Review by John Luciano
After years of putting on Christmas tours, Peter White has released Peter White Christmas, along with holiday tourmates Rick Braun and Mindi Abair.
It takes about two minutes into the first track, "The Little Drummer Boy," for things to really heat up with a nice funky vibe. Mindi Abair and
Rick Braun do a nice job on lead vocals on the next tune, "The Christmas Song." "I Can't Wait For Christmas," one of three original
compositions on the disc, is co-written and sung by Abair.
"Jingle Jangle Jazz," an original instrumental by Braun, is loosely based on a couple of familiar Christmas classics that
you're sure to recognize, Braun plays both muted and open bell trumpet and Brian Bromberg sits in on acoustic bass. "Best Part of Christmas,"
also co-written by Abair, is another vocal track that she performs. Probably the strongest track on this disc is the old Christmas standby,
"Greensleeves (What Child Is This?)." It really stands out with White's acoustic guitar prominently featured – I really liked this track!
Unlike the majority of Christmas releases put out by jazz artists who are predominately known as standout instrumentalists, the majority of the twelve tracks on this disc are vocals. Vocals, which are aptly handled by Abair, Braun and White, and the occasional guest appearance - like Jeffrey Osborne on "Silent Night." It hasn't started snowing here in Central NY, yet, but that won't stop me from getting into some serious Christmas spirit, listening to Peter White Christmas over the next month.
Buy the CD from Amazon.com!
Buy the download from iTunes!
