It makes sense that our most famous Christmas songs were written by Jews, with Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song” and Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” After all, Jesus was (and is!) Jewish, so do kvetch about this!
Vocalist Jake Ehrenreich has a mid career Tony Bennett tone, but without the histrionics as he teams up with jazz legends Roger Kellaway/p, Bruce Forman/g and Dan Lutz/b with Kevin Winard/perc for a collection of Christmas season celebrations. He’s warm and assuring on the graceful “The Christmas Waltz” and “White Christmas” while showing he can swing like mistletoe on the fun “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and “Home For the Holidays.” Most creative are the bossa nova-inflected takes of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “The Christmas Song” mixing samba with Santa. A stocking stuffer.