Category: jazz

Mostly European the expression that looks like a Far Side character’s rounded-lips surprise acts as punctuation, or I s’pose these days, emoji to get your attention for the following pronouncement:

“Oh Christmas” by Zefereli is the alt-zen folk lesson in calming down for the holidays. Soporific. So, i need something else.

“Oh Christmas” from Calypso Rose is a cry for whiskey–and the celebration of Christ’s birth. Parang rager.

“Oh Christmas, Oh Navidad” is Mundo Armijo’s order to children to play all day, in the name of God. Sweet salsa.

“Oh Christmas” as Josue Alfredo Ayala tells it is a call to be a bird. Unintentional novelty returns with symphonic jazz tastelessness.

Xmas being celebratory in nature, shoutings might include explosive ejacuations of exclamations. Huzza becomes hurray and other variations, it being a clamor populi.

“Hurray Hurrah” is some of the most Carrib fun we can have here on the blog. Singing Francine leaves nothing behind with her hand-clapping, ululating folk synth party.

Whitening up the locale, “Hurray for Christmas” from Steve DeDoes & Don Sebesky (feat. April Tini) recall The Lawrence Welk Show with their carefree jazz simplifications and jolly harmonies.

Greg Helmer gets quietly personal with his 2016 USA woes and the blues in “Hurray Hurray for Christmas.” Mixed message, dude. But mightily talented.

Hooray Heroes change up the spelling and countryfication of the concept with the sassy “Hooray, It’s Christmas Time!” Like you don’t care!

Retro jazz from Janet Seidel continues our new spelling with “Hooray for Christmas.” Heavy on the drums, light on the interjection.

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.

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.

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.