Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Scott Oakley Trio: Jazz For The Holidays

295

Scott Oakley Trio: Jazz For The Holidays

By

View read count
Scott Oakley Trio: Jazz For The Holidays
Straight-ahead jazz should be creative enough to fire the imagination with music above and beyond the tried and true formula that’s brought to us year in and year out. And yet the tradition must be maintained. These holiday songs simply cannot be turned into playthings for the avant-gardist to toy with. Scott Oakley and his two veteran partners recognize this necessary quality and apply creative colors to each of these holiday staples. The pianist mixes tone clusters and splashes of melody on the songs we’ve grown up with.

Sitting beside the Christmas tree on that magical morning with Oakley’s trio purring from the living room stereo sure makes a lot of sense. Just try to be patient with your noisy guests and family members. Replay the album in the afternoon when they’ve all gone to the movies. Darek Oles and Joe La Barbera solo frequently with a gentle spirit and lyrical intentions. Brushes and sticks change hands for effect, and La Barbera finds the right texture every time. Oakley has studied with Jaki Byard and George Russell. He learned a few lessons from Madame Chaloff as well. He takes charge of each Christmas carol and massages it into a comfortable fit for the straight-ahead jazz lover. Jazz for the Holidays, recorded in October, was released this year in honor of the American Liver Foundation. It comes to us as a gift – a fine companion for this holiday season.

Track Listing

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; Silent Night; Santa Claus is Coming to Town; It Came Upon a Midnight Clear; White Christmas; Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow; Winter Wonderland; The Christmas Song; O Tannenbaum; Little Drummer Boy; Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; Greensleeves; Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; Here Comes Santa Claus.

Personnel

Scott Oakley- piano; Darek Oles- bass; Joe La Barbera- drums.

Album information

Title: Jazz For The Holidays | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: Invisible Music Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.