a playjazzloud christmas

An annual tradition that I’m bringing over to Substack. I’ve been collecting holiday music, curiosities, oldies and winter vibes and put out this mix each year as an alternative to the typical holiday music blasting around the city.

There are some classics in there, so don’t fret.

Sprinkled throughout are things that feel winter-y to me and sometimes it’s inspired by movies I remember seeing over the Christmas period that aren’t necessarily “Christmas” movies. Like the scenes in The Shinning in the Gold Room Ballroom or the Christmas sequence in Roma or the party scenes in Babylon or the “Bloody Christmas” sequence in LA Confidential etc.

Wishing you a lovely holiday break and if you have recommendations for me for 2026, I’m listening. Check out the previous mixes as well, link at the bottom.

Click to listen to the mix in a new window that will pop up.

a playjazzloud christmas [2025] tracklist

Tommy Dorsey - Sleepy Lagoon

Gerry Mulligan - Manior de mes reves

Donald Byrd - Cristo Redendor

Patti Page - Christmas Choir

Larry Adler - Stardust

Henri Rene - Sleepwalk

Kay Starr - December

Adrian and his Tap Room Gang - The Better to love you my dear

Johnny Hodges - Azure

Miles Davis - The maids of Cadiz

Fats Waller - Honeysuckle Rose

David Amram - Waltz from after the fall

John Coltrane - Autumn

Staples Singers - There was a star

Charles Brown - Merry Christmas

Ibrahim Ferrer - Fuiste Cruel

Tariverdiev - It happens

Shirley Horn - The great city

Lord Kitchener - Christmas Greetings

Bing Crosby - Hawaiian Christmas

Julie London - Warm in December

Frankie Carle - Little Jack Frost get lost

Frank Sinatra - Street of dreams

Lucianne Boyer - Parlez moi d’amour

James Cockerham - Everybody praise his name

Khruangbin - Christmas time is here

She & Him - The Christmas Waltz

Billie Holiday - This is heaven to me

You can find previous Christmas mixes in this playlist on Mixcloud.

Figured I’d keep this little blurb from music post #1 here as well to help explain things!

I’m figuring out the format of how I share the mixes. I use Mixcloud because they pay royalties to the artists just like a radio station does and there are no copyright takedowns.

I did some research on this. There’s no native way for me to share the mix here. So you see the image above, click it and it’ll send you to the mixcloud platform where you can listen. I wish there was a way to listen to it directly in the post but alas, maybe in the future. Or if you know a better way, please share in the comments.

In the navigation bar you can hit the “tunes” button and find all the music posts all in one place. Genius!