This is the second album that I’ve heard by this trio of pianist Jackie Warren, bassist Amy Shook and drummer Sherri Maricle, and this one is just as good a mix of fun and swing as the last, with a Christmas twist that’s as joyful as an hour standing under the mistletoe.
The three have no problem with putting some rum in the Christmas punch, as Maricle shuffles the team in a deep groove for “Winter Wonderland” and rumbles like Gene Krupa on a calypso’d “Up On The Housetop”. Maricle is Bill Evansy lyrical with suave brush support on “Greensleeves” and Shook takes up the fiddle for a Yee Hawin’ stomp of “Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk On Christmas”. She also gives a nice read on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” while the three bop through “White Christmas” and get saloon bluesy for “Silent Night”. Christmas Cheer, indeed!