Christmas for Lovers

Christmas for Lovers

Sophisticated in its selections and often seductive in its instrumentation, <I>Christmas for Lovers</I> is a must-have collection of renowned classic jazz singers and instrumentalists. Most of the artists here understand that less is more, whether it's Mel Torme doing his eternal "The Christmas Song," Ella Fitzgerald asking "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?," pianist Joe Sample reinventing another time and place with the almost unrecognizable "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus," or Yusef Lateef's sax-sparked "Warm Fire." Not to be outdone by the sublime instrumentals of Ramsey Lewis, Kenny Burrell, Oscar Peterson, and Gerry Mulligan and Paul Desmond, there are simply stellar vocal showcases by Abbey Lincoln, Joe Williams, Dinah Washington, and Shirley Horn, whose "The Secret of Christmas" puts the whole maddening holiday in perspective: "It's not the things you do at Christmastime/but the Christmas things you do all year." One of the year's tastiest and brightest. --<I>Martin Keller</I>