Feel free to skip the following rant as it applies to holiday music in general:
Despite record labels' and marketers' claims to the contrary, there is no such thing as instrumental Christmas music. There is music with Christmas lyrics and titles, but instrumental tunes know no category other than genre. Of course, when we hear the tune to "O Christmas Tree" we think of the title/lyrics and therefore associate the melody with the holiday. It's understandable. But if the tune had been entitled "O Easter Egg" we would associate it with Easter instead. Then again, Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah was written for Easter but now is generally performed at Christmas so cultural norms rarely make logical sense.Moving on with this particular CD: It's good, not great, but I'll give the group the benefit of the doubt - it's gotta be difficult to put new spins on melodies everyone has heard for many years. When the band leaves the melodies for their solos, it could be any smooth jazz joint (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). This album won't crack my "must hear" list each December, but the tunes are a welcome addition to the massive holiday playlist I shuffle through each year for tree trimming, parties, car trips, etc.
Many years ago when I was a school band director, I would sometimes change titles of tunes for annual Christmas concerts. For example, if first year players could manage to squeak out "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" after only three months playing a instrument, I would change the name on the program to "Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star" and suddenly the same melody became a Christmas tune suitable for a concert in early December. Or I would add sleigh bells to a traditional band march and "March of the Irish Guard" would be "reimagined" as "March of Santa's Elves." Same music, different title. You get the point. (There's also music with lyrics about cold and winter that get associated with Christmas even though there's nothing in the lyrics or title referring to the holiday: Winter Wonderland, Let It Snow, Baby It's Cold Outside, Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, etc. but that's another rant for another day.) So even though today's CD might be categorized by some as "instrumental Christmas music," such a category doesn't truly exist. But I realize this little blog post won't stop anybody from using the term.
Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart
Tracks: Ten songs from the traditional holiday tune canon along with a new tune, It Won't Feel Like Christmas which is a nice enough torch song/waltz. (How do I know it's a Christmas tune? The title and the lyrics! Okay, okay, I'll promise I'll drop the subject now.) Of the familiar songs, I recommend Winter Wonderland, the bluesish Have Yourself a Merry Christmas, and a surprisingly original take on The First Noel. Weaker tracks are Carol Of The Bells (which interpolates Greensleeves) and an uninspired cover of Donny Hathaway's This Christmas.
Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. Despite my claims that I'm a big SG fan, this CD is new to me this year. I bought it from the band's website; they sent a copy autographed by band leader Jay Beckenstein.
Previously revisited for the blog:
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