O Holy Night

Danny Fratina’s arrangement of “O Holy Night” starts with an intro of flutes, clarinets, muted trumpets, and strings that simulate the sound of church bells during the holiday season, then goes into a traditional-sounding chorus with John Stevens accompanied by those same instruments. However, the second chorus unexpectedly switches to a bluesy, gospel-like feel, which takes the listener by surprise as they probably never heard this song performed in this style before.

See a video of John Stevens performing it live with the band and a high school string section last year:

Visit the MUSIC page to listen to an audio sample of the studio recording and to buy the mp3 or the album CD.

CREDITS for the “O Holy Night” studio recording by the Beantown Swing Orchestra:

Danny Fratina – conductor
John Stevens – vocal
Mark Zaleski – alto sax, flute
Rick Stone – alto sax, flute
Leon Cotter – tenor sax, clarinet
Tucker Antell – tenor sax, clarinet
Melanie Howell – bari sax, alto sax
John Replogle – trumpet
Yaure Muniz – trumpet
Vivek Patel – trumpet (solo)
Daniel Henderson – trumpet
Ryan Dragon – trombone
Clayton Dewalt – trombone
Scott Flynn – trombone
David Roth – bass trombone
Takeshi Ohbayashi – piano
Chris Brown – guitar
Genevieve Rose – bass
Shinya Fukumori – drums
Fung Chern Hwei – violin
Audrey Wright – violin
Shelby Trevor – violin
Anna Williams – violin
Alina Czekala – violin
Orie Furuta – violin
Enosh Kofler – violin
Qianqian Li – violin
Jing Zhang – violin
Joanna Mattrey – viola
Keith Sanders – viola
Sam Gold – viola
Jeremy Harman – cello
Emily Taubl – cello
Mischa Veselov – cello

• Written by Adolphe Adam.
• Arranged by Danny Fratina.
• Big band recorded by Robert Auld and John Weston at Futura Productions in Boston, MA on Paril 17, 2011.
• John Stevens’ vocals and Chris Brown’s guitar recorded by Matt Hayes at Wellspring Sound in Acton, Massachusetts on May 31, 2011.
• Chris Brown’s guitar recorded by Matt Hayes at Wellspring Sound in Acton, Massachusetts on June 1, 2011.
• Strings recorded by John Weston at Futura Productions in Boston, MA on September 10, 2011.
• Mixed by Robert Auld at Auldworks in NYC.
• Mastered by Allan Tucker at TuckerSound / Foothill Digital in New Rochelle, NY.