FILE UNDER: A Jazz Christmas.
CORPORATE LINE: To say that the Canadian-born Krall is proud of her new album Christmas Songs – a dozen familiar tunes that gleefully swing the spirit of the season – is an understatement. “It was just the most joyful experience I’ve had,” she says. “It’s the first time with all confidence I’ve said, ‘This is a great record’. Yes, it’s a Christmas album, but I wanted to make this record in a style that the great singers that I admire used to make. I approached this record like I would any other jazz record. It had to swing!”
Christmas Songs is indeed that — a hip sleigh ride that jingles its jazz credentials proudly, and revels in a wide range of the jazz greats: Nat “King” Cole, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Rosemary Clooney.
THE GREAT:
Nothing.
THE AVERAGE:
“Jingle Bells” – Krall gives a mostly generic offering with a little improvised scat that ends unspectacularly.
“Let It Snow” – It is what it is—a slow jazz rendition that shows exactly what jazz has become—slow and monotonous. Without getting on a soapbox, if you listen to Christmas songs from the jazz era they rarely slowed down to a crawl like most of today’s jazz—they could really swing.
“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” – Painfully slow. It feels as if it were recorded half the speed of every other version in history.
THE BAD:
Nothing.
FRANKLY: Diana Krall takes on the usual Christmas songs on her not very creatively titled album Christmas Songs. The biggest problem is that most of these songs are painfully slow and lifeless. If you love jazz then you’d be better off buying something from Sinatra or Dean Martin to get your fix.
+ Rae Gun
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