Christmas albums: The best of the season
It’s that time of year again, said Maria Sherman in the Associated Press. For music listeners looking to expand their holiday playlists, 2023’s Christmas albums are here, led by Cher, whose simply titled Christmas is somehow the pop veteran’s first holiday album. “A-list collaborators,” including Stevie Wonder and Cyndi Lauper, help make the record a crowd-pleaser. Meanwhile, 1990s R&B great Brandy gets more sultry on Christmas With Brandy, a mix of classics and originals.
For something in the mode of Nat King Cole, consider Gregory Porter’s Christmas Wish, said Marc Burrows in Big Issue. The Grammy-winning jazz singer has a velvety voice that lends itself to gorgeous renditions of “Silent Night” and the Motown staple “Purple Snowflakes,” among others. Johnny Mathis meanwhile takes the title of his new holiday set, Christmas Time Is Here from the Vince Guaraldi classic, and the collection should appeal to traditionalists. The 88-yearold pop and jazz singer has been making holiday albums since 1958, and “his brandy soaked journey through comfortable-as-old-slippers classics is what Christmas is supposed to sound like.” For a livelier spin, turn to Hannah Waddingham and her Home for Christmas. The British singer and actress known for her role in Ted Lasso has a four-octave vocal range, and the soundtrack to her Apple TV+ Christmas special is “a glossy, campy joy.” It was recorded live in London in front of a cheering audience, and the musicians in the backing big band “rip through it with palpable delight.”
There are also some chestnuts on A Joyful Holiday, a new EP from Samara Joy, said Dave Linn in All About Jazz. The 24-year-old jazz vocalist who won the 2023 Grammy for Best New Artist brings her “buttery tone” to classics such as “The Christmas Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” as well as the lesser-known tunes “Warm in December” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Me.” Best of all is the EP’s “heavenly” gospel-choir treatment of “O Holy Night,” which features five members of Joy’s family. “It’s a stunning performance.”