Beginning sometime in late October, record labels begin to send out their seasonal music. Several new releases (and not-so-new releases) have caught my ear and asked me to write about them. It is pretty much a mixed bag: some resonant vocal jazz carols from the Vocal Jazz Label, some Christmas R&B, and the best Jazz Christmas release of 2001.

MaxJazz- MaxJazz Holiday (MaxJazz 301)

Producer Bruce Barth taps on the shoulder of the entire MaxJazz Vocal Series alumni to contribute to a holiday disc. The results are amazingly successful. Mostly using the bands they recorded their individual releases with, the Vocal Series stable provide us with wintergreen fresh treatments of all of the old standbys. The overall mood of the recording is neo-mainstream. After perfecting the Cassandra Wilson style of genre and instrument deconstruction, MaxJazz produces a fairly straight-ahead rendering of Holiday Classics. All pieces swing to be sure, but in some very interesting ways. Bruce Barth's contributions, "O Christmas Tree" and "Greensleeves" are decidedly non-Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown. Carla Cook's "Silent Night" is reminiscent of Kathleen Battle's on Wynton Marsalis's A Crescent City Christmas Card (Columbia 45287), while her "Do You Hear What I Hear" is funky in a reverent way. Rene Marie strolls through "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow," and "Winter Wonderland." Mary Stallings perfectly frames "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Christine Hitt provides the lesser heard carols in "We'll Dress the House" and some Children See Him" and then turns around with a boffo "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." This disc is a great holiday treat to be sought out.

Vee-Jay- A Treasury of Golden Christmas Songs (Koch 51407)

In its heyday, the Vee-Jay record label sported one of the most impressive rosters of gospel artist. Koch has re-released the long out-of-print Vee-Jay release, A Treasury of Golden Christmas Songs. On hand were Jerry Butler ("Silent Night," "O Holy Night"), the Caravans ("God Rest You Merry Gentleman"), Charles Taylor ("Joy to the World, "A Christmas Message"), and the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama ("White Christmas," "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"). The tone is quaint and a bit dated, but that all adds to the exquisite nostalgia these carol versions provide. Imagine an Atlantic Records—Muscle Shoals sound homogenized and applied to holiday favorites. That about describes these recordings.

Harry Allen- Christmas in Swingtime (Koch Jazz 51409)

Saving the absolute best for last, Tenor Saxophonist Harry Allen has recorded as fine a jazz holiday disc as one could hope for. Instead of opting for the traditional jazz quartet of piano, bass, and drums, Allen instead employees the neo-funk stylings of Larry Goldings and Peter Bernstein in a tenor-Hammond B-3-guitar roadhouse combination that is as turkey and dressing as it is collard greens and ham hocks. Allen is relaxed and plays empathetically with Goldings and Bernstein. The result is Christmas on the Chitlin' Circuit. "Oh Christmas Tree" is a swinging romp and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" begins as an eggnog ballad, with a light, churchy organ intro from Goldings and ends with a Harry Allen Bill Haley and the Comets. John Pizzarelli is on hand to sing "Blue Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" is taken at a "My Favorite Things" 3/4 time pace. This is recording is not simply pleasant versions of carols in a jazz vein, it is very fine jazz. Everyone hits their stride on this disc. Bravo!