![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/stryker_xmas.jpg\")
Dave Stryker \u2013 Eight Track Christmas<\/em><\/strong>\nIt was quite recently that I reviewed Stryker’s Eight Track III<\/i><\/a>. That album was the continuation of a series in which the jazz guitarist and his band (featuring prominent vibraphone, always a plus in my book) interpreted music from outside the jazz idiom. This album follows on with the concept, and it’s good enough that I’m covering it so soon after the April review. The sound here strikes a balance between smooth jazz (uh-oh) and soul-jazz (yay!). The balance works better than one might expect. Vibraphonist Stefon Harris is once again Stryker’s musical foil; the two trade warm and inviting licks. With few exceptions, the arrangements stick close to the core melodies, yet offer enough improvisation to make the set worthwhile for jazz aficionados. Some of the tastiest tracks are the most laid-back (\u201cGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,\u201d for example). The song selection draws from both standard and contemporary material.<\/p>\n
‘Tis the season for holiday music. It’s a genre that often gets a bad rap, for good reason: a lot of it is pretty dire. Though there are classics (like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,37,42,49,65],"tags":[3829,3111,4051],"class_list":["post-17788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-holiday","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","tag-dave-stryker","tag-keb-mo","tag-paul-winter-consort","cat-9-id","cat-37-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17788"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17843,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17788\/revisions\/17843"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/winter_xmas.jpg\")
Paul Winter Consort & Friends \u2013 <\/b>Everybody Under the Sun <\/b><\/i>
\nOkay, technically this one isn’t really<\/em> a Christmas album. But Solstice is<\/em> a holiday from pre-Christian traditions. For some four decades now, Winter has hosted annual concerts celebrating Winter Solstice. This collection (subtitled \u201cVolume I: the Singers\u201d) collects notable performances from 40 years of concerts at New York City’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The vocalists come from a wide array of locales including Bulgaria, Zimbabwe, Mali, Russia, Ireland and Tibet, with a number of U.S.-based singers as well. Very few are household names; an exception is Pete Seeger, featured on \u201cHow Can I Keep From Singing.\u201d But all are impressive. Procol Harum leader Gary Brooker shows up twice, singing both \u201cA Whiter Shade of Pale\u201d and the Beatles’ \u201cIn My Life.\u201d A few proper Christmas songs find their way into the mix, and a reading of \u201cAuld Lang Syne\u201d by the Consort with the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble rounds out the set.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/kebmo_xmas.jpg\")
Keb’ Mo’ \u2013 Moonlight, Mistletoe & You
\n<\/i><\/b>As he approaches the 40th<\/sup> anniversary of his recording career, the modern-day blues giant has finally got around to making a holiday album. And it’s predictably fine and tasteful. For the most part Keb’ Mo’ takes the subject in a different direction than the most obvious path. While there are a few standards (opener \u201cPlease Come Home for Christmas,\u201d with a lick from John and Yoko’s \u201cHappy Xmas (War is Over)\u201d), Moonlight, Mistletoe & You<\/i> favors lesser-known songs and originals. There’s a sophisticated, uptown blues feel to the songs, but they’re rendered in a manner that is both accessible and soulful. Intentionally or not, the soaring string arrangement of the title track evokes warm memories of Ray Charles. The vibe is sometimes playful (\u201cBetter Everyday,\u201d \u201cChristmas is Annoying\u201d), sometimes melancholy. And Moore rips it up on both the B.B. King-styled \u201cSanta Claus, Santa Claus\u201d and Koko Taylor’s \u201cMerry, Merry Christmas.\u201d A fun set that \u2013 seasonal lyrics aside \u2013 could get spins year-round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"