Our Review
John Signorello's "Hey Man, Merry Christmas" is a warm and enthusiastic easy listening experience. Even people who, like me, inhabit a universe where old-fashioned, big band, easy listening jazz is rare, should be impressed with the hard-charging, brassy arrangements and the genuineness of Signorello's honey-sweet crooning.
As the title suggests, this music walks right up to you, gives you an enthusiastic handshake, and welcomes you to inside some marvelous little Italian restaurant and speak easy, where you can be entertained by some of the best big band crooning since the dawn of the Rat Pack. Signorello has done a very good job of selecting Christmas standards that yield to his big band interpretations. From Silver Bells to The Christmas Song to Auld Lang Syne, each of the songs on the CD seem almost to have been written especially for John Signorello's sentimental pop treatment.
Singnorello was an accomplished musician, mastering trumpet, piano and guitar before he was a teenager. "Hey Man. Merry Christmas" is the realization of a lifelong dream "to make a Christmas album that my parents would love". With the inclusion of his own composition A Christmas Lullaby, written with his own children in mind, Signorello has made a wondrous contribution to American Christmas traditions for people of all ages. Hey man. Merry Christmas!
--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2006)
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From the liner notes:
1st trumpet: Dave Trigg
2nd trumpet: Glenn Drewes
3rd trumpet: Mike Caruba
4h trumpet: Don harris, flugel horn solo on Silver bells
1st trombone: Bruce Bonvissuto, solo on Auld Lang Syne
2nd trombone: Ozzie Melendez
3rd trombone: Chris Culver
4th trombone: George Flynn
guiter: Mick Gaffney
piano/conductor: Rich Iacona
bass: Madeline Kole Iacona
drums: Tony Tedesco
percussion: Fred Wallcatt
additional programming: Spyros Poulos
background vocals: Denna Miller and LaTanya Hall
Mesha String section
Produced by Richie Cannata
Recorded and mixed by Kieran Pardias
Cove City Sound Studios, Glen Cove, NY
Additional engineering Koil PreAmple and Steve Eigner
Production Assistant: Anthony J. Gallo
Photos of Signorello by Gayle T. Tiller
Graphic Design by 8 Dot Graphics
John Signorello
"Hey Man,
Merry Christmas"
Artist link
Label: Brown Dog Records, Inc.
Length: 44 minutes
Genre: Easy Listening
Release: 2006
Track List
| Song Title |
|---|
| Silver Bells |
| Favorite Things |
| Christmas Lullaby |
| The Christmas Song |
| I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus |
| Little Drummer Boy |
| Sleigh Ride |
| Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas |
| Winter Wonderland |
| Auld Lang Syne |