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Holiday of Lights
Bradley Leighton
Label: Pacific Coast Jazz
Released: 2010
Duration: 00:44:39
Views: 48
Tracks
Joy To The World; Santa Clause Is Coming To Town; Christmas Time Is Here; Winter Wonderland; The First Noel; Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow; Little Drummer Boy; God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; White Christmas; Angels We Have Heard On High; Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas; Silent Night
Personnel
Bradley Leighton
fluteAlbum Description
“Smooth Jazz Therapy has been feeling in the Christmas spirit for some weeks and its latest musical stocking stuffer comes in the form of a brand new holiday album from San Diego based flautist Bradley Leighton. ‘Holiday of Lights’ finds him in combination with the Emmy award winning Allan Phillips and together they deliver a tranche of Christmas favourites that are re-imagined in a stylish fusion of modern Latin and Brazilian rhythms. These innovative and jazzy interpretations certainly provide a welcome addition to this year’s crop of seasonal offerings and as Venezuelan born Phillips creates an authentic Latin flavour it is Leighton who, in his own beautifully pure and heartfelt manner, adds some sumptuously timeless melodies.
Opening with the mellifluous ‘Joy To The World’ Leighton quickly confirms how well the flute dovetails with Christmas music. His interplay with Phillips on keys and percussion is stunning while when they switch their collective attention to the comfortingly familiar ‘Let It Snow’ you might be excused for wishing that Christmas would come every day of the year.
On that very theme Vince Guaraldi’s ‘Christmas Time Is Here’ is performed with a deliciously cinematic quality that would play well in any season and although a zesty, groove drenched arrangement of ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ takes this familiar tune to another place it is the hip swaying Latin vibe of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ that signposts the way to where the traditional meets the contemporary in the most charming of ways.
Leighton’s playing on the evocative ‘The First Noel’ is wonderful and he stays in what might be termed reflective mode for the magical ‘White Christmas’. It proves to be a delightful diversion as first ‘Winter Wonderland’ and then ‘Little Drummer Boy’ are both characterized by the intense rhythms that Phillips routinely generates. They add considerably to these enduring tracks and as the mellow piano intro to ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’ briefly disguises the infectious beat on which it subsequently glides the listener is further reminded of just how refreshing this entire collection is.
Elsewhere, not only is ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ an all-time personal favourite but also serves as a showcase for Leighton’s fine playing on bass flute and as ‘Silent Night’ takes ‘Holiday of Lights’ to a magically restful conclusion there seems little doubt that this will be an album you will return to year after year.” ~Denis Poole, SmoothJazzTherapy.com
Album uploaded by Donna Nichols
