Holiday Jazz 2013: Joy to the jingle

By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.11.13

[Web master’s note: Northern California film critic Derrick Bang — still the eldest, youngest and only son of this site’s jazz guru, Ric Bang — has surveyed the holiday jazz scene for roughly 18 years, with lengthy columns that just keep growing. Check out previous columns by clicking on the CHRISTMAS label below.]

Bing Crosby,  Mariah Carey and the Carpenters have their place during the holiday season, but if you really want to impress your mistletoe-smooching friends, dig into the Christmas jazz.

Although jazz stars have recorded seasonal classics going back to the swing era of Glenn Miller and Lionel Hampton, the pickings remained quite small up through the early 1960s, despite marvelous albums such as Ella Fitzgerald’s Wishes You a Swinging Christmas (1960), Kenny Burrell’s Have Yourself a Soulful Little Christmas (1966) and Duke Pearson’s Merry Ole Soul (1969).

By the early ’80s, however, compilation releases such as Mistletoe Magic and the three-album GRP Christmas series demonstrated the viability of “Christmas jazz” as its own sub-genre ... not to mention Vince Guaraldi’s steadily selling soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, which received additional publicity each December, when that Peanuts special repeated on TV.

Within the next decade, everybody from Dave Brubeck to Wynton Marsalis got into the act, and we’ve enjoyed the up-tempo results ever since.

I began covering holiday jazz in 1997, when the avalanche of new releases made it necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. I continue to be delighted by the wealth of albums, whether from established stars or newcomers doing their best to be noticed via Internet outlets such as CD Baby and iTunes. As always is true in the music world, fame is no guarantor of quality; a couple of this year’s best albums come from folks you’ve never heard of.

A handful of selections from the following list can’t help making you the hit of your own holiday party. As the lyrics insist, you gotta dig that crazy Santa Claus!

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Nnenna Freelon gallops out of the gate, with a swinging assist from the John Brown Big Band, on Christmas (Brown Boulevard Records), the best blend of chanteuse and full-blown jazz orchestra we’ve heard since Diana Krall teamed with the Clayton-Hamilton ensemble back in 2005.

Freelon is a belter, often going for the back row in the second balcony; she clearly could deliver a smashing rendition of the National Anthem. She and the band get off to a great start with a lively (and appropriately re-titled) arrangement of “Swingle Jingle Bells,” which displays the obvious joy she gets from performing this material.

When she modifies the lyrics to proclaim “Oh what fun it is, to jam in a one-horse open sleigh,” she’s definitely talking about this entire album.

Brown’s ensemble is a truly big band; he leads on bass and is joined by five saxes, five trumpets, four trombones and a rhythm section of piano, guitar, drums and percussion. The arrangements leave plenty of space for the band to roar, as they do during a march-oriented handling (Adonis Rose on drums) of “Little Drummer Boy” and a swinging medley of spirituals that climaxes with a heartfelt “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”

Ted Rosenthal Trio: Out of this World

Playscape Recordings
By Ric Bang
Buy CD: Out of this World

Pianist/composer/arranger Ted Rosenthal is a New Yorker through and through. He was born and raised in a Big Apple suburb, taught by local piano teachers, attended and earned two degrees from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. Although he subsequently toured extensively, he has spent most of his musical career performing in the New York area.

Jazz was an early love, but he initially concentrated on the classical genre because, at that time, only limited opportunities existed for studying jazz at the conservatory level. He nonetheless avidly pursued jazz outside of school and, in 1988, won the Thelonious Monk Competition; that launched his career.

All roads may lead to Rome, but New York City always has been a magnet for jazz artists. As a result, Rosenthal had numerous opportunities to perform with name musicians such as Gerry Mulligan, Ron Carter, Art Farmer, Jon Faddis and Phil Woods. In fact, Rosenthal toured with the final Gerry Mulligan Quartet, and his first albums were as a sideman with that group. After Mulligan’s death, Rosenthal became musical director of the Gerry Mulligan Tribute Band, which also featured Lee Konitz, Bob Brookmeyer and Randy Brecker. Their CD, Thank You, Gerry, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998.

One indicator of a pianist’s quality is related to his demand as accompanist by vocalists; Rosenthal is a first-call choice. As you listen to this album — his 13th as a leader — you’ll understand why; his touch is impeccable. He supports without intruding.

He concentrates here on timeless classics by Gershwin, Rogers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter and the like. All are familiar tunes, but I guarantee you’ve never heard them played like this. Rosenthal’s “de-ranging” (as he describes it) involves meter changes (3/4, 5/4, 9/8), harmonic and melodic variation, and improvisations that makes everything old, new again.

He can play at both blazing and ballad tempos, and his trio compatriots have much to do with the quality of his music. The bassist, Noriko Ueda, is equal to the best I’ve heard on the instrument. The drummer, Quincy Davis, has truly superior control; “fast” often results in “loud,” but not for Davis. He can perform blazing runs at just a whisper when appropriate.

This is a wonderful, enjoyable album: the kind of stuff you can play for hours.