2 comments about Vienna Boys Choir EDELWEISS.

1. Straus and the VBC. What a combination



2. This is a great CD to get if You're new to the Vienna Boys Choir. It has Strauss waltzes and other music You'll enjoy.As usual the Vienna Boys Choir did an outstanding job.

No comments about Let's Celebrate Kwanzaa: Sing-Along.

5 comments about Joe Pass: Christmas Guitar Dreams.

1. Just to clarify things for fans of fondly remembered jazz guitarist Joe Pass: he recorded a Christmas album, "Six-String Santa" (1992), for - unlikely as it seems - budget label LaserLight Records, a division of Delta Entertainment. Delta reissued the CD in 2001 as "Christmas Guitar Dreams" but they didn't change the catalog number or the barcode, so Amazon shoppers will find both listed in the Marketplace. You'll have to contact your seller to figure out which is which - if you care, that is. The music is the same; I have uploaded images of both CD's.
   
   In 2003, Delta also issued a version for the Spanish language market with a different cover and all the song titles translated into espanol. Entitled "Sueno Navideno Con Guitarra," it is listed separately on Amazon.
   
   Overall, most listeners will enjoy this album tremendously - soothing without lapsing into smooth. Not the equal, perhaps, of similar albums by Kenny Burrell or Charlie Byrd, but just fine, nonetheless.



2. Review by Scott Yanow(AMG)...................
   This is one of guitarist Joe Pass's more obscure late-period records. Pass and his regular working quartet of the early '90s (rhythm guitarist John Pisano, bassist Jim Hughart and drummer Colin Bailey) perform a variety of famous Christmas-related songs, plus his own "Happy Holiday Blues." The tasteful renditions swing and include quartet pieces, some two-guitar duets and a few unaccompanied solos from the great Pass, resulting in one of the better Christmas albums around.
   Review by John Herrmann ................... the copies of the CD here, at least the ones I have received, are original 1963 issues titled differently but contain the same track listing: "JAZZ GUITAR: Joe Pass ( CHRISTMAS GUITAR DREAMS ) "



3. This is a really fine Christmas CD with excellent guitar work by the late Joe Pass. I couldn't believe it was only $4.99. A very listenable album. Great background music for the holidays or sit quietly and take in the work of a true guitar virtuoso. Either way, you cannot go wrong.



4. Joe Pass is an outstanding jazz guitarist who is at the top of his rich, mellow game on this Christmas CD. Jazz fans and non-jazz fans will equally be drawn to these rich renditions of Christmas favorites.



5. Backed by John Pisano on rhythm guitar, Jim Hughart on acoustic bass, and Colin Bailey on drums, Joe Pass gives us a swingin' collection of jazzy Christmas standards like only he can play 'em.
   
   Many Christmas albums are both uninspired, and uninspiring. Not this one. It provides pleasing background for any holiday gathering. Or you can pour a glass of wine, and just sit back to enjoy Joe Pass's mellow sound. Guitar jazz at its best.
   
   Whether you get it as Joe Pass: Six-String Santa or as Joe Pass: Christmas Guitar Dreams, this one is a real winner.
   
   Eric Alan Isaacson

No comments about Gotta Love the Holidays.

5 comments about The World's Greatest Gospel Singer.

1. In this recording, you get mono sound only, but who cares? It displays the absolutely sizzling talents of a jazz-inflected gospel backup band, including the redoubtable pianist Mildred Falls whose genius is more or less inseparable from Mahaliah Jackson's genius.
   
   No doubt about it, these players cook bacon while they juggle musical chairs. If the hair stands up on the back of your neck all the way through this CD, then good for you. It just means you are getting it. Of course, center of the holy musical storm is Mahaliah Jackson herself.
   
   With her incredibly physical, mezzosoprano-range voice, she can do whatever she wants. She can trumpet, lift, pray, whisper, or shout with the best of them. She is living the life she sings about in her song, and she is singing the life she lives. Many of these versions of these songs have never been better sung, or captured in gospel recording history.
   
   Listen to what she and the group do on a song called, "Didn't it rain". And when the woman Jesus met at the well goes running into town to talk about her encounter, the music embodies the rush of her inner necessity. This music got feet.
   
   When MJ moves on up a little higher, you simply must trust her to carry you with her. At least let your sad eyes follow her upwards. This song is one of the two that she early recorded as an unknown African American Baptist church singer. It was backed on a two-sided 78 disc with the other big MJ signature song, How I Got Over. I have heard MJ attributed as the author of both songs, but I cannot say that for sure. Whoever wrote either one of them, it is safe to say that MJ made each her own in the most unique and powerful way. In its first release, that 78 rpm disc must have been bought by just about every African American Baptist in the USA, because she sold 3 million copies. All of a sudden, the music/money people were sniffing down highways and byways to find out who this amazing singer was. It is so characteristic that they had never hear of her. The USA was even more segregated in those years than it can be today. Indeed, one of the key concerns of the big label Columbia, once it signed its contract with MJ was: how can we set her peformances, so that they don't sound too black, so that they cross over successfully to white america?
   
