There are several reasons why this non-regular release is a sleeper pick as my favorite latter-day Chicago album.

I am ashamed to admit that I’d never owned a copy of The Ventures’ Christmas Album, until a few years ago when I wandered into Bull Moose Music in Portland, Maine You May Also Like: Metallica’s Remix of “Some Kind of Monster” Finally Fixed What’s Wrong With ‘St. Anger’ TheRead More

Produced by Dan Pavelich, ‘Hi-Fi Christmas Party, Vol. 3’ features a batch of the coolest holiday tunes you could hope for.

This plays like Vince Guaraldi for a new generation, as Harry Connick Jr. performs an all-original, Christmas-themed set that recalls the spirit of the season without falling into the cliches that often follow better known Yuletide classics. You May Also Like: The Jerry Granelli Trio – ‘Plays Vince Guaraldi &Read More

Whereas Geri Allen’s solo piano debut for Motema, 2010’s Flying Toward the Sound, focused on musical inspirations Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Cecil Taylor, the follow up travels in more personal circles. You May Also Like: John Blum Quartet feat. Marshall Allen – ‘Deep Space’ (2024)

Since the Beatles are unfortunately no longer around to share their wonderful little holiday tunes with us, I suppose the next best thing to such entertainment is this great disc by Rubber Band. And what characters these guys are, as they blatantly rip off chunks of Beatles songs and retoolRead More

Here’s the story of how a holiday music CD came to me by way of a Cheap Trick show I attended during the early 1990s. You May Also Like: Giancarlo Tossani’s Big Monitors, “O’Neal’s Porch” (2021): One Track Mind

John Baumgardner’s Fruitcake with Nuts, which joins a teetering stack of Christmas-themed recordings, nevertheless finds a way to stand out in the crowd. Some of that is due to the pianist’s choice of material, which doesn’t always hew to conventions. You May Also Like: John Surman – Invisible Threads (2018)

Tony Bennett’s warm, inviting delivery would seem perfectly suited to seasonal music — and it is. You May Also Like: Jazz Reedist Daniel Bennett on How Musicians Can Thrive In (and After) the Pandemic Age [Part 1 of 2] Daniel Bennett Group – ‘New York Nerve’ (2020)

For many years now, I’ve gone out and purchased one new CD of Christmas music. The idea has always been to get something in a genre that I don’t already own. You May Also Like: Tori Freestone Trio – ‘El Mar de Nubes’ (2019)