Ho ho ho, what do you know... the two "it girls" of vocal jazz both released holiday CDs this year within days of each other... first it was Jane Monheit with the ambiguously titled The Season ... then came Diana Krall's aptly named Christmas Songs. So who emerges victorious in this battle of the Christmas jazz divas?
The first thing to consider, of course: who has the most gratuitous glamour shot on the album cover? Diana's suggestive and/or very uncomfortable pose in some kind of lawn chair wearing a billowy shiny green dress (strategically revealing as much leg as possible) is a real contender... but Jane's heavily airbrushed/photoshopped snow bunny/nymphette get-up (complete with floating bubbles for no apparent reason) is the clear winner in this category.On to the tunes... I have to look closely at Jane's disc before putting it in the CD player... it's one of them newfangled "DualDisc" deals with a CD on one side and DVD on the other — you can only tell the difference by looking closely at the tiny little print around the hole in the middle... once you've figured that out, you know you're in for a rocky ride when the soft-rock contempo-easy backbeat of "This Christmas" kicks in... you gotta give Ms. Monheit credit for trying to come up with some fresh material here, but this is some really cringe-inducing stuff... things don't get much better with "Merry Christmas Darling," a comatose, melody-free bit of nothing featuring a tinkly electric piano solo and overdubbed backing vocals. Things pick up on the more jazzy swingin' tracks such as "Man with the Bag" and "Sleighride"... however on ballads like "Moonlight in Vermont" and "Have Yourself a Merry Litte Christmas," Jane reveals a disturbing tendency toward Mariah-esque melisma that will make your skin crawl. The guitar/vocal rendition of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is nice, but next thing you know you're awash in the treacly jazz/pop crossover of "My Grown Up Christmas List" and heading straight for the eggnog... I do give Jane a lot of credit, though, for including the somewhat neglected holiday classic "The Christmas Waltz" (one that Diana apparently overlooked or just doesn't like...)
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Article comments
1 - John
Very true... Here's my list of christmas jazz songs.