Last year at FaLaLaLaLa, I began my career in Christmas sharity. One of these shares was a 45 single of "Winter Wonderland" and "Up On The Housetop" by Ken Griffin that I had just acquired from my in-laws record collection.If you look at the Rondo label of "Winter Wonderland", the credited songwriter is Irving Berlin! Fact checking wasn't a huge priority in the music industry back in the 1950s obviously.
When I typed out the description for that record, I didn't know who Ken Griffin was. I did some Google searches for background information and the like. At the time, I stated that Ken released two Christmas albums:
+ Christmas Organ And Chimes (Rondo-Lette A-40), 1950/1951
+ The Organ Plays At Christmas (Columbia CL-692), 1959
Some new research informs us that Griffin did indeed release a Christmas album entitled "Merry Christmas (Organ And Chimes)" (Rondo RLP-10) in 1951. It was a 10" LP that I haven't found... yet!
This Rondo website claims that Eric Silver was the actual credited artist on the "Christmas Organ And Chimes" (Rondo-Lette A-40) released in 1958. The album you are looking at in Rondo-Lette A-38 and was released in 1959 - the same year as the Columbia release listed above.
I don't understand it either.
Want more confusion? One half of the tracks on this album are simply Ken Griffin playing Christmas tunes on the organ, the other half is INDEED organ and chimes! I personally enjoy the solo organ tracks on this album - it places you at a 1940s skating rink at Christmas time when you listen. Considering Griffin got his start playing at roller rinks probably didn't hurt either!
Lace up your skates and take a lap:
Ken Griffin - Christmas Organ
Happy listening... skating... whatever!
Capt
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