Jazz Yule Love
If you're looking for a CD of Christmas music played by jazz's finest, this timely disc is for you--here's a dozen tracks all flawlessly executed. No fluff, no smoothness, all business. Played by musicians such asCedar Walton's rightfully named Eastern Rebellion, the legendaryLes McCann, the not-so-famous pianistPete Jolly, theEugene Maslov Trio, and with tasty quartets led byKenny BurrellandTerry Gibbs,Jazz Yule Loveis a jazz lover's delight. "We Three Kings," a robust and thrilling excursion to the manger by the Eastern Rebellion, is matched in its adventurous spirit by the more sublime and swinging reading of Jolly's "O Tannenbaum" and Terry Edwards's stark and tentative tenor sax take of "Silent Night."--Martin Keller