Jazz Articles

North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra: Holiday Jazz Blizzard

by Jack Bowers
November 1, 1998

Just in time for the holidays comes this welcome “blizzard” of traditional melodies and other songs of the season carefully transplanted to a congenial Jazz climate by the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra. Among the well–known works gleaming in handsome new packages are the carols “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” “Good King Wenceslas” and “We Three Kings.” The orchestra also prudently reframes “Jingle Bells,” Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” Victor Herbert’s “March of the Toy [Wooden?] Soldiers,” Bob Wells/Mel Tormé’s “Christmas ...