"... Thus is the tone set for Death Might Be Your Santa Claus, Legacy’s 18-track collection of Christmas tunes and Yuletide sermons that are about as far from being merry and bright as you could imagine. In these tunes, people don’t imbibe Christmas cheer, they drink either to forget to simply get through the season in one piece (check out Bessie Smith’s groundbreaking Yuletide blues recording, 'At the Christmas Ball,' a 1925 session with Fletcher Henderson on piano and Freddie Green delivering a terrific, moaning trumpet solo that mirrors Bessie’s tipsy mood); the great Rev. J.M, Gates rails against materialism and counsels getting right with God lest 'The Coffin Be Your Santa Claus'; and for women alone, Christmas morning means getting a letter from a male paramour in stir and in so deep 'even a white man can’t get him freed,' as Victoria Spivey wails in 'Christmas Morning Blues,' accompanied by Porter Granger on piano and Lonnie Johnson on guitar; a bonus track of the same song features a less tortured reading by Kansas City Kitty but does offer the treat of Georgia Tom Dorsey’s rather hilarious piano support in which he seems to mock the singer’s feelings at times—this was before Tom had his eureka moment and became the father of modern gospel music, Thomas A. Dorsey). ..."
Deep Roots Magazine (Video)
amazon: Death Might Be Your Santa Claus, Blues Blues Christmas 1 1925-1955, Blues Blues Christmas 2 1926-1958, Blues Blues Christmas, Vol. 3, 1927-1962
YouTube: Reverend J.M. Gates - Death Might Be Your Santa Claus, Bessie Smith - At the Christmas Ball, Lil McClintock - Don't Think I'm Santa Claus, December 1930, Bo Carter - Santa Claus, Tampa Red - Christmas & New Year Blues, Kansas City Kitty - Christmas Morning, Victoria Spivey - Christmas Morning Blues, Oscar Woods & Black Ace - Christmas Time Blues Beggin' Santa Claus, Hep Cats' Holiday-The Cats and the Fiddle, Duke Ellington - Sugar Rum Cherry, The Davis Sisters - The Christmas Boogie, Cordell Jackson - Rock And Roll Christmas
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