A New Orleans Creole Christmas

CD Details

Product Description

The Grammy and Billboard award winning trumpeter and bandleader, Irvin Mayfield, debuts his first album of holiday music with A New Orleans Creole Christmas, a collection of timeless holiday classics reinterpreted by the widely-recorded cultural ambassador of New Orleans. With his 12th release on the New Orleans source for jazz, Basin Street Records, Mayfield demonstrates his maturity as a player and arranger with the handpicked small ensemble called The New Orleans Jazz Playhouse Revue. The album blends traditional-style playing on the upbeat rendition of “O Tannenbaum – O Christmas Tree” with soulful, gospel-inspired versions of “Silent Night” and “Winter Wonderland”, and melodic, modern jazz renditions of other favorites such as “The Christmas Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. Michael Watson graces the listener with his velvet singing voice on the Vince Guaraldi/Lee Mendelson classic, “Christmas Time is Here”.

A New Orleans Creole Christmas was recorded at Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Recording on a street famed as the origin of Jazz, the Grammy-winning artist continues his mission of placing Jazz at the center of American culture and advancing a time-honored tradition in a city known for its music.

A New Orleans Creole Christmas is sure to delight the serious jazz listener and families looking to enjoy a fresh take on their favorite Christmas melodies, as they spend time together this holiday season.

Review

A Creole Christmas is obviously a joyous time indeed and this CD will be a marvelous gift, first to yourself and then to all the jazz lovers, Christmas music lovers, and people who love New Orleans (whether they have been there or not) on your Christmas list. –Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Oh, when Saint Nick goes marchin’ in. Crescent City trumpeter and cultural ambassador Mayfield spices up traditional holiday fare with some second-line rhythms and freewheeling joy. –Toronto Sun

Irvin Mayfield’s A New Orleans Creole Christmas adds another flavor to the season’s musical menu as it second lines, swings, syncopates and celebrates the holiday. The music is so satisfying that if it wasn’t for the dominant Christmas theme, it would be listenable all year long. –Louisiana Weekly