Christmas albums either go one of two directions; either celebrating the Reason for the Season, or just celebrating the season of snow, mistletoe and “Ho, Ho, Ho.” Vocalist Jason Paul Curtis chooses the latter direction with some standards that celebrate the coziness of wintertime, as well as a handful of his own well crafted compositions focus on the romantic part of the end of the year.
A couple of the tunes have the Rat Packing vocalist backed by a romping big band which rollicks through his own “Our Time of Year” and a funky take of “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” The rest of the tunes have him alongside Ray Mabalot/p, John Dalman/b and Woody Hume/dr who deliver very hip takes of “Let it Snow” and a Latinized “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” as well as a Basie-d feel on originals “Blue Friday” and a When Lights are Lowish influenced “Good This Year.” If you want to celebrate Christmas in a Vegas lounge, this is your session