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Jennifer Leitham: Future Christmas
ByMethodology aside, what matters is that Leitham's full-bodied bass serves as an unerring compass throughout, whether soloing or lending support to Langham or Drake (with whom she playfully spars on "Little Drummer Boy / Big Bass Girl"). She uses the bow to good effect on the lovely ballad "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." As for Leitham's voice, it is light and pleasing on Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here," "Feels Like Home for Christmas" (a variation on "I'll Be Home for Christmas"), "Nature's Blessing" and her own "Future Christmas," a clear-eyed look at holiday seasons to come as seen through the unblinking lens of global warming. On "Blue Christmas," Leitham adopts a gravelly, Scrooge-like burr to underscore Dorough's acidulous lyric, an artifice chosen, she writes, because Dorough's song was beyond her normal vocal range. The result is jarring but effective.
The trio is showcased on two of the session's more animated numbers, "Angels We Have Heard on High" and a blazing rendition of "Jingle Bells," while Leitham rings down the curtain with a lustrous and sure-handed a cappella version of "O Tannenbaum." In between, Leitham and her teammates blend neatly together as a working unit should, with no missteps or blemishes. Thanks to their enterprise, the outlook for Future Christmas seems bright indeed.
Track Listing
Angels We Have Heard on High; Future Christmas (The Global Warming Winter Holiday Blues); Christmas Time Is Here; Feels Like Home for Christmas; Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; Nature’s Blessing; Little Drummer Boy / Big Bass Girl; Winter Wonderland; Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern); Jingle Bells; O Tannenbaum.
Personnel
Jennifer Leitham
bassJennifer Leitham: bass, vocals, sleigh bells, water drops; Andy Langham: piano; Randy Drake: drums, sleigh bells.
Album information
Title: Future Christmas | Year Released: 2014 | Record Label: Sinistral Records
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