SMOOTH JAZZ CHRISMAS WITH YELLOWJACKETS, HIROSHIMA & ROBERTO PERRERA

Yellowjackets – Peace Round
This one’s a collection of well-known traditional Christmas songs with the kind of contemporary jazz trimmings that only a team like keyboardist Russell Ferrante, saxophonist Bob Mintzer, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Marcus Baylor can hang. Includes seasonal classics such as “Silent Night,” “Deck the Halls,” and “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.”

Hiroshima - The Spirit of the Season
Fueled by the East-meets-West juxtaposition of modern-day synthesizer and traditional Japanese koto, flute, and percussion frequently underscored by exotic world-beat rhythms, this unique holiday recording puts a multicultural spin on some well-known Christmas songs and introduces a few original compositions that are likely to become holiday favorites in the years to come. Among the holiday treats are “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” Little Drummer Boy,” and Irving Berlin’s classic “White Christmas.”

Roberto Perera - Christmas Fantasies
This acclaimed harpist strikes a perfect balance between Latin rhythms and the classic music of Christmas. Seasonal favorites include "Winter Wonderland," incongruously but effectively dressed up in a merengue rhythm, and "The Christmas Song," a hot salsafied version which shows Perera's total affinity with the energy and harmony of the Caribbean. Other selections are regional standards little known and heard outside Latin America such as the classic Venezuelan "Niño Lindo" and "La Peregrinación" of Argentine folklore.