The Magic of Christmas

When you get a creative composer, musician, Latin band leader, studio engineer, along with another composer and saxophonist together, the outcome you get is a tremendous Christmas album.

In northern California, Frank Lizarraga, and saxophonist Bernie Torres combined their thoughts and with a host of musicians compiled this great Christmas album, The Magic of Christmas.

Les Moncada – How did you get the idea to do this new 2015 Christmas Album and or what inspired you?

FL – The idea was to write one Christmas song for 2015 year. After two months, we wrote three songs and just decided to write an album. We just wanted to write the best Christmas songs that we could.

BT – Frank and I have been collaborating musically for over 30 years. So when Frank was approached by one of the vocalists featured on the album to write several Christmas songs we went to work writing and one song led another. As Frank said, our goal was to write some really good Christmas songs.

What did you do to get the project going?

FL – We decided to write a Christmas song for a local singer.

BT – After writing several songs for this local singer she decided that she wanted to record more of the standard Christmas songs that are out there. After realizing that we had more material than was required for this vocalist, Frank came up with the brilliant idea of creating a Christmas album sampler which featured regional vocalists and musicians. This was the motivating force to get the project going and keep writing songs.

So who composed the songs that were recorded on the album?

FL – I wrote most of the music and Bernie wrote most of the lyrics. One session I would write a melody and he would write lyrics to it. Next session, he’d bring lyrics and I’d compose music for it.

BT – I wrote a couple of songs (music and lyrics) for the album but primarily I wrote lyrics.

 

 

Where did the ideas for the lyrics come from?

BT – The ideas for my lyrics came from my own personal family experiences and also from ideas that Frank shared with me. When I write lyrics, I try to elicit an emotional response from the reader or listener. I want them to feel what I was feeling when I wrote the lyrics.

So tell me a little about your project regards to recording this Christmas album, who was the recording engineer, who was the mixing engineer?

FL – I recorded most of the initial “basic” tracks in our project studio. Then Bernie and my son, Francisco would help record the dubbing tracks. Francisco performed all of the mixes with Bernie and I assisting.

BT – Yes, this was a “one stop shopping” approach to recording and producing this album. We did all the engineering (excluding the mastering) because we were operating on a shoe string budget. We financed this project ourselves because frankly (no pun intended) we don’t have the resources that other producer/songwriters have.

So what genre of an audience do you feel would be attracted to your album or purchase your album?

FL – The album consists of various musical genres from jazz, pop, and rock to several Latin genres; bachata, bolero, mariachi, rock en español and to world beat. We’re hoping to attract eclectic listeners with our wide range of musical styles.

BT – As Frank said, we are hoping to attract eclectic listeners but who are also looking for fresh new original music. Not just the same old classic Christmas songs that have been recorded over and over again by different artists.

Do you both plan to do more future recordings and if yes, in what genre?

FL – We plan to do more recording but I have no idea when. I don’t even have an idea what genre I’d be interested in the future.

BT – Yes, we plan to continue to work together and record each others’ music as we have been doing for the last 30 years. As song writers we are always trying to write the next great song. That’s just the nature of songwriting. The genre? That’s a good question….maybe it will be another Christmas album.. Ha ha.

So what does the future bring to your Christmas disc and future recordings?

FL – As far as the Christmas project, we’re going to try to secure other performers to record their rendition of the songs from the album.

BT – Our hope is to bring some national attention to our songs. Getting a national recording artist to re-record our songs would certainly help to get our music out there to a broader audience.

FL – You can download it at iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and CDBaby.

—

Purchase The Magic of Christmas