Big Band Wonderland is jazz vocalist Gary Williams's eighth album, recorded in Kenilworth Studios in 2015. It is a collection of Christmas classics, recorded with full big band and featuring duets with Clare Teal and Michael Feinstein. More than half of the money for the album was raised with a crowd-funding appeal.
This is how Williams described his love of Christmas: "I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, so I didn't celebrate Christmas till I was sixteen years old. When all my mates where out singing carols I was sitting at home cataloguing my stamp collection! Maybe that's why I love Christmas so much now, I'm making up for lost time."
His live Christmas show was given five stars by the London Evening Standard which described Gary as "â¦the UK's leading standard bearer for the supercool era".
Track listing
Personnel
Performers
- Gary Williams â vocals
- Matt Regan â piano
- Joe Pettitt â bass
- Kevin Campbell â drums
- Jon Russell â guitar
- Tom Walsh â trumpets
- Simon Marsh and Jay Craig â saxes
- Chris Traves â trombone
- Anthony Kerr â vibes
- The Patriot Girls (Jo Gibb, Joanne Pullen, Marissa Dunlop)
- Backing Singers: Luke Evered, David Hilton, Victoria Keal, Iain Mackenzie, India Moynihan, Andy Playfoot, Patrick Smyth.
Technical
- Producer and Studio Engineer: Chris Traves
- Executive Producer: Gary Williams
- Backing vocals arranged, directed and produced by Clive Dunstall
- Backing vocals recorded and mixed at Big Al's studio by Alex Bourne, and Tileyard Studios by Sean Hargreaves
- Arrangers: Phil Steel (tracks 1, 2, 3); Paul Campbell (tracks 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12); Andrew Cottee (tracks 7, 13); Callum Au (tracks 6, 9)
References
External links