Yule like these two new Christmas albums…
Vocalist June Bisantz delivers modern and original Christmas-themed songs, composed by Arnold Miller & Connie Pearce with a team of Jon Burr/b-leader, Mike Eckroth/p, James Chirillo/g, Marc Pianeuf/wwinds, Brandon Lee/tp and Alvester Garnett/dr. She has a Carmen McRae-styled delivery, sounding street savy with the horns on a bopping “The Merriest” and reclines with Planeuf’s flute on “Winters’ Got Spring Up It’s Sleeve”. She throws in a dash of “Angels We Have Heard On High” before digging in with Chirillo and Lee on “Hang Them On A Tree” and goes Monkish with Eckroth for “Sorry To See You Go”, assured and assuring on muted “Seven Shades of Snow”. New for Yule.
Julie London-nuanced vocalist Carolyn Lee Jones mixes the traditional with some new Christmas tunes led by keyboardist Brad Williams, who shares the arranging duties with David Pierce with a team of Steven Heffner-Lynn Seaton-Jonathan Fisher, Andrew Griffith-Dennis Burick/dr, Tom Burchill-Todd Parsnow/g and a guest list of strings and horns. She’s cozy on the samba’d read of “The Christmas Song” and with strings on “Toyland”, getting swampy and coy on an R&B’d “Santa Baby” and shuffling in blue for a humming Hammond for “Merry Christmas Baby”. There’s a Tin Pan Alley feel to “Warm In December” and a California Cool hipness on “Jingles the Christmas Cat”. Old and new chestnuts by the open fire.