Holiday CD Roundup
December 2005 By Tad Hendrickson
40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Peak Records
Headed up by the Peanuts' main musical voice these days, David Benoit, this CD is a tribute to the 1965 Vince Guaraldi classic with a few Christmas standards added. Featuring folks like Vanessa Williams, Dave Koz and Brian McKnight, it's no surprise that...
December 2005 By Tad Hendrickson
Christmas Remixed 2
Six Degrees
Christmas Remixed 2 features contemporary takes on holiday-music performance by the likes of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and Joe Williams. The most interesting tunes come from Red Baron's mash-up of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra's "Dance of the Sugar Plum...
December 2005 By Tad Hendrickson
Happy Holidays Las Vegas
Vezzo
There is a long tradition of crappy Christmas music, and this one is as smelly as reindeer droppings. No one expects much more than schmaltz from Las Vegas, but the opening track here, featuring Lesley Gore, sounds like an ad put together by the gambling...
December 2005 By Tad Hendrickson
Martha Stewart Living Music: Jazz for the Holidays
Epic/Legacy
The former jailbird and queen of domesticity cherry-picks classics by Tony Bennett ("Santa Claus Is Coming to Town") and Dexter Gordon ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas) and some contemporary versions by Chris Botti ("Let It Snow!") and Grover Washington...
December 2005 By Tad Hendrickson
Christmas Album
Shout Factory
Long out of print, this 1968 LP is pretty much the Ameri-achi music we'd expect from Alpert and Co. A mere 32 minutes long, the reissue features no extra tunes, but the always commercially minded Alpert was spot-on in his choices, as chestnuts like "Winter...
December 2005 By Tad Hendrickson
Christmas Fantasy
Blue Note Records
Baker fronts an impressive small band featuring pianist Joe Sample and guitarist Larry Carlton as they put the Quiet Storm stamp on Christmas classics like "Christmas Time Is Here" and "O Come, All Ye Faithful," plus a few oddballs, like a ragtime version...
