Advent and Christmas Records: Part 3
A Jazz Record for the Rotation
The albums discussed thus far are ones that my family listens to repeatedly, year after year. (And we haven’t even brought up Handel’s Messiah. You are Messiah-maxing, right?)
But, I find it helpful every Christmas and Advent season to find at least one new record that will find itself in that sacred family rotation. This week’s recommendation, is that album for 2024.
Great Advent and Christmas Albums (Part 3)
Album: Eddie Higgins Trio: Christmas Songs
Notes:
To state the obvious up-front, and to sneak in another strong recommendation, The Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “Charlie Brown Christmas” is one of the great standards of jazz Christmas records, and should be in your arsenal of musical weaponry every December.
Eddie Higgins, on the other hand, is far from a household name, but his trio’s Christmas records, Christmas Songs 1 & 2, deserve their place on the top shelf. Higgins manages to take what’s immediately familiar and make it simultaneously listenable for the casual listener, and juicy enough for jazz nerds and harmony enthusiasts. The band tows that line with grace, skill, and a lot of fun.
Listening to this project is great for training in how to listen to jazz. Why? Because you likely already know every melody in this collection, so following the band on their journeys inside, outside, around, to and from the primary melody is a thrill.Listen:
Apple Music | Spotify
