a Jazz & Blues Christmas

Putumayo delivers a package of soulful jazz and blues to liven up the holiday season. “A Jazz & Blues Christmas” offers a memorable array of classic holiday songs by jazz and blues legends known to many and perhaps some lesser-known artists to some. B.B. King opens the album with “Christmas Celebration,” a rollicking, up-tempo tune cheerfully punctuated with bursts of brass from an energetic horn section. Ray Charles tells the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to a soulful beat. Ramsey Lewis plays “Here Comes Santa Claus,” simulating the ring of sleigh bells on the upper registers of his keyboard. And, young Canadian chanteuse Emilie-Claire Barlow offers a new take on the old holiday favorite “Santa Baby.” While I am not known to celebrate such events, this album is certainly worth checking out for the sounds that I would prefer to hear splattered on my radio during this season….’Tis the season for soulful stocking stuffers….