Christmas Music
I was hesitating a moment to call whether I should call this thread “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”, as I’ve no idea what religion my dear readers are following (if at all).
I then decided against it, for several reasons. A) I’m personally not religious at all, but grew up in Europe where Christmas is the most important holiday and B) I hope that if you’re following any other religion and don’t particularly care for Christmas, you either just skip this post or, even better, still check out the album below, as it is actually really nice.
If you want more Christmas music, be it Jazz or Classical music, I suggest you also check out my Top 5 Christmas Jazz post, my Favorite Seasonal Music, my recommendations for the Messiah, and obviously, the Christmas Oratorio.
A Joey Alexander Christmas (Motema 2018)
This “EP” (a concept really a bit outdated in the world of streaming and downloads) of only 4 tracks features some outstanding musicians.
I haven’t mentioned Joey Alexander yet. A big mistake. It’s actually an amazing story. He comes from the Jazz hotspot of Bali (sorry, cheap pun), and played at the Lincoln centre at the age of 10, and started recording music at the age of 11!!!! Now he still is at the tender age of 15, and if you wouldn’t see it in the video below, you’d have now way of knowing.
He’s playing here both solo and trio. On the trio tracks we get Larry Grenadier of Brad Mehldau fame, on bass, and Eric Harland, who’s played with a lot of Jazz celebrities (MyCoy Tyner, Dave Holland, etc.).
This EP features two seasonally inspired tracks, O Come All Ye Faithful (see the Youtube clip below), and What A Friend We Have In Jesus.
As an add on, we get remastered versions of My Favorite Things, a duo with Larry Grenadier, recorded in 2015 (I’ll let you do the math of Alexander’s age at the time, but its just unbelievable), as well as a solo version of A Wonderful World. Both are just fantastic.
A truly enjoyable album that you shouldn’t limit only to the Christmas season!
My rating: 4 stars
You can find it here (Qobuz) or here (several others)
musicophilesblog - From Keith Jarrett to Johannes Brahms 
I’m not too familiar with Joey, but I’ve heard a few things by him on the radio that I thought were good. I’m pretty sure that he’s well-respected by many musicians.
Neil
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Thanks for your feedback. And fully agree! I mean the guy is 15! Pretty amazing.
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The music and your message are both wonderful. Joey Alexander is a gifted musician and let us remember what Mozart was doing by this time, too. Another talented young pianist is Aaron Parks who I first heard on his recording/composition First Romance when he was 17. Seasoning matters in any art but these young musicians remind us that age and experience are only part of the equation. I can’t wait to take a listen to this Christmas offering. Thank you for the nicely wrapped package under my musical tree this year! and Merry Christmas to you, as well, my musical friend!
Molly, aka Jazz Cookie (now in Mexico)
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Hi Molly, great feedback as usual, thank you very much. And I agree, Parks is excellent. Wishing you a great Christmas break!
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I cued the album up and really enjoyed it…thanks again for the post…I’ve moved to Mexico where so much is new and unfamiliar…the music is my anchor!
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Enjoy. I hear it is a beautiful place with friendly people.
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A big hello to (all) Christian(s)…and, of course, to everyone else!
Thank you for coming back to Jazz; here is a link (in French) https://www.rtbf.be/info/medias/detail_l-autriche-fete-200-ans-du-tube-de-noel-douce-nuit?id=10102957
about the 200th anniversary of “Silent Night”, a song born in Oberndorf, Austria.
May I suggest you to listen to Cyrus Chestnut’s version, from his album “Blessed Quietness”…
Hope you will enjoy!
Best wishes for 2019!
Alain
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Thanks Alain, and same to you! Et merci pour le lien! Bonnes fêtes!
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