is the first full-length holiday recording from Christian music’s premier Big Band, Denver & The Mile High Orchestra. Produced by Sandy Tipping and executive produced by Reid Ribble, the album features a combination of classic Christmas favorites and new selections, encompassing Big Band, swing, blues, funk and Dixieland styles.
Group founder and bandleader Denver Bierman arranged the entire album and wrote or co-wrote three of the project’s 13 cuts. In addition, 4HIM’s Marty Magehee produced “This Must Be The Place.”
Timeless Christmas includes such classics as “Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “Let It Snow.” The album also features the Dixieland combo-styled original selection, “Jesus Child;” the newly penned love song, “This Christmas, All I Need Is You;” and “Frosty The Bluesman,” among other selections.
“Christmas is by far my most favorite time of the year,” said Bierman. “The holiday season is a time of memories, and Big Band music takes you on a musical journey to where the memories of the past help shape the Christmas memories of today. A lot of people grew up listening to Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Andy Williams sing timeless Big Band Christmas classics, and I’m trying to bring that same tradition to a new generation, while maintaining a clear message of the real reason for Christmas, the birth of Christ.”
“I wanted to pick songs that everyone knew and had sung their entire lives, but I didn’t want these new arrangements to sound exactly the same,” Bierman explains. “That’s why ŒLittle Drummer Boy¹ is a funk song, and also why ŒHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas¹ is the most up-tempo song on the album. Another goal I had was to write or find some really good original Christmas songs. We wanted to give everyone a fresh taste of some old favorites, while also introducing some news songs for the season.”
Denver & The Mile High Orchestra¹s third annual “Big Band Christmas Tour” is slated to kick-off November 26 in Elmira, New York. The ensemble¹s previous Christmas tours have played to sold-out audiences throughout the country, and this year¹s itinerary includes stops in Houston, Indianapolis and Madison, Wisconsin, among other cities, before concluding December 20 in Longmont, Colorado.
Formed by Bierman at Nashville’s Belmont University in 1999, Denver & The Mile High Orchestra feature 12 members, comprising trumpet, trombone, saxophone and rhythm sections. Timeless Christmas, a Reel Loud Records release, is distributed by Deep Music Distribution.