   This early album, however, will have none of that nonsense. The group (including Mildred Falls)is probably the most brilliant backup that MJ ever had on a recording. The only other recording that offers us the pure, unadulterated musical Mahaliah Jackson in her live in Europe concert CD, also (probably temporarily) available on CD. There, she and Mildred Falls are like super-heroines in a Marvel comic, with all sorts of musical magic up their sleeves.
   
   If you have both of these, you have Mahaliah Jackson. This recording is like a drink of cool well water in the back country on a very hot, humid day. You never knew how good pure water could be. In fact, pour me another glass. I am sitting in the shade for a while, feeling the breezes, and listening to the witness this lady sings about what God is doing in her life.
   
   Unlike many forms of religion, MJ believes the kingdom is wide open. Hers is a generous spirit, and so a generous religion. She is not worried about keeping the heavenly treasures under lock and key, lest they be unfairly distributed to beggars or publicans who have not proved their worth in terms of human empires. She sings for anybody who will bother to listen. Like a prophet, she speaks her truth to power. She makes me wonder what life would be like, if we were all speaking more truth, more often, to power.
   
   In any case, get this CD for the music. Its five stars shape some mysterious constellation that is rare and shining as the firmament circles above our heads.
   
   The other must-have MJ recommendation is: MJ Live In Europe concert. It is newly (and probably temporarily) available. Get both. Now. You can learn many of life's lessons from MJ on these two CD's, and have a whale of a good time listening as you learn. Maybe other singers have, in their own ways, reached so high. But nobody has surpassed MJ. She is the real deal. I think I get just a tad more real, when I listen to her. If the destination is the journey, then MJ offers us the best kind of traveling music. Highly recommended. Get it before it's gone again.



2. The great thing about Mahalia Jackson, is that you don't have to be a fan of gospel music to enjoy her work. Like a great Opera, or an abstract work of art, she is something to be appreciated on many levels...a pure, powerful voice...one of the greatest voices ever to be recorded.
   
   "The World's Greatest Gospel Singer" is Mahalia Jackson as she was meant to be. This collection, with all songs performed with the Falls-Jones Ensemble, is the kind of bluesy, jazz-inspired and painfully heartfelt gospel music that made Mahalia one of a kind. This is her voice and talent in its purest form, before it was bought and sold to mainstream audiences in the late 1950's. Some of the recording quality isn't quite up to snuff, but it adds to the "rediscovered" feel of this unique style of gospel music, and her voice comes loud and clear no matter what.
   
   Hightlights include:
   Track 1: "I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing about in my Song"-a bold and powerful stance against hypocrisy.
   Track 3: "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well"-a great old-timey tune.
   Track 5: "I Will Move on Up a Little Higher"-a bluesier version of her most famous song.
   Track 6: "When the Saints Go Marching In"-a great version of an old song that had even this non-Christian tapping my feet and wanting to dance.
   Track 11: "Didn't it Rain"-a definative display of her voice.



3. 
   Well, this is in my opinion the best period of Mahalia's carrer (1955). Her voice is still strong and too expressive. The songs let her "touch" us in a special way. It's a good oportunity for young people to listen the background's soul singers.



4. If you like gospel music please take the time to sample Mahalia Jackson. From the depths of her soul she sings like she knows what she is singing about. Laugh and cry with her but most of all listen to the words.



5. Who ever you are; if you are looking at this album, and looking at this review, do yourself a favour, buy it. There are very few songs that really touch you and even fewer great voices. On this album you have both.

2 comments about Contemporary Jazz Christmas.

1. This cd is a compilation of the now out of print GRP holiday series. There were three volumes in that set and this disc pulls together the very best recordings of that series, save for one. I love Diane Schuur but I feel her take of "The Christmas Song" is a far cry better than her version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas." The former features Diane with just piano and a subdued vocal. The latter she is oversinging and her emotion sounds fake. Spyro Gyra did a much better instrumental version of "I'll Be Home For Christmas" on the first GRP Christmas album which for some odd reason is featured here as well. I like to compile and record my own Christmas cd's because some performances of traditional Christmas songs can be so overwhelming and this disc, for me, serves as a fine reference disc.



2. This impulse buy of Holiday music turned out to be my favorite holiday CD. I actually bought it about 2 years ago at a store. I lost it last Christmas (actually, my parents have it somewhere in their Christmas stuff) so I'm buying it again from Amazon.
   
   The music is very relaxing. Great background music for casual party or just wrapping gifts.

5 comments about Smashed for the Holidays.

1. Jacqui Naylor and her band have put together several songs matching a pattern sometimes called "A versus B", where an instrumental rendering of song A is accompanied by an a cappella rendering of song B. Sometimes, this is done by skillful editing of the songs of two different artists (this is called a "mashup"). But in the case of Naylor & Company, elements from both songs are recorded at once.
   
   This type of performance is technically advanced. Most artists could not even conceive matching songs, and even fewer could pull off the technique in performance. Jacqui Naylor and her band do it with an effortlessness that makes it all seem charming. The effect is similar to hearing a song sung as a round. My favorite one was Silver Bells "smashed" with Every Breath You Take, whose juxtaposition created an ironic effect that had me giggling.
   
