Category: jazz

ad silentnitum, unbroken

Still feeling deserted around the holidays? Still?! Sing with brimming eye!

Jim Caliendo soft rocks “Another Blue Christmas” as homage to The King. Stellar effort, decent song.

Steven Acker could take pointers, as his “Another Blue Christmas” is limp rock with empty lyrics. Elvis’s coattails can’t carry this.

Shredding blues guitar stretches “Another Blue Christmas” from Andrew Mellor to the breaking point. How many anothers can a man take?

Sweaty club jazz from David George and The Crooked Christmas Orchestra sneaks “Another Blue Christmas” up on you from expecting Santa to getting shafted.

Carol Told by an Idiot, 9

Let’s restock, or at least take stock (again) in the whole return of the thing. Upbeat music should do it, regardless of the cliches piled on.

Messy but hopeful dance music from Fuselage strings lines of lines together for a garage stomping “(It’s Starting to Look Like Christmas Once Again).” I’m up, but i don’t know why.

“Merry Merry Christmas (Again)” is Tyson Leslie’s way of talking toys and years and–i guess other stuff. Measured pop.

Easy listening strings and piano pretty up the old saw of being happy that “It’s Christmas Once More.” Sherry Allen underplays that overpowering vocal talent she has, but–yawn.

Taking on the War on Christmas Rich DiMare heralds how “It’s Okay to Say Christmas Again.” Make Christmas audible again.

Steven Curtis Chapman hasn’t much to say in “Christmas Time Again” but has great jazzy swing fun doing it.

Carol Told by an Idiot, 1

After Christmas, guess what? There’ll be Christmas coming ’round again. That’s my premise, any ways. A ‘Groundhog Day’ form of insanity Macbeth complained about creeping into this petty pace of life. Sigh. Here we go again. Then again. You get the idea….

This call should be the exhilaration of Backstreet Boys doot-doo-ing “It’s Christmas Time Again.” Every time they announce the title it’s a party of boy-band pop scat.

Watering down R+B, Ashanti smooth-warbles “Christmas Time Again.” Also listing all the features that recur annually, which leads to love, baby. (Stay tuned for a personal memory from her to you.)

Adrain B (feat. Shawn Sounds) gets almost silly with gleefulness in “Christmas Time Again.” It’s that good, at least in soul.

I prefer the Philip-Glass-altered-state i get from My Morning Jacket’s wandering melody “Xmas Time is Here Again.” You never know when this cool club music’ll end, but it is quite the carousel ride.

Star Men (3)

Okay, we can’t have a Christmas Star without those three wise men.

Wendy Webster reduces the concept to nursery rhyme doggerel in “See the Wise Men Follow the Star.” Something to provoke the very young.

JJ Heller returns us to real music with a fresh take on ‘We Three Kings’ as “Star of Wonder.” It descends, musically, into the men. But you know part of it.

The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir R+Bs the gospel with “They Followed His Star.” Righteously cool.

John Burland has a hand-clapping pop singalong with “Christmas Star.” The wise men become we at some point, but you follow after all.

David Dunn has a jazzy interp on the ‘ancient astrologers,’ entitled “Star.” This is a fun bebop journey on the old story.

Family Bells

How sad to ring the holiday bell all by your lonesome. Better instead to flock the family ’round those ringers. Christmas bells bring us home

Kenny and Dolly belt out how they’ll be home “With Bells on.” It might be fashion de jure, or it might be merry making mischief. Regardless, they mean it. You can hear it in the pop sorta-country rhythms.

Loreena McKennitt charms “The Bells of Christmas” with whispery hymnalistic come-hither-ness. It’s all about calling you home, baby. Come on now.

The blues will be cured by the baby coming home, that’s just a fact. So Aaron Neville has “The Bells will be Ringing” to signal her home. Raunchy blues just this side of pop.

Sylva itemizes the trappings of the Nativity with “Christmas Bells,” but it’s all about coming home. Jazzy marshmallow-mouthed pop.

ël-No, the twenty-second

The intrinsic suppliers of the poverty paradigm involve shit-out-of-luck parameters that seem out of our control. No Christmas for you and your loved ones, ‘cuz–just ‘cuz.

Scott Anderson honky tonks the blue grass with his spiral into bad luck “Ain’t No Christmas Round Here.” It’s the usual country-western lament, but that banjo just keeps me from cryin’.

Yulenog blows smoky jazz lounge for the gambling addict who leaves it all on the table and “No Christmas” follows his sorry ass home. Pretty messy.

Zero

Got presents? If the answer is no, then quickly consult our comprehensive checklist: Believe in Santa? Been bad?

There ya go.

“Naughty Naughty Children” get a dose of advice from the bee-bop Rock’n’Roll of Grace Potter & The Nocturnals. Although, try harder might fall on deaf ears.

Lacuna Coil metals the reminder that “Naughty Children” might be passed by–by Santa! Krampus’ll gitcha, tho. For all the terror-pedaling, this is fun.

Gracious Me extrapolates the incorrigibility to the realization that being on “The Naughty List” unholsters all the stress of what you’ll get and allows a for a form of jazzy diva freedom. Swing low, sweet churl.