a Swinging Christmas

Marking an incredible 30 years since his first holiday album Christmas Present, Rick Braun’s new seasonal recording It’s Christmas is a high spirited, genre-transcendent collection that finds him exploring an expansive range of styles, starting with the opening, Steely Dan meets the Saturday Night Live horns jam band explosion of “Deck those Halls” and including what he calls the “Disney Fireworks” crescendo on “Do You Hear The Angels” (a colorful, clever mood swinging mashup of “Joy to the World,” “Do You Hear What I Hear,” “Angels We Have Heard On High” and “O Come All Ye Faithful”). Along the way, he includes straight ahead jazz trio takes on Mel Torme’s timeless “The Christmas Song” and “The Santa Clause,” a clever, swinging spin on “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” which begins with Braun whistling. Other highlights include the dynamic five-piece Pinot Noir Brass (Dickson, Braun, trumpeter Jeff Bunnell, trombonist Nick Lane and tuba player Doug Tornquist) on “God Rest Ye Merry Gents”; and two Braun originals, the lush, intimate, string caressed “Christmas Eve Waltz” (featuring Braun self-duetting on flugelhorn and piano) and the title track “It’s Christmas,” a charming, romantic vocal tune. Braun’s previous holiday recordings include appearing on and producing A Peter White Christmas (2007); the vocal/big band themed Swingin’ In The Snow (2012); and the traditional Pinot Noir Brass Christmas (2023), featuring Braun and four veteran horn player friends.

Marking an incredible 30 years since his first holiday album Christmas Present, Rick Braun’s new seasonal recording It’s Christmas is a high spirited, genre-transcendent collection that finds him exploring an expansive range of styles, starting with the opening, Steely Dan meets the Saturday Night Live horns jam band explosion of “Deck those Halls” and including what he calls the “Disney Fireworks” crescendo on “Do You Hear The Angels” (a colorful, clever mood swinging mashup of “Joy to the World,” “Do You Hear What I Hear,” “Angels We Have Heard On High” and “O Come All Ye Faithful”). Along the way, he includes straight ahead jazz trio takes on Mel Torme’s timeless “The Christmas Song” and “The Santa Clause,” a clever, swinging spin on “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” which begins with Braun whistling. Other highlights include the dynamic five-piece Pinot Noir Brass (Dickson, Braun, trumpeter Jeff Bunnell, trombonist Nick Lane and tuba player Doug Tornquist) on “God Rest Ye Merry Gents”; and two Braun originals, the lush, intimate, string caressed “Christmas Eve Waltz” (featuring Braun self-duetting on flugelhorn and piano) and the title track “It’s Christmas,” a charming, romantic vocal tune. Braun’s previous holiday recordings include appearing on and producing A Peter White Christmas (2007); the vocal/big band themed Swingin’ In The Snow (2012); and the traditional Pinot Noir Brass Christmas (2023), featuring Braun and four veteran horn player friends.

"Christmas Songs", featuring the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, is the first full-length holiday recording by this Grammy Award winning artist. It is an uplifting collection of seasonal favorites, with Krall sounding better than ever on both piano and vocals. Features swinging big band arrangements by John Clayton and several tracks for quartet,including string arrangements by Johnny Mandel.

With his first holiday-themed album, 2020's The Pianoman at Christmas, Jamie Cullum strikes a festive balance between swinging traditional pop and heartfelt singer/songwriter introspection. It's a balance the singer and pianist has been perfecting ever since breaking through in the early 2000s, moving between urbane re-interpretations of jazz standards and his own lyrical pop/rock originals. It's also a formula that has helped him remain a Top 20 chart regular in the U.K. with albums like 2014's Interlude and 2019's Taller. The Pianoman at Christmas makes the most of these skills as Cullum brings all of his varied experience to bear on a set of original holiday songs.

Trumpeter, crooner & composer Benny Benack III returns to Dazzle with some seasonal selections in tow! Having just released his Christmas EP featuring the Steven Feifke Big Band, Benack will be playing some fresh holiday classics in quartet form alongside some of Denver’s finest. Whether it’s “The Christmas Song”, one of Benack’s own fresh hits such as “I Think My Girlfriend is an Elf”, or even a revamped version of “The Dreidel Song”, Benack will ring in the holiday season in style as only he can!

Mentored by Paul Anka (whose 1950s hit "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" is covered in dreamy, cabaret fashion here), Bublé sings in the orbits of Darin and Sinatra, covering swing epoch gems ("Come Fly with Me", "The Way You Look Tonight", "That's All") and rock-era standards (Van Morrison's "Moondance", "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by the Brothers Gibb, Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love") with equal aplomb. David Foster's production is typically slick and played to the back row of the bleachers, but it's informed by smart contexts provided by such arrangers as Johnny Mandel, Randy Waldman and Mike Melvoin. If the choices of material are sometimes staid and predictable, they also give the singer a crucial framework for building toward something more challenging; his is a bright future.

"This band just does everything right" wrote the Hamburger Abendblatt recently about the performance of the jazz-techno-big band phenomenon "Jazzrausch Bigband" in the sold-out Elbphilharmonie. The band unites party people and concert audiences performing at clubs, festivals and philharmonic halls. For their new Christmas album, the band leaves out all electronic elements and grooves they are usually known for - in favor of a classic, swinging big band sound, in the very tradition of swinging Christmas music, but, of course with their own sense of humour.