Home » Jazz Articles » Play This! » Michael Leonhart Orchestra: Silent Night

Michael Leonhart Orchestra: Silent Night

By Ludovico Granvassu
December 15, 2023
View read count

Conceptually, I find holiday music puzzling. How can it be that, year after year, it keeps being churned out? Even by jazz musicians, who are usually not driven by commercial considerations? Then why not spring-break albums? Or something more meaningful like World Oceans Day jazz music? Or Martin Luther King day songs?

I presume that holiday music represents the ultimate challenge to the creative-minded artist: "how can I bring excitement, new life, and my own stamp, to a corny and overused 'seasonal standard'"?

All fears that the holidays are the Kryptonite of creativity instantly dissipate when you listen to albums like Carla Bley's Carla's Christmas Carols, or A Dreamers Christmas by John Zorn, Very Last Christmas by Tin Men and the Telephone, the An Ayler Xmas series by Mars Williams, or songs like "It's Christmas Time" by Sun Ra, "Christmas with Satan" by James Chance, "Shubho lhaw qolo" by Ibrahim Maalouf.

The latest addition to the small list of inventive and fabulous-sounding holiday music is "Silent Night" as interpreted by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra, featuring a solo by Brandon Wright on flute. As they say on Instagram reels: "wait until the end!"

Contribute to Play This! Recommend a favorite song, album, or performance and we'll share it with your fellow All About Jazz readers. Submit it here.

About Michael Leonhart

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Hrayr Attarian's Best Jazz Albums Of...
< Previous

Pallett
Next >

Become a Sustaining Member

Since 1995, All About Jazz has championed jazz as an art form and supported the musicians who create it. Over three decades, it has grown into one of the world's leading jazz resources, serving hundreds of thousands of readers, musicians, presenters and industry professionals each month.

Help Build the Future of All About Jazz

Your support helps us continue building All About Jazz for the next generation—expanding our editorial coverage, preserving jazz history, developing new community features and creating better ways to discover the music and the people behind it.

Become a sustaining member for as little as $20 per year and you'll immediately enjoy an ad-free experience along with access to subscriber features and future articles for a full year.

Together, we're not simply sustaining All About Jazz—we're building its future. Thank you for being part of the journey.