''A Winter Romance'' is a 1959 long playing album by

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

, accompanied by an orchestra arranged and conducted by

Gus Levene Gus Levene, born Gershun Levene (July 11, 1911 – February 9, 1979), was an American arranger, composer, orchestrator and guitarist. In the mid-1940s, he was one of the top network radio arrangers. Levene is best remembered for his work as an arra ...

. While not exclusively a Christmas album, it features several songs associated with Christmas as part of its larger winter theme. It was Martin's only Christmas themed album for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. Martin later recorded ''

The Dean Martin Christmas Album __NOTOC__ ''The Dean Martin Christmas Album'' is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin arranged by Ernie Freeman and Bill Justis. Release This was Martin's only album of Christmas music released on Reprise Records (his only other Christmas album, ...

'' for

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...

in 1966. The original artwork featured a picture of Martin embracing a fetching young woman. At the same time, he is throwing a passing flirt at a second, attractive woman.

Reception

The initial ''Billboard'' magazine review from November 30, 1959, chose the album as one of its "Spotlight Winners of the Week" and commented that "The tunes are all one the winter kick... Martin sings them with his usual ease and nonchalance... A potent waxing for the holiday season".

Track listing

Original LP

Capitol (S) T-1285

Side A

Side B

Reissues

The LP was reissued in 1965 as ''Holiday Cheer'' (Capitol STT-2343) as well as on the

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

, with different cover art and the song "A Winter Romance" omitted. This version charted for 11 weeks peaking at #12 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s Best Bets For Christmas album chart December 14, 1968."Billboard Best Bets For Christmas." Billboard, vol. 80, no. 50, December 14, 1968, p. 84. worldradiohistory.com.

The 1989 Capitol CD reissue added a thirteenth
bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...
following to the original album.

The 2005
Collectors' Choice Music Collectors' Choice Music (CCM) is an Itasca, Illinois-based record label and retailer of music on CD. Originally the company was primarily in two businesses, but since 2010 only in the second. CCM was best known for reissuing albums originally re ...
CD reissue added four (non-Christmas) bonus tracks to the original album.

Personnel

– vocals *Gus Levene – leader *Hy Lesnick – contractor *Joseph R. (Bobby) Gibbons – guitar * George Sylvester 'Red' Callender – bass guitar *Louis 'Lou' Singer – drums *James Rowles – piano on sessions 7851 and 7882 *Ray I. Sherman – piano on session 7875S *Edward Ross – accordion on session 7882 *Kurt Reher – cello *Eleanor Aller Slatkin – cello *Kathryn Julye –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

on sessions 7875S and 7882 *Donald Cole – viola *Alvin Dinkin – viola on session 7875S *Virginia Majewski – viola *David H. Sterkin – viola on session 7851 *

Israel Baker Israel Baker (February 11, 1919 – December 25, 2011) was an American violinist and concertmaster. Through a long and varied career, he played with many of the greatest figures in the worlds of classical music, jazz and pop. He appeared on hund ...

– violin on session 7882 *Victor Bay – violin *John Peter DeVoogt – violin *Nathan Kaproff – violin *Joseph Livoti – violin *Daniel 'Dan' Lube – violin *Erno Neufeld – violin *Jerome 'Jerry' Reisler – violin *Ralph Schaeffer – violin on session 7875S *Felix Slatkin – violin on sessions 7851 and 7882 *Gerald Vinci – violin on sessions 7851 and 7875S *Arnold Koblentz – oboe on sessions 7851 and 7875S *James Briggs – saxophone on session 7882 *Mahlon Clark – saxophone on sessions 7875S and 7882 * Arthur 'Skeets' Herfurt – saxophone on session 7875S *Edward Kuczborski ('Eddie' Kusby) – saxophone on session 7875S *Harry Klee – saxophone on session 7882 * Ronald Langinger – saxophone on session 7875S *Theodore M. 'Ted' Nash – saxophone on session 7851 * Emanuel 'Mannie' Klein – trumpet on session 7875S

Charts

Certifications

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter Romance, A 1959 Christmas albums Albums recorded at Capitol Studios Capitol Records Christmas albums Christmas albums by American artists Dean Martin albums Pop Christmas albums 1950s concept albums