Samba Christmas

Notes... Mark Olson on lead guitar and rhythm guitar. Greg Marsh on drums, silky shakers and other percussive paraphernalia. Olson also plays a little lead ukelele on Mele Kalikimaka. All tunes arranged and re-arranged by Mark Olson for two guitars and drums.

Cool samba-esque finger-style rhythm guitar and tall-and-tan-and-young-and-lovely harmonizations (chords) are emulated throughout, laying the foundation of this intriguing adventure. Mark's clean, smooth, jazzy guitar lines and Greg's fluffy kick drum and silky shakers keep the album on the level. This listening goes great with roasted chestnuts and turkey. Hang some mistletoe, get your sweetheart, and enjoy the evening.

Mixed and mastered at Mr. Marsh's Lakeside Recording (www.gregmarshmusic.com). Guitar tracks were cut and mixed by Mark here at Big Time Music. Mike Birch of Cogent Media engineered the final mastering and duplicating.

Tracks... Olson's TEN song selections are, well, nothing short of perfect. Tunes range from the highest selling single of all time, White Christmas, to the delightfully obscure, Old Toy Trains, a warm-hearted, melodic tune by Roger Miller. Thankfully, Jingle Bells did not make the cut, but Mele Kalikimaka did--and Olson has good fun with it, you'll see. Going rogue, Mark's 5/4 arrangement of We Three Kings and 4/4 Christmas Time is Here keep listeners on their toes. (Both songs are traditionally old-school 3/4 time "waltzes.") Olson also lowers the tuning of his guitar for the rhythm part on Vince Guaraldi's Skating (from Charlie Brown Christmas), so he gets a low C in the bass, and it really broadens the spectrum. Nice touch.

Greg's creative participation is like ornaments on a tree, ribbons on pretty gifts, snowflakes glistening at the break of dawn. He's not just "keeping the beat," here, he's an expressive voice in each tune, just as he was in their Take Five collaboration (currently sold out and out of print). Olson leaves Marsh some space to stretch out on We Three Kings and Skating.

The arrangements focus on the songs; hence Olson does not induldge in long sections of boring abstract improv--but when he does add his own two cents, it's like hot gravy on mom's roast turkey. The only way to experience this for yourself is to buy and buy now fast. Buy more and save. (No refunds. No returns. Side effects may and may not include but are not limited to too much happy listening, settled stomach, subdued jubilance, unsubdued jubilance, watery eyes, spontaneous euphoria, delayed euphoria, only some euphoria at all, harmless colorful hallucinations, excessive Christmas spirit, hyper-regularity, spontaneous irregularity, restrained compulsivity, shifty intentions, benevolent intentions, no intentions at all, jittery jitters, dizziness, big appetitie, loss of appetite, loss of sleep, sleepiness, runny nose, stuffy nose, memory loss, memories of Christmases past, irritable bowel. You have been warned.)

Process... "Friends and family have often asked if and when I'm going to make a Christmas album," says Olson. "I guess that idea just fermented in the dark corners of my subconscious for a while, and sometime, around August, 2011, I started seriously planning to do one. I set a timeline and rough deadline and got to work. I started with White Christmas, and placed it first on the CD. In fact, the tunes, for the most part, appear in order of recording. It just happened that way. My goal was to arrange, learn, and record rhythm and lead guitars for one song per week. I finished Skating last, in early November."

Mondays are for Listening... "What's so Samba-y about this?" asked a friend when listening to the rough cut of White Christmas. Fair enough question. The samba foundation is mostly in the syncopated rhythm guitar parts with some alternating bass. Olson says he listened to several Brazilian guitarists and a few Jobim tunes (e.g. Girl from Ipanema) to get a feel for rhythms and chord choices. "Samba Christmas" isn't intended to be an academic study in samba--just fun and samba-esque, a different take on some Christmas tunes. On Monday, Olson would listen to several recordings of tunes, because some, like What are you Doing New Year's Eve, were unfamiliar territory. On Tuesday, he sketched out a chord chart, wrote intro and outro and bridge sections as needed. Wednesday was reserved for recording the rhythm guitar part. On Thursdays, Olson looped the rhythm track and practiced lead guitar parts for hours--no recording allowed. Friday was reserved for recording the lead guitar, Saturday for mixing. Sundays were theoretically for R&R, but there were often rough edges to clean up. Rinse, Repeat. After a few weeks of cramming this work into his teaching schedule and regular life, Olson was fried, took two weeks off, bought a ukelele, and resumed. The cover art was designed on nights when Olson couldn't sleep.

Drums.... When the guitar parts for six tracks were done, finishing the album by November became a real possibility. He sent the six tracks to drummer Greg Marsh (www.gregmarshmusic.com), and let him do his thing. "My approach with Greg has been to just let him do his thing. I give him my tracks, and then I shut up. He plays along with them and gets ideas. I don't want to interfere with his creative process. That way, I get to see new perspectives. I know he has good taste, and I leave it up to him." Marsh recommended sound engineer Mike Birch, www.mebsound.com, for the final mastering touches, duplication, and packaging. Given the timeline and budget, Olson says he "couldn't be happier with the result. The generosity of creativity, time and insight from Marsh and Birch were pivotal."