Ultimate Jazz Christmas
Fifty-six years in the making, the earliest track on the Ultimate Jazz Christmas album is Nat King Cole's rare 1946 original trio version of ''The Christmas Song'' written that year by Mel Torme and Robert Wells; the most recent track is Norah Jones's poignant version of Horace Silver's beautiful ''Peace,'' a 2002 track from the EP that Norah Jones recorded upon signing with Blue Note Records.  Jazz has never been a slave to convention and this collection includes other contemporary pieces like Duke Pearson's haunting ''Christo Redenter'' by Donald Byrd with a vocal choir, That Jones's touching ''A Child Is Born'' by the orchestra he co-led with Mel Lewis, and Johnny Moore's ultra-cool ''Merry Christmas Baby'' sung by Charles Brown.  And when it comes to holiday classics, Count Basie, Eliane Elias, Duke Pearson, and Booker Ervin swing them and Nancy Wilson and Lou Rawls sing them as never before.  Unlike most Christmas collections, there's not a corny tune or a schlocky performance to make you reach for the skip button.  I is, after all, the ultimate jazz Christmas album.