Christmas Jazz Jam (Somerset Entertainment Ltd)
Wynton Marsalis
Released in 2009
Jazzonline Best Christmas Jazz Albums
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About:
Christmas Jazz Jam, is the first holiday album of Wynton in 20 years. Rooted in the spirit of New Orleans and the gospel church, these new arrangements of holiday standards are drenched with down-home soul and joyous swing. Christmas Jazz Jam brings the American art of jazz improvisation to traditional songs loved worldwide. It provides a great opportunity to discover and enjoy contemporary jazz.
Track Listing:
1. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Coots/Gillespie) 4.50
2. Mary Had A Baby (Traditional) 4.03
3. Jingle Bells (Pierpont) 4.43
4. Blue Christmas (Hayes/Johnson) 5.24
5. Go Tell It On The Mountain (Work, Jr.) 7.08
6. O Christmas Tree (Anschütz) 7.25
7. O Little Town Of Bethlehem (Brooks) 7.21
8. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (Marks) 6.05
9. The Christmas Song (Tormé/Wells) 5.30
10. Good King Wenceslas (Helmore(Neale) 6.49
11. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Martin/Blane) 7.08
12. Greensleeves (Traditional) 2.05
Personnel:
Wessell Anderson: saxophone
Walter Blanding: saxophone
Vincent Gardner: trombone
Victor Goines: saxophone, clarinet
Wycliffe Gordon: trombone, tuba
Roberta Gumbel: vocals
Wynton Marsalis: trumpet
Paul Nedzela: saxophone, clarinet
Dan Nimmer: piano
Herlin Riley: drums
Don Vappie: banjo, guitar, vocals
Reginald Veal: bass
Recorded January 6-7, 2009, at Avatar Recording Studios, New York, NY
Produced by Jeff Jones “The Jedi Master”
Supervising Engineer: The Jedi Master
Recording Engineer: Jason Dale
Assistant Engineers: Shinobu Mitsuoka, Justin Gerrish, Fernando Lodeiro
Design: Paul Jarman
Photography: Rob Waymen
Review:
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis’ A Crescent City Christmas Card was released in 1989. Now, 20 years later on the dot, appears Christmas Jazz Jam. Marsalis produced this new recording with a septet plus four composed of many former sidemen, including trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, uber-reedsmen Victor Goines and Wessell Anderson, drummer Herlin Riley, and bassist Reginald Veal, and several newer faces. Marsalis has also opted for a newer marketing scheme by selling the disc exclusively through Target Stores. This commercial decision might be frowned upon were it not for the excellence of the recording.
Make no mistake about it: like A Crescent City Christmas Card, Christmas Jazz Jam is a quintessential Marsalis recording, teeming with his native New Orleans, his reverence for prewar small ensemble jazz, and his creative and ubiquitous sense of humor. In recent years, Marsalis has started to shed the early jazz worship cloak that had collared many early releases. What emerges here is a full-bore talent fun-fest that is both fun and instructive.
Marsalis reprises few carols from Crescent City. Those that he does (“Jingle Bells” and “O Christmas Tree”) are dramatically rearranged and while the vocal songs are not repeated, counter parts exist on each disc. Crescent City‘s sultry “Silent Night,” sung by Kathleen Battle becomes a rollicking “Mary Had A Baby” by Roberta Gumbel on Christmas Jazz Jam. Likewise the former’s scat-fest “Sleighride” by Jon Hendricks becomes a Vieux Carre “Blue Christmas” by Don Vappie on the latter.
“Jingle Bells” channels cornet legend Joseph “King” Oliver and clarinetist Johnny Dodds through Marsalis and the supremely talented Goines. “Go Tell It On The Mountain” is a rave up where Don Vappie show the importance of the banjo in jazz. The first part of the spiritual is taken at a fast clip where Gordon delivers his trombone solo with exuberant abandon. Gordon then changes to tuba, slowing the song to a march. He proceeds to perform a svelte tuba solo with a smile as big as trumpeter Louis Armstrong’s. Wessell Anderson blows a mean alto, too.
Finally, the man of the hour, Wynton Marsalis, gives a clinic on every trumpet style from Buddy Bolden to Miles Davis. His arrangements and band- leading are without peer, making Christmas Jazz Jam a grand book end to A Crescent City Christmas Card.
C. Michael Bailey (All About Jazz)
