Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis - Big Band Holidays
Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra open and close “Big Band Holidays” with two songs from the Count Basie repertoire - Ernie Wilkins’ arrangement of “Jingle Bells” and Basie’s original “Good Morning Blues” with its holiday-themed lyrics sung by breakout star Cecile McLorin Salvant. Salvant displays her vocal artistry on three other tracks, including the winter-themed “It’s Easy to Blame the Weather.” Grammy-winner Gregory Porter belts out the R&B holiday standard “Merry Christmas Baby.” JLCO’s first-ever holiday CD, culled from its festive annual holiday concerts, offers familiar and unfamiliar songs arranged by band members in a variety of jazz styles with a rich palette of instrumental colors.
LeAnn Rimes - Today Is Christmas
LeAnn Rimes mixes spirited songs that showcase the holiday cheer with more serene, thoughtful songs of the season on “Today Is Christmas.” The album features fun takes on family carols like “Must Be Santa” and “Frosty the Snowman” with original songs “I Still Believe In Santa Claus” and the title track. There’s also a beautifully classic rendition of “Little Drummer Boy” and Rimes sings a cappella on “Auld Lang Syne,” a decision she says she made because she wanted to bring out the song’s heartbreaking sadness and loneliness. Rimes duets with singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw on “Celebrate Me Home” and R&B singer Aloe Blacc on “That Spirit of Christmas.” The latter just makes you want to dance.
Kenny Rogers- Once Again It’s Christmas
Kenny Rogers may be retiring from the road next year, but the 77-year-old isn’t finished just yet. “Once Again It’s Christmas” is an album of holiday favorites and thought-provoking new tracks. The 77-year-old crooner recently announced his retirement and farewell tour, so this mix of mostly classic carols with traditional arrangements is one fans will savor. Highlights include “Some Children See Him,” with Alison Krauss adding angelic accompaniment, and “Children, Go Where I Send Thee,” featuring country a cappella band Home Free and a rousing clap-your-hands gospel beat. Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles adds heat to “Baby It’s Cold Outside”; Rogers is backed by a choral arrangement on “Little Drummer Boy,” and soaring strings on “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
The Braxtons - Braxton Family Christmas
Remember the song, Unbreak my Heart? Yes, that Toni Braxton! The Christmas album from Toni Braxton and her sisters will only make you wish they were working on a proper, full-length R&B project. “Braxton Family Christmas” is soulful and warm and the sisters’ harmonies are the album’s highlight. They sound like angels on “O Holy Night (A cappella)” and “This Christmas,” which opens the 8-track album. And Tamar Braxton, the youngest of the family clan, hits a high note so beautifully on “Mary, Did You Know?” you’ll have to reply it again and again. Even on the original songs like “Every Day is Christmas” and “Under My Christmas Tree,” Toni, Tamar, Towanda, Trina and Traci sound epic and classic.
Michael Buble - Christmas
This one’s not a new album but it’s now an evergreen one, despite being just four years old. Bublé is, on his day, a great vocalist “ smooth and steady, his lines wrap around these familiar pieces like fine ribbon around a promisingly shaped gift plucked from under the tree. And he’s backed by perfectly competent musicians (sometimes brassy, sometimes reserved) and joined by a handful of guest vocalists: among these, The Puppini Sisters on Jingle Bells, and Shania Twain on White Christmas. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, Santa Baby, and I’ll Be Home for Christmas are laidback, conjuring images of the singer clicking his fingers beside a fireplace, stockings and twinkling lights around him.
