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| The Big Phat Band Christmas Album Just in time for the holiday season, Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band releases Bah Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, the soundtrack CD full of yuletide songs to accompany the Warner Home Video animated feature of the same name. Not only does the CD feature the complete score to the film as well as jazzy takes on holiday classics, the package includes a second bonus disc with beloved cartoon characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird and even Marvin the Martian singing along with the Big Phat Band to songs like "Jingle Bells, " "Santa Claus is Coming To Town, " and "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer." A hilarious take on "A Christmas Carol, " Bah Humduck! - A Looney Tunes Christmas follows the exploits of Daffy Duck, the "Scrooge-like" proprietor of the Lucky Duck mega-mart. The film will be broadcast on the Cartoon Network three times during the weekend of December 1st and will be available on DVD this winter via Warner Home Video. Gordon Goodwin wrote and arranged the score for the film, with a tip of the hat to the orchestras that accompanied the original Looney Tunes cartoons. Added to the mix are the Phat Band's witty reinventions of standards "This Is Christmas, " "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "O Tannenbaum" (renamed "Yo Tannenbaum"). But it's the sing-along bonus disc that has all the markings of becoming a Christmas classic of Chipmunks proportions. Nearly every iconic Looney Tunes character sings holiday songs such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzales and Marvin The Martian on "Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer, " Porky Pig, Bugs, and Daffy joining in on "Hark The Herald Angels Sing, " Speedy Gonzalez with his rendition of "Feliz Navidad, " and all the characters chiming in on "The 12 Days of Christmas" and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." Bolstered by a surprising teen fan base, the Big Phat Band hit the Billboard magazine Jazz Chart earlier this year with the release of their album, The Phat Pack. The Wall Street Journal declared Goodwin's "jazz band is a big phat hit on the high school circuit" while "Goodwin has rock star status with high school jazz kids." The paper goes on to attribute Goodwin's popularity to a dramatic rise in the number of bands on campuses around the country, noting that, "Nowadays, the big band action is not in the ballrooms, but in the classrooms. " Time magazine concurs, saying "Amazingly, it works for high school and college kids who, if they have ever heard of the swing era, probably think it occurred between the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. Half of the Phat Band's live appearances are at schools and colleges." Their mySpace page even boasts 12, 000 members. To thank their teen fans, the Phat Band launched a Big Phat Phundraiser earlier this fall to raise money for high school music programs, giving away substantial profits from album sales. The fundraiser is currently in progress at schools throughout the country, concluding on December 3rd. In addition to helming the Big Phat Band, Gordon Goodwin won a Grammy Award for his musical work on the animated feature "The Incredibles" and orchestrated the score for this summer's most talked- about film, "Snakes on a Plane." His work can also be heard in new films "The Guardian, " starring Kevin Costner and "Flyboys." write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |