Herb Wong's 48th Christmas Special

There was a special treat that happened every December 25th. Herb Wong would play the most creative jazz interpretations of Christmas music ever recorded. This took place every year until KJAZ-FM went away in 1994. Later, Herb began doing his Christmas show on KCSM. This one was his 48th.

December 25, 2012

Featured Guest: Chris Cortez
The recording captured 3:00:26 of this morning's show from 7:00am - 10:00am. It is broken into two parts:

  •  Part I is 1:30:41 in length
  •  Part II is 1:29:45 in length
     
Artist Track Album
Singers Unlimited Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Christmas
Claude Thornhill Snowfall Best of the Big Bands
Jimmy Rowles Winter Weather Weather in a Jazz Vane
George Shearing Snowfall Christmas
Ahmad Jamal Snowfall Traditional Jazz Christmas
Tony Bennett Snowfall Snowfall
Dave Brubeck Farewell Jingle Bells Christmas
Dave Brubeck Quartet Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Jingle Bell Jazz
Bobby Timmons Winter Wonderland The Christmas Collection
Billie Holiday Stormy Blues Yule Be Miserable
Eddie Lockjaw Davis Santa Claus Is Coming To Town The Christmas Collection
Octobop Line for Santa West Coast Christmas
Wynton Marsalis Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Christmas Jazz Jam
Joe Williams Silver Bells That Holiday Feelin'
Oscar Peterson Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Christmas
Count Basie Good Morning Blues Yule Be Miserable
Nat King Cole Toys for Tots Cole, Christmas, and Kids
Ray Charles What Child Is This The Spirit of Christmas
Manhattan Transfer Happy Holidays/the Holiday Season Medley The Christmas Album
Charlie Parker White Christmas Mr. Santa's Boogie
Bill Evans Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas
  -- Part 2 --  
Gene Ammons Swingin For Christmas Traditional Jazz Christmas
Miles Davis / Bob Dorough Blue Xmas Jingle Bell Jazz
Fats Waller Swingin the Jingle Bells Swingin Christmas Party
Lambert, Hendricks and Ross Deck Us All With Boston Charlie Jingle Bell Jazz
Louis Armstrong Zat You Santa Claus? Yule Be Miserable
Richie Cole Sleigh Ride Mistletoe Magic
Mel Torme Christmas Christmas Break
Ramsey Lewis Christmas Blues Traditional Jazz Christmas
Dexter Gordon The Christmas Song The Christmas Collection
Bobby Rodriguez Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas A Latin Jazz Christmas
Pete Rugolo Jingle Bells Mambo Adventures in Jazz
Frank Sinatra The Christmas Waltz A Jolly Christmas
Dianne Reeves This Time of the Year Christmas Time Is Here
Dave Brubeck/Gerry Mulligan Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Relaxing Jazz for the Holidays
The Four Freshmen Freshmas Freshmas!
June Christy Ring A Merry Bell This Time of Year
Stan Kenton Angels, We Have Heard On High A Merry Christmas
Maynard Ferguson Christmas for Moderns Live At Peacock Lane
Duke Ellington Jingle Bells Jingle Bell Jazz
Ella Fitzgerald Jingle Bells A Swinging Christmas
Tex Beneke And the Bells Rang Christmas Serenade
Tony Bennett I'll Be Home For Christmas A Swinging Christmas
Les Brown We Wish You the Merriest We Wish You the Merriest

KCSM is located at the College of San Mateo. Although it operates with about 11,000 watts transmission power, reception can be challenging, especially in the South Bay. However, those who can achieve clear reception are able to tune in a very-high quality digital signal, as KCSM broadcasts in HD Radio. Thankfully with streaming media, over-the-air reception is no longer a limiting factor to listening. The Internet has definitely changed the nature of broadcasting; in this case, for the better.

KCSM is one of the very small number of 24-hour a day jazz radio stations remaining in North America. KCSM is also the trusted owner of the KJAZ library, the third largest recorded jazz collection in the world. Only the Library of Congress and Rutgers University can claim a more complete documented collection of recorded jazz.