(courtesy George Kahn)
There’s just something about jazz to put you in the festive mood isn’t there?
Maybe it’s the chilled yet emotionally buoyant vocals, the relaxed but propulsive melodies or the sheer exuberant artistry of talented musicians losing themselves in the moment; whatever it is, and it’s likely all that and more, jazz captures heart, soul and atmosphere which works brilliantly in a Christmas setting.
The George Kahn Jazz & Blues Revue, “led by pianist George Kahn and featuring three powerhouse lead singers – Courtney Lemmon, Gina Saputo, and Crystal Starr” are exponents of “the smooth, sophisticated sounds of the 1950s and 1960s West Coast cool movement” know just how well thus music genre encapsulate the vibrancy and fun of the season and they pour it all into Holiday Soirée, their 2024 Christmas release.
The exuberantly colourful, festive aside, which is all kinds of retro wonderful, what you find when you place the LP on the turnstile is an album that feels like sitting in a club on a December night and hearing the sounds of the season comes vivaciously alive.
Classics like “White Christmas”, penned by Irving and Berlin, “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and “Oh Holy Night” and for a complete change of pace, “Jingle Bells”, are given a complete change of pace, emerging sounding like the songs you know but with a whole new energy and liveliness.
It’s like old friends getting just the right kind of festive makeover, and it works an absolute treat, with all the points of lyrical and musical familiarity mixing well with the fresh spin applied by musicians who bring real originality to everything they touch.
There are, of course, new tracks too like the George Kahn and Courtney Lemmon-penned opener, “Boogie Woogie Christmas Party” which gets the party started in enthusiastically upbeat style, its retro stylings anchored by trumpet, drums and an Andrews Sisters-vibe that sounds like a near-1940s big band Christmas revue.
It’s garrulously alive and yet also suitably laidback which is why it works so well – you get your propulsive joyful festive glow, true, but you also get to sit back and take it a little easier than this time of year allows.
Given how full-on Christmas is, having an album like Holiday Soirée, is a real treat.
Much like sitting in a jazz club wholly devoted to the tunes of the season, and let’s be honest, there aren’t a lot of those around, listing to Holiday Soirée feels like stepping out of the Christmas rat race, pretty and tinsel-draped though it may be, and letting your spirit soak up music that enlivens and nurtures all at once.
If you’re looking for a fresh mix of the old and the new, with an imaginatively buoyant vibe, and even a gorgeously new spin on The Sound of Music staple, “My Favourite Things” (which works so well as a festive number) and a nod to Chanukah, California-style (“Chanukah in Santa Monica”), then grab yourself a copy of Holiday Soirée – in this case, a physical copy is all but mandatory for the full festively retro effect – and lose yourself in a world of jazzy bliss that knows the season, loves it and brings it to life in a way that will calm the soul and make your tired heart soar.
Head to GeorgeKahn.com to grab yourself a copy of Holiday Soirée