   Of course, a little bit of this technique goes a long way, and indeed the technique is used on fewer than half of the tracks. At other times, Naylor sings jazz. Does she ever! Naylor's voice is authentic and sultry; she has the pipes, the phrasing, and all those other jazzy things the critics like to talk about.
   
   Not that this is purely a jazz record. Jacqui Naylor sings jazz here, though not on every track. Paradoxically, her band provides rock accompaniment to some tracks, even when Naylor is singing jazz, for example on the enchanting Celebrate Early And Often.
   
   Strange, indeed, but effective, and refreshing. I haven't heard anything quite like Jacqui Naylor's Smashed for the Holidays.



2. I love the whole album. Jacqui seems to have really come into her own lately. She is showing more and more of that unique style that sets her apart from the pack. This album is just so much fun. My favorite is Santa Baby but the entire album is a joy to listen to.



3. This is the most amazing collection of smashed up christmas carols and rock songs ever. Very accessable. Smashup DJs everywhere should have this in their collection. Great work by a terrific artist. I hope everyone picks up a copy for Christmas and then goes out and buys her older stuff.
   
   You won't be disappointed!



4. Driving down I-95 in South Florida, this CD keeps me sane. Everyday, on both 25 minute commutes, I can't stop singing along and wondering how in the world they came up with these "smashed" combinations...I like to imagine Jacqui and her band walking down the streets of San Francisco, one of them starting to hum "Every breath I take" over and over again with Jacqui piping in over the hum singing Silver Bells. Amazing stuff! I love it and really hear the talent from the band in this album. Aside from the joy of singing along, "Celebrate Early and Often", "Thank You Baby" and "Christmas aint what it use to be" help me focus on the true meaning of the Holidays. Thanks for lifting my spirits!



5. I love Jacqui Naylor, but I don't like Christmas albums. I have bought and recommended all of her CDs, but not this one. The songs are banal, but the voice is still great. One thing I noticed listening to the samples availble here. On some arrangements, the song is overdrummed, with too much whack in the snare. That distracts from the wonderful singing. On past CDs, this occurs too. I wish she could re-record all of the repertoire without the intrusive drumming. I am looking forward to her next CD, hoping that all of the tracks will have arrangements that allow her wonderful voice and style to be heard without drumming cacaphony.

1 comments about Holiday Piggyback Songs.

1. This CD is packed with a large variety of songs for every holiday. I use it in my classroom daily and my students love it. It also has some hard to find songs about Martin Luther King that my students really enjoyed. The songs are short but very engaging, would be good for toddlers too. Because it has so many songs there are always more than one to choose from for each holiday.

2 comments about Merry Christmas.

1. Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard actually recorded nearly two dozen songs for this album. It's a shame this beautiful piece of work is out of print but even more of a shame Motown hasn't pulled together all the recorded material into a full-collection C.D. (some of the tracks have been put on compilations). The most interesting parts of this album are the Motown originals, with "Little Bright Star" being an alternate lyric to a Tammi Terrell song.



2. This classic and delightfully charming collection of Christmas songs by The SUPREMES will touch your spirit. DIANA ROSS and Florence Ballard's vocals really bring out the child like wonder of the Holiday Season!These legendary Motown artists are spectacular and Diana Ross is Supreme indeed!

5 comments about A Gift of Song.

1. The album is great. I was excited to finally find Mason Williams' "A Gift of Song", the composition, on this album. A beautiful Warner Bros recording originally: Mason Williams, Chorus, Orchestra, everything but the kitchen sink. One of my all time favorites. But I was disappointed to find that here the song is a newly recorded instrumental version: nice but plain by comparison. On the original LP, the piece was the last on a side and, typical inner grooves, tended to distort... dissappointing for such a spectacular recording. I am still hoping for a CD issue of the original recording by this very versatile artist/composer. I'll keep looking!



2. This CD is great. I have owned it for many years and enjoy playing it even when it is not Christmas. For the most part, it is not your standard everyday Christmas music which I am sure everyone has. Very soothing and relaxing. When I first listened to it, I thought that I had wasted my money because it was different from all my other Christmas music. But after playing it several times, I realized what a gem it was.



3. A Gift of Song, an awesome Christmas Holiday CD. Soothing & Ralaxing, the man of Classical Gas fame can do no wrong. Enjoy!, & Merry Christmas!



4. When I first ordered this item, Amazon sent the incorrect CD. I returned that one and received Mason William's A Gift of Song. Our family enjoyed listening to this music throughout the holiday season. I would listen to it today too. We had this CD years ago, but it disappeared. We're happy to have it back.



5. This is one of Mason's best works! The Christmas Music is unreplacable and the story behind "A Gift of Song" is so touching. When I researched this I found another set of words to the song, very close, but slightly different. It would be interesting to find out which are the oringinal.
   
   I saw Mason Williams with Jennifer Warnes at Oregon State University in the fall of 1969. It was such a moving concert. They both sang together so well. I was surprised they never did more work together. They sang "A Gift of Song" together that night and the song still winds it way through my mind to this day. What a pleasant night.
   
   Thank You Mason and Jennifer
   
   Eternally, The Timekeeper