Holiday Jazz 2009: Santa's got a brand new beat

By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.10.09

[Web master’s note: Northern California film critic Derrick Bang — the eldest, youngest and only son of this site’s jazz guru, Ric Bang — has surveyed the holiday jazz scene for roughly 14 years, with lengthy columns that just keep growing.]

My ever-expanding collection of holiday jazz once again grew by leaps and bounds during the past year, thanks to the growing ease with which regional and foreign releases can be discovered and obtained via the Internet.

As a result, while the major record companies have been surprisingly quiet this year — at least when it comes to new holiday jazz releases — I've no shortage of good music to share.

CDBaby.com and EJazzlines.com continue to be excellent sources; the latter even has a specific category for holiday jazz. Amazon, as well, is laden with goodies: some of them hailing from overseas, and more likely available via Amazon's UK or French sites. And, thanks to the growing sophistication of instant Web-based language translators, navigating foreign-language sites isn't nearly as challenging as once was the case.

But why belabor the details? You're here for the music, and this space would be better served fulfilling that desire. So when you're seeking alternatives to eyebrow-raising Christmas pop or oft-heard classics that may have grown a bit tiresome, consider the following.

They'll keep your egg nogged!

I covered Trio West's first seasonal jazz album back in 2007, and was quite impressed by the musicality displayed by this lively combo: producer/arranger/
drummer Tobias Gebb, pianist Eldad Zvulun and bassist Neal Miner.

Well, the unit is back this year with Trio West Plays Holiday Songs Vol. 2 (Yummyhouse Records), and the trio's music is just as lively and engaging; this CD is just plain fun.

Gebb's arrangements are designed as if his group were playing for a lively ballroom dance competition, starting with a tango rendition of "We Three Kings" that's so sultry, we practically can see the long-stemmed rose in Zvulun's teeth.

Gebb apparently loves double-time arrangements, and Zvulun is up to the challenge; "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World" are furious sambas, while the group's rendition of "Jingle Bells" positively roars. And while you'd expect a waltz interpretation of "We Three Kings" to be on the gentler side, that ain't the case; this peppy 6/4 waltz would leave any dancers breathless.

"O Tannenbaum" is presented twice: first in a funkified strut with bebop echoes of Dizzy Gillespie's "Salt Peanuts," and later as a more traditionally rhythmic salsa.

Fortunately, the songs aren't all sprints; both "Joy to the World" and "The First Noel" break up the action, allowing folks to enjoy a slow dance or two.

Gebb's percussion work is always creative, and Zvulun keeps his solos simple, with single-note riffs rather than chords. Sadly, although Miner maintains a steady presence, he remains in the background; these 11 tracks are too brief to afford any extended solos.

But hey: There's nothing wrong with short and sweet.

Holiday Jazz 2007: Quite a cool yule

By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.13.07


[Web master’s note: Northern California film critic Derrick Bang — the eldest, youngest and only son of this site’s jazz guru, Ric Bang — has surveyed the holiday jazz scene for roughly 12 years, with lengthy columns that just keep growing.]

OK, I admit it, I’m a holiday junkie. I’ve even got a new nickname: Captain Christmas.

Friends and family members just roll their eyes and shake their heads, when the calendar page flips from October to November, because they know what it means: Every free moment from that point onward is devoted to decorating the house ... first outside (gotta make it by Thanksgiving weekend!) and then inside.

Naturally, the proper mood must be set for such activities, and nothing keeps my spirits raised — particularly as I approach the conclusion of an all-day session — better than a toe-tapping, finger-snapping collection of Christmas jazz.

Having now been accumulating such albums for the better part of a quarter-century, I must have one of the best collections in the country ... with no end in sight.

Although mainstream labels have decreased their new releases during recent years, the flow has remained constant, thanks to Web sources such as cdbaby and www.ejazzlines.com. Both are excellent sites, and the latter even has a section devoted to holiday jazz.

One must apply a bit of caveat emptor to cdbaby, though; since the site stocks and sells pretty much everything submitted, one can bring home an eye-opening grade of trash.

Fortunately, I’m here to help spare the pain. Yes, I listen to the bad ones, just so you won’t wind up with a nasty surprise.

While 2007 has not been a banner year for new arrivals — very few must-have stand-outs — most of the albums cited below would rate a solid B on the standard grading scale. That still makes them eminently listenable, and therefore worth your time.

