Customer Reviews

A Dave Brubeck Christmas

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I recently purchased some new (to me) Christmas albums. One was David Lanz's THE CHRISTMAS ALBUM, which is an excellent album. Then I listened to A DAVE BRUBECK CHRISTMAS. Wow! This has immediately become one of my favorite holiday albums ever. Where Lanz's solo piano is uniformly elegant, introspective and subdued, Brubeck can also at times be playful and festive("Santa Claus Is Coming To Town," "Winter Wonderland," for instance). His jazz stylings are reminiscent of Vince Guaraldi's scores for the "Peanuts" television cartoons.

The album opens with a sprightly reading of "Jingle Bells," which Brubeck refers to in his liner notes as a fitting version to welcome arriving guests. The second to the last track is a more somber rendition to evoke the feeling of the ending of the day's festivities. Along the way, Brubeck offers some well known seasonal favorites along with a pair of originals: the stately "To Us Is Given" based on a 2,000-year-old Hebrew chant and "Run, Run Run to Bethlehem" from his Christmas Cantata "La Fiesta de la Posada." The album closes with Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song." This is a truly gorgeous holiday album and will bring you joy for years to come. Running time: 56 min., 6 sec. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This disc is simply amazing. Dave Brubeck has taken some standard Christmas Songs and made them into masterpieces like only he could do. The textures that are famous to all of his work abound on this disc. Upon first listen some melodies take a little work to recognize, but they are there. It is also amazing that there is only one piano only. It seems impossible that such perfection can be obtained as seen here.

The masterpiece is recognized once you can identify the melodies and sing along and listen with amazement at what Brubeck has done for this CD.

He has made a Christmas CD that puts a unique and superb interpretation on some of the most famous Christmas Carols, and he does it without the tired repetedness often found in other contemporary Christmas albums.

It is a fun CD and worth the purchase. The excellent jazz style alone would make this CD worthwhile even after Christmas. Enjoy.

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Those familiar with Brubeck's light touch will be pleasantly surprised here. Brubeck consistently delivers that light touch, but avoids the schmaltz so often heard on 'pretty piano' Christmas albums. The left hand is used judiciously, the improvisations (if they are improviations) are interesting, and it's a nice mix of well-known and less heard music. We play it frequently during the holidays. (Solo piano only, by the way.)

I wonder if Brubeck worked on these presentations of Christmas songs over a period of days or weeks -- or if he just showed up at the studio, ad-libbed each song in one take, and went home. Not that it matters -- this CD is simply a collection of cool arrangements of nice holiday tunes by a jazz legend. Can't beat that.