We’re
going to answer the question before you even ask it: the reason that you need
one more Christmas album - we’re
speaking of Marilyn Scott’s new release, Get Christmas Started, here is that
the critically acclaimed
song
stylist has invited you to a party, her party. And we’re not talking cheap
seats in the back; it’s an all-access pass to
the premier musical bash of the season. While other collections this time of
year (and from seasons past) may have
their moments, Marilyn Scott has crafted the first-ever actual holiday party
album, and one with an all-star
backing
cast to boot.
Like any
great hostess, Ms. Scott has prepped meticulously for the celebration. Marilyn
consciously began adding a
new
holiday tune into her Christmas season sets each year, the best of which form
the heart and soul of Get Christmas
Started. Drawing on sources far and wide, including Broadway legend Frank
Loesser, Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame inductee Leon Russell, and Motown hitmaker Anna Gordy Gaye, Scott takes
time-tested holiday standards
and does what she does best: reinvents them in her own instantly-recognizable
style.
“I have
always loved the old R&B and spiritual renditions of Christmas music,” says
Scott, and the truth of that statement
is evident from the Philly Soul vibe she establishes right from the album’s
opening track, “This Christmas.”
She digs into a bluesy groove in “Christmas in Chicago,” with just a dollop of
New Orleans funk at its core.
And by the time she segues into “That’s What Christmas Means to Me,” it’s
evident that Ms. Scott studied at the
school of Hitsville, U.S.A., with a bouncy backbeat that does Motown’s Funk
Brothers’ sound proud.
If all
this gives you the idea that Marilyn’s well travelled, both musically and
otherwise, you’d be correct. At the tender
age of 17, the Southern California native trekked north for the legendary
Monterey Pop Festival, where she was
exposed to the likes of Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, and Lou Rawls; at that
point, the die was cast. Upon her post-collegiate
return to LA, Marilyn found herself an in-demand vocalist, doing sessions and
performing with the Yellowjackets,
Hiroshima, Bobby Womack, George Duke and Etta James, among others.
Since
then, Scott’s career has ranged all over the musical map, boasting entries on
the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary,
R&B Singles, Contemporary Jazz, and Jazz Album charts. Her cover of Burt
Bacharach's "The Look of
Love" garnered a Grammy nomination for producer George Duke on its way to
the top of the charts. And from an interpretation
of ”Skylark” in Torch Song Trilogy that was lauded by critic Christopher Loudon
as “the most perfectly executed
‘Skylark’ I'd ever heard“ to her magnificent re-imagining of ”I Only Have Eyes
For You” in Twins, Scott’s soundtrack
career has brought her both critical and commercial acclaim as a world-class
interpreter of music.
Which
brings us back to today. Nearly half a century after the late Vince Guaraldi
co-wrote “Christmas Time is Here”
for A Charlie Brown Christmas, Scott has laid her stamp on the modern classic,
aided by some super soulful sax
accompaniment from Brandon Fields. Her mellow sophistication on the lead-off
single from Get Christmas Started
brings out the tune’s essential wistfulness, warm and sweet like an Irish
coffee on a cold winter’s night.
But not
to worry: Marilyn closes out the album with a kick-out-the-jams version of
“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
that blazes through that winter night even more luminously than the reindeer’s
famed nose. “We all enjoyed
the lighthearted, and soul-wrenching, songs of the season,” says Scott. “Now
that’s the way to start the holidays.”
Also appearing on the album are: Brandon Fields (tenor sax); Eric Marienthal (tenor sax); Greg Adams (trumpet); Lee Thomburg (trumpet); Johnnie Bamont (bari sax); Wayne Linsey (keys, organ); Larry Kimpel (bass); Mike Miller (guitar); Kevin Ricard (percussion); and Lori Petty, Carolyn Perry, Sharon Perry (backing vocals).
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