John Pizzarelli’s “Let’s Share Christmas [Christmas Album Countdown]

Let's Share ChristmasA perennial favorite, jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli serves up a dozen holiday favorites dressed up in his fluid guitar and smooth vocal crooning on his holiday album Let’s Share Christmas.  In addition to his own trio, Pizzarelli teams with an all-star cast of arrangers on this album, enlisting the talents of Don Sebesky, John Clayton, Patrick Williams, Michel Legrand, Johnny Mandel and others on the varied tracks.  The mood ranges from a trio performance of “Sleigh Ride” to big band blow-outs (“Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow”) and string-backed crooning (on the title track).  Despite the variation in styles, the overall sound of Pizzarelli holds the whole thing together into one enjoyable holiday package.  If anything, the album reaches styles of music from decades past, which we could still use today in this fast-paced modern world of ours.  This holiday package is like musical comfort food for everyone tired of the mall blasting the same dozen or so songs at us for months on end.  It is out of print on CD but thankfully still available as an MP3 download from Amazon.