Charlie Ferguson Trio with the Mello-Moods - Christmas Song (Ronnie, 195?)

This is a weird and delightful record. This 45 is a 70s reissue from the Ronnie label, run by doowop expert Ronnie Italiano, who gave obscure and unreleased doowop recordings a second life on his New Jersey label.

This recording appears to be of the "unreleased" variety, because I can't find any evidence of an earlier version existing. The Mello-Moods released a handful of singles from 1951-1953 on the Red Robin label in NYC, and Charlie Ferguson backed up several artists on the Apollo label, including the "5" Royales - also NYC.

But the great thing about this song is that's not just a vocal group singing the classic Christmas Song. Instead it's Charlie Ferguson playing the melody on sax, with the vocal group whispering random lines here and there ("Everybody knows...."). It's borderline creepy, which - combined with the solid musicianship - makes it great to my ears. Enjoy this early 50s bizarro rarity!