Harry Connick Jr. New Holiday CD Less Pop More Jazz
The bounty of new holiday albums is impressive -- little else is selling, the thinking seems to be, so let's see if Santa and Rudolph can salvage the end of the year. This year's batch is suitably diverse, many hurriedly assembled as a seasonal bonus primarily for an artist's most ardent fans, a few exhibiting real thought and care about what the holiday season means. What follows is a look at some of the most interesting collections available right now. For a more extensive list of reviews, see latimes.com.
Tony Bennett featuring the Count Basie Big Band, A Swingin' Christmas (RPM/Columbia):
Does this swing? Is snow white? The pairing of Bennett with Basie's band, even a quarter-century after its namesake's death, is inspired and invigorating, in no small part thanks to razor-sharp arrangements by such swing vets as Bill Holman and Frank Foster.
* * * 1/2
The Boxmasters, Christmas Cheer (Vanguard):
There's the occasional whiff of novelty from this effort by Billy Bob Thornton's trad-country band. But more often than not good spirits abound -- check out their Johnny Cash-on-the-range take on “We Three Kings of Orient Are" and glorious downer honky-tonkin' originals such as “My Dreams of Christmas" and “I Won't Be Home for Christmas." Bonus points for covering John Prine's bittersweet “Christmas in Prison."
* * 1/2
Harry Connick Jr. What a Night! A Christmas Album
(Columbia): The New Orleans singer-pianist is turning Christmas into a one-man cottage industry with his third holiday album. This one's less pop, more jazz, and he fleshes out (sometimes too) hip renditions of a dozen yuletide standards with four songs of his own. The originals inject more freshness of content than expression, “Song for the Hopeful" being the standout for its heartfelt simplicity.
* * 1/2
Sheryl Crow, Home for Christmas (Hallmark):
Retail-commissioned albums can feel tossed off, and this one's no exception. At least Crow sounds as if she enjoyed herself with R&B-leaning arrangements of holiday favorites. Her one original, the fetching prayer for peace “There Is a Star That Shines Tonight," will leave a lot of listeners wondering what else she might have to say about the season.
* * 1/2
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Jingle All the Way (Rounder):
This one will make any inattentive holiday party guests sit up and take notice, starting with the Flecktones' far-flung interpretation of “Jingle Bells" with the Alash Ensemble of Tuvan throat singers. This collective of folk-rooted newgrass instrumentalists won't be limited in transforming songs as disparate as “The Hanukkah Waltz," a section of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Tchaikovsky's “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" and Joni Mitchell's “River."
* * * 1/2
