Editorial Reviews

Here’s a very classy holiday collection bringing together first-rate jazz players and worthy material. Vocalists have their say -- Shirley Horn, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and Billy Eckstine turn in committed renditions of Xmas favorites -- but so do exceptional instrumentalists. John Coltrane and his “classic“ quartet put a swinging spin on “Greensleeves,” organist Jimmy Smith jazzes up “Jingle Bells,” pianist Bill Evans (with the assistance of bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian) puts a personal touch on “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” and guitarist Kenny Burrell extracts all the blues on “Merry Christmas, Baby,” among other outstanding cuts. Highlights also include Mel Tormé singing his own holiday standard, “Christmas Song,” the Count Basie band with the great vocalist Jimmy Rushing doing “Good Morning Blues,” and Louis Armstrong making merry on “’Zat You, Santa Claus?” Two all-star performances -- “Winter Wonderland” with Shirley Horn supported by trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Stephen Scott, and others, and “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” with Joe Williams, saxophonist Bobby Watson, and trumpeter Joe Wilder -- are mini-classics in themselves. Barnes & Noble

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