Conceptually, I find holiday music puzzling. How can it be that, year after year, it keeps being churned out? Even by jazz musicians, who are usually not driven by commercial considerations? Then why not spring-break albums? Or something more meaningful like World Oceans Day jazz music? Or Martin Luther King day songs? I presume that holiday music represents the ultimate challenge to the creative-minded artist: "how can I bring excitement, new life, and my own stamp, to a corny and overused 'seasonal standard'"? All fears that the holidays are the Kryptonite of creativity instantly dissipate when you listen to albums like Carla Bley's Carla's Christmas Carols, or A Dreamers Christmas by John Zorn, Very Last Christmas by Tin Men and the Telephone, the An Ayler Xmas series by Mars Williams, or songs like "It's Christmas Time" by Sun Ra, "Christmas with Satan" by James Chance, "Shubho lhaw qolo" by Ibrahim Maalouf... [ read more ]
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