Father Dave welcomes back New York Times bestselling author and broadcaster Raymond Arroyo to discuss a new project: a Christmas album! Raymond sings along with jazz band The NOLA Players on the new album, “Christmas Merry & Bright.”
“I was approached to do this because people heard me sing with Johnny Mathis, Aaron Neville and Andy Williams years ago on the EWTN Christmas special,” Raymond begins. “A producer came to me and said, ‘Would you do a Christmas album?’ At first I said no.” After some convincing, he continues, “If we’re going to do it, we have to do something original. So I dug deep and did my own exploration into these Christmas carols and songs we take for granted. What I discovered is when you look at the context, the lyrics, and how they were written, it changes everything about the approach to these songs.”
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A New Orleans native, Raymond discusses recording and touring with a 20-piece jazz band. “We recorded the album all in the same room, which is a rarity today,” he says. “When you’re dealing with a big band like this, it is a force of nature. You are really dodging the thunderclaps…when you have that kind of force and dynamism present, it does give a jolt to these songs like ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and ‘Joy to the World.’ You feel the joy and the power of those angels singing when you’ve got 20 pieces blaring behind you. So I think it gives it a different tenor and feel.”
Raymond talks about some of the songs on the album, including “Feliz Navidad,” which he recorded with José Feliciano, a friend and the original songwriter and singer behind the Christmas hit. Together, they discussed how the song was about missing home. Raymond says, “He wrote it about growing up and celebrating Christmas with his family on the beaches of Puerto Rico. He would play the guitar, they would beat on little instruments and sing. I said ‘Jose, that’s not the image you get in your head when you hear that song.’ So let’s do a real bossa nova, kind of a gentle intro, [invoking] two brothers playing music and singing on the sand, and then we’ll bring the band up behind us. That’s what we did and it’s really a sweet and tender take on ‘Feliz Navidad’ that is celebratory, but reflective.”
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He describes the backstory of some popular carols and hymns, including “Silent Night.” Raymond explains how the song’s lyrics were written by Father Joseph Mohr, an Austrian priest, and the melody by the church’s organist, Franz Xaver Gruber. “The song kind of sat there for a number of years, until an organ repairman came to visit the parish to tune the organ,” Raymond says. “He read the music, he loved it. He took a copy and started sharing with all of the choirs in all the churches that he visited. That is how the song ‘Silent Night’ really became a European and then a global sensation.”
Raymond tells these stories and more to audiences while touring, and he notes the joy he finds performing these songs with a big band. “They’re as much a part of each song as you are,” he says. “I equate it with surfing. They have this musical wave, you throw the board down and you hold on for dear life and keep riding. Your job is just to stay upright and hit the last note on time. It’s a blast.”