From the original
producers of the Slow Jams series comes a traditional take on the romance and
splendor of the holiday season. Celebrating
the spirit of Christmas with time-honored yuletide medleys, A Slow Jams Jazz
Christmas puts a stylish spin on the Slow Jams brand. This album brings dreamy
nostalgia of holidays gone by spent listening to jazz icons such as Dave
Brubeck, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Vince Guaraldi, Coleman Hawkins,
Oscar Peterson, and others. Slow Jams began as a late night radio show in 1994
by Kevin “Slow Jammin’” James called Sunday Nite Slow Jams. It soon developed
into a successful program and eventually became a series of CD compilations
that blended old and new R&B love songs. Original Jazz Classics is
re-envisioning the series with a new version of Slow Jams enchantment. omplete
Track Listing: Eddie Lockjaw” Davis - The Christmas Song / The Gene Harris
Quartet - I’ll Be Home for Christmas / Scott Hamilton - Have Yourself a Merry
Little Christmas / Don Patterson - Merry Christmas Baby / Vince Guaraldi Trio -
Christmas Time Is Here / Hank Crawford - O Holy Night / Oscar Peterson - White
Christmas / Coleman Hawkins – Greensleeves / Dave Brubeck - O Tannenbaum / Scott
Hamilton -Christmas Love Song / Jack McDuff -Winter Wonderland /Curtis Peagler
- I’ll Be Home for Christmas (reprise). Release date: 10/29/13.
PEGGY DUQUESNEL - ALL I ASK FOR CHRISTMAS
There is always a bit of an uproar when Santa
and the elves debate over music preferences while toiling away in their North
Pole workshop preparing for the big night. Some prefer swinging to
straight-ahead jazz instrumentals while others prefer contemporary vocal
numbers. Multidimensional pianist and vocalist Peggy Duquesnel’s “All I Ask for
Christmas” is certain to satisfy everyone with her generous 21-song collection
that will be released November 5th by Joyspring Music. Duquesnel produced the
two-CD set - one acoustic jazz instrumental disc and one vocal disc - offering
fresh arrangements of seasonal standards along with four new songs that she
composed and recorded as both instrumental and vocal selections. The entire
album will be serviced to jazz radio stations while smooth jazz outlets will be
gifted with the single, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” featuring genre star
Rick Braun’s regal flugelhorn.
The instrumental portion of “All I Ask for Christmas” is a return to the
classically-trained pianist’s roots in straight-ahead jazz presented with
elements of adult pop, contemporary jazz and inspirational material on this,
her seventh full-length outing. Backed by a crackling quartet –
Grammy-nominated bassist Brian Bromberg on upright, drummer Joe La Barbera
(Bill Evans, Tony Bennett, Bill Cunliffe), percussionist Brian Kilgore (Barbra
Streisand, John Williams, Elton John, Coldplay, Aerosmith) and guitarist Jay
Leach (“American Idol,” Barry Manilow, Gladys Knight) – Duquesnel’s
arrangements are influenced by storied artists from yesteryear (George &
Ira Gershwin, Horace Silver, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra) along with a dose of
contemporary acoustic jazz (Dave Grusin, Bob James, Miles Davis).
On the
vocal disc, Duquesnel sings and scats three duets with debonair vocalist Bill
Cantos: the bebop title track penned by Duquesnel; the aptly titled “Breath of
Heaven (Mary’s Song),” which was written and recorded by Amy Grant; and another
new Duquesnel gem, “Under the Christmas Tree,” a romantic country gospel waltz
adorned with Leach’s pedal steel guitar. Talented newcomer Emma Werderman
impresses with a vocal full of moxie during a duet with her mentor (Duquesnel)
on the stunning “Mary Did You Know” further illumined by Duquesnel’s piano
eloquence. Duquesnel’s glowing jazzer “Light of Christmas” and the waltz-like
“Christmas is Here” are new songs written with warmth, familiarity and timeless
qualities that have the potential to become enduring evergreens.
