There are said to be contemporaries who tire of singing the same old Christmas carols. In this case, the "Christmas" album by Singers Unlimited, released in 1971, is a proven remedy. Leader Gene Puerling's dense harmonic choruses influenced Take Six, The Manhattan Transfer, or even a Brian Wilson, inspiring legendary jazz singer Jon Hendricks to compare them to Charlie Parker: "What Gene did for harmonies, Charlie did for bebop." "Christmas" is considered the best known of the fifteen Singers Unlimited albums and includes classics such as "Deck the Halls," "Silent Night" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," all arranged in Puerling's distinctive style. The a cappella quartet shifts fluidly between traditional tone and jazz-influenced modern sphere, sometimes exuberant, then reflective. Seven of the album's original compositions were penned by trumpeter Alfred Burt: at first they were intended as melodious Christmas cards for friends and family, to which Burt's father, an Episcopal priest, composed lyrics - but over time they evolved into festive classics in their own right "Christmas" sounds as clear and pure as a child's breath on a cold winter morning and brings joy anew every year - not only on Christmas days.