Holidays & Hollynights (Hologram Recordings)
Laurence Juber Trio
Released September 16, 2016
DownBeat Four-Stars Review
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n4tEfiB6cnUwfe4Hr-dqONlL_3tE93e7s
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/5NGmeyLZAjRiM29EUY0bPi?si=E5skWgiVSyGLgWAxKJ6Dhg
About:
Grammy winning guitarist Laurence Juber is a solo performer, recording artist, composer and arranger. His playing fuses folk, jazz, blues, pop and classical styles, cre-ating a multi-faceted performance that belies the use of only one instrument. A music graduate of London’s Goldsmith’s College,he was featured guitar soloist with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra before becoming established as a studio musician inthe mid-1970’s. First internationally recognized as lead guitarist in Beatle Paul McCart-ney’s Wings, with whom he won a Grammy, Juber has since established himself as world-renowned guitar virtuoso and entertainer. Juber, known to his fans as LJ, has released 24 solo albums which spotlight his unique touch and tone on acoustic guitar. The latest, Holidays & Hollynights, isa seasonal re-lease that features Laurence in a trio context with upright bass and drums. His LJ Plays The Beatles was voted one of Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s all-time Top Ten albums. His solo arrangement of The Pink Panther Theme earned him a second Grammy, while his arrangement of Stand By Me was heard nationally in a Diamonds Are Forever commercial. Juber’s DVD-Audio project Guitar Noir (AIX Records) won a CES Demmy award for best audio. His ‘photo memoir’ Guitar With Wings was recently published by Dalton Watson Fine Books. As a studio musician, he can be heard on recordings from artists as diverse as Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks, Seal and the French chanteuse Sylvie Vartin, plus heis featured on the soundtracks to hundreds ofTV shows such as Home Improvement and movies including the academy award-winning Dirty Dancing, Good Will Hunting and Pocahontas. Juber co-composed the soundtrack of the award-winning video game Diablo III and scored the NBC Dateline documentary Children Of The Harvest. His music is also fea-tured in the Ken Burns’ documentary The Tenth Inning.
Track Listing:
1. Deck the Halls 03:14
2. What Child Is This 03:05
3. Oh Come All Ye Faithful 03:14
4. Joy to the World 03:20
5. Blue Christmas (Bill Hayes / Jay Johnson) 03:50
6. Sleighride (Leroy Anderson) 02:38
7. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Ralph Blane / Hugh Martin) 04:23
8. Frosty the Snowman (Steve Nelson / Jack Rollins) 03:04
9. Winter Wonderland (Dick Smith) 03:05
10. Jingle Bells 03:33
11. The Christmas Song (Mel Tormé / Robert Wells) 04:02
Personnel:
Laurence Juber: acoustic guitar
Domenic Genova: upright bass
Michael Jochum: drums
Recorded December 17, 2015, at Capitol Studio B, Hollywood, CA
Produced by Hope and Laurence Juber
Engineers: Charlie Paakkari, Al Schmitt
Mastering: Joe Gastwirt
Review:
Another world-class guitarist decking the halls with composure and with decorum is Laurence Juber, a former member of Paul McCartney’s band Wings. The Laurence Juber Trio’s Holidays & Hollynights may be pulled down a bit by threadbare material, but Juber scores high marks for the clarion precision of his playing and for his tasteful arrangements. The acoustic bass and drums are as inconspicuous as the buttons on Santa’s trousers. Bonus track “The Christmas Song,” featuring Juber alone with his Martin, ends the album on a note of quiet gaiety. This London native, who’s now based in California, also offers exquisite solo guitar work on his 1997 album Winter Guitar.
Frank-John Hadley (DownBeat)