“The
album concept is to take familiar Christmas songs and put them with unique
arrangements that have a jazz influence, but that are all accessible to a broad
audience. In the process of making the album, I decided to do instrumental
versions of the vocal songs. I am both a vocalist and an instrumentalist and
enjoy playing these songs just as much instrumentally as vocally. For the
listener, having both versions makes a lot of sense because they set two
entirely different moods,” said Duquesne. ~ www.PeggyDuquesnel.com.
JOHN FAHEY - CHRISTMAS SOLI
John Fahey’s Guitar Soli
Christmas album is the acoustic guitarist’s visionary 1968 set, was a
scintillating collection of solo steel-string adaptations of beloved
traditional Yuletide melodies (“Joy to the World,” “We Three Kings of Orient
Are,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”). It reportedly sold more than 100,000
copies on Fahey’s own Takoma label, tabbing it as his best-selling album, and
inspired several more memorable holiday sets from the guitarist: Christmas With
John Fahey Vol. II (1975, also on Takoma), Christmas Guitar Volume One (1982,
on the Varrick label), and Popular Songs of Christmas & New Year’s, a duet
collection with fellow guitarist Terry Robb (1983, on Varrick).
All four
of those brilliant albums are generously represented on Fantasy’s newly
compiled Christmas Guitar Soli With John Fahey, a 14-song compilation of
highlights from Fahey’s Yuletide catalog. Scheduled for October 29 CD release,
the collection provides a lovely soundtrack for the upcoming holiday season and
boasts newly created cover art by Tom Weller, who designed the artwork for many
of Fahey’s original Takoma albums, that’s done in the style of those classic
sets. In addition, Fantasy will reissue The New Possibility: John Fahey’s Guitar
Soli Christmas Album in its original vinyl LP form on November 5.
The new
CD’s first five selections (the three mentioned above, plus “Auld Lang Syne”
and a medley of “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” and “O, Come All Ye Faithful”)
hail from the classic ’68 set. “Oh Holy Night,” “Carol of the Bells” (a duet
with guitarist Richard Ruskin), and a medley of “Oh, Tannenbaum,” “Angels We
Have Heard on High,” and “Jingle Bells” are taken from his 1975 follow-up LP.
Moving over to the Varrick imprint, Fahey recorded “The First Noel,” “It Came
Upon a Midnight Clear,” and “Silent Night, Holy Night” for Christmas Guitar
Volume One, while “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “The Christmas Song,” and a
medley of “Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly” and “We Wish You a Merry
Christmas” hail from the duet album with Robb. The compilation’s 14 selections
summarize Fahey’s long-term commitment to finger-picking timeless Christmas
melodies on his acoustic axe.
Born
February 28, 1939 in Washington, D.C., Fahey was brought up from age six in
suburban Takoma Park, Maryland (inspiring the name of his future label). Blending country, bluegrass, and blues into a
groundbreaking guitar technique that also incorporated classical influences (a
hybrid later termed American Primitivism), Fahey first recorded in 1958 and
released his debut album (which introduced his alter ego of Blind Joe Death)
the next year on his fledgling Takoma imprint. Only 100 copies were pressed
initially. In 1963, Fahey and fellow record collector ED Denson tracked down
pre-war blues legend Bukka White, recording him anew for Takoma and relaunching
White’s career. Fahey released his own Takoma encore set, Death Chants
Breakdowns and Military Waltzes, during this same period.
While
not releasing all of his subsequent albums on Takoma, Fahey continued to record
prolifically for the label that he founded into the early 1980s. He weathered a
bout with ill health and lived in poverty for a time, but made a heartwarming
comeback during the ‘90s. Fahey died February 22, 2001 following a coronary
bypass operation.
The
concept of playing holiday classics on acoustic steel-string guitar was unheard
of until Fahey explored the tantalizing possibility. Christmas Guitar Soli With
John Fahey collects the best of his Yuletide performances on one warmly
inspiring collection.