Moving to it, then...

Searching for cool new sounds is a full-time endeavor, and the Christmas jazz sub-genre is no different. As always, several titles came to my attention just after I published last year’s edition of this annual round-up, so I’ll start with those.

Credit for calling this first album to my attention goes to Shaunna Morrison Machosky, music director at the Pittsburgh-based National Public Radio station WDUQ, who in late 2006 published her list of “the best holiday jazz CDs.” She resisted adding the word “ever” to that title, but since her compilation includes Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song and Ella Fitzgerald’s Wishes You a Swingin’ Christmas, her taste obviously is impressively wide-ranging.

Machosky’s list concluded with Diane Delin’s Offerings for a Peaceable Season (Blujazz BJ3351), and I was drawn to it by virtue of Delin’s instrument of choice: the violin.

Jazz violin, I hear you cry?

Indeed. This tasty little album proves that strings can swing, particularly when accompanied by solid support from a piano-bass-percussion trio. The tone is mostly quiet and contemplative, with several tracks — notably “My Favorite Things” and “Winter Wonderland” — demonstrating a gentle, Latin-hued samba beat that serves as ample foundation for Delin’s sassy violin chops.

I also like her program choice; she goes for lesser-known carols such as the traditional “Gloucestershire Wassail,” Victor Herbert’s “Toyland” and a lively bop version of the overture to Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” (rapidly becoming a holiday staple).
Delin’s handling of “Deck the Halls,” with its piano and bass underscore, reminds me of Duke Pearson’s classic arrangement of “Sleigh Ride”; the result is impossible to resist.

She’s also a generous leader; an exquisitely pretty reading of “Petit Papa Noel” grants a full three minutes to pianist Dennis Luxion and bassist Eric Hochberg, before Delin’s violin finally weighs in.

She brings the set to a lively conclusion with her own up-tempo reading of “Sleigh Ride,” and I immediately wanted to listen to the entire album again. So will you.

Holiday Jazz 2004: The (Christmas) beat goes on

By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.9.04

[Web master’s note: Northern California film critic Derrick Bang — the eldest, youngest and only son of this site’s jazz guru, Ric Bang — has surveyed the holiday jazz scene since the late 1990s, with lengthy columns that just keep growing.]


It used to be so simple.

Back in the late 1970s, when I first started collecting holiday jazz albums, the entire sub-genre probably included no more than two dozen albums (a few of which still haven’t been released on CD, dagnabbit!).

These days, at least that many pass through my fingers each year.

As with the 2003 round-up, this year’s cornucopia of wealth results in great part from several afternoons spent listening at cdbaby, where I found roughly half of the albums cited below. Being able to pre-listen to multiple cuts allowed me to avoid some obvious clunkers (and the better part of valor demands that the guilty parties simply go unrecognized).

Still and all, it’s once again a very good year for holiday jazz, as the exhaustive discussion below reveals. Given the increased consolidation of radio station and music store ownership, it’s now irrefutably true that you’ll never hear or see some of the best music at conventional outlets. The world is full of talented musicians, far too many of whom struggle to be noticed beneath the ClearChannel/Wal-Mart radar.

Do yourself a favor: Get a few of the cdbaby listings cited here. Santa’s swingin’ elves are certain you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Let’s start with a welcome blast from the past.

Longtime music fans always maintain a List of Those That Got Away, generally vinyl LPs that are decades out of print. Despite the now quite impressive size of my Christmas jazz library, I have just such a list, and one album thereon — jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell’s 1966 release, Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas (Cadet 779) — finally has been re-issued on CD.

The album sounds a bit quaint, due mostly to the overly large orchestra backing Burrell, who really doesn’t need so much gloss or glitz. When he cooks, though, he really cooks, as with his reading of “My Favorite Things.” I still don’t regard this cut from The Sound of Music as a true holiday song, but Burrell comes close to making me a believer.

He contributes a wonderfully bluesy rendition of “Merry Christmas, Baby,” and puts considerable swing into his cover of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.” One of the album’s best finger-snappers isn’t a Christmas tune; “Go Where I Send Thee” is a church spiritual, and in Burrell’s fingers it blossoms into a bring-down-the-house gospel number.

It’s sure nice when something proves worth the wait.