Holiday Jazz Album, Home for the Holidays digital album
Holiday Jazz Album, Home for the Holidays digital album
If you’re looking for that perfect album to play during the holidays, then you’ve just found it. As reviewed by Jazz Journalist Scott Yanow.
Angela O’Neill and the Outrageous8 holiday jazz album ‘Home for the Holidays’ has been three years in the making and is a collection of popular holiday songs with upbeat arrangements. It’s the kind of album you don’t mind playing on repeat.
Click HERE to sample.
The songs on the ablum:
1 I've got my Love to keep me warm 3:01
2 Feliz Navidad 2:47
3 Silent Night 3:21
4 Winter Weather 2:00
5 Funky Drummer Boy 5:27
6 Jingle Bells 2:05
7 The Christmas Song 3:32
8 Baby It's Cold Outside 2:48
9 We Be Kings 5:46
10 Blue Christmas 2:53
11 Let It Snow 2:13
12 Silver Bells 4:35
13 Winter Wonderland 2:24
14 Rudolph's Mindfulness 5:32
The challenges of 2020 have greatly impacted the music scene and many hurdles had to be overcome to bring this holiday jazz album into fruition. Just ask Angela and the outrageous8 what its been like freezing their butts off rehearsing .. how the music Union is closed .. and the process of rehearsing and recording ..”it’s been one where we’ve taken everyone’s safety very seriously “.
Angela O’Neill and Harry Smallenburg have been toiling away,. putting together these charts .. a couple more every year until they had a full album that is worth listening to.
Angela O’Neill and the Outrageous 8
Home For The Holidays
Angela O’Neill and her Outrageous 8 perform 14 beloved Christmas songs on their latest outing. Ms. O’Neill grew up in a musical family and originally studied classical music, playing oboe, flute and saxophone. In high school she became very attracted to swinging jazz and developed a love for singing with big bands. In recent times she has sung with the Angel City Big Band and the Woody James Orchestra. In 2017 she formed the Outrageous 8 and they soon made their debut recording Live at the VW.
Many of the best Christmas albums have been recorded during the heat of summer and Home For The Holidays is no exception. In August in the midst of the Covid pandemic, somehow bandleader Angela O’Neill was able to gather together the members of the Outrageous 8 in the backyard of Al Timss (with social distancing of course) and record this entire album during two warm days, without any editing or overdubbing.
With the inventive arrangements of trombonist Harry Smallenburg (other than “The Christmas Song” which was arranged by Rocky Davis), the eight instrumentalists sound very much like a big band, clearly inspiring the leader and her two guest vocalists Al Timss and Jackie Gibson. “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” serves as a happy beginning, introducing Angela O’Neill’s strong and attractive voice (which has a wide range) and the complementary horns. “Feliz Navidad,” which is always a joyful song, is heard in a charming version that features the two guest singers. “Silent Night” is given a respectful and lightly swinging treatment while “Winter Weather,” a lesser-known but infectious song that was performed in the 1950s by Bing Crosby and Peggy Lee, receives a welcome revival.
Jackie Gibson is featured on “Jingle Bells,” Angela O’Neill is showcased on a heartfelt version of “The Christmas Song,” and “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is heard in an energetic and playful rendition by Angela and Al Timss. The Outrageous 8 gets to cut loose a bit during instrumental versions of “Funky Drummer Boy” and “We Three Kings” (renamed “We Be Kings”) with several of the horn players (most notably baritonist Richard Walker) taking concise solos. Al Timss’ warm voice is heard at its best on “Blue Christmas,” “Let It Snow” is given a brief and witty version, and “Silver Bells” has all three singers joining in; the waltz shifts to 4/4 time for its instrumental section. Angela and Al Timss create another memorable duet on “Winter Wonderland” before the set concludes with “Rudolph’s Mindfulness,” an inventive reworking of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Home For The Holidays is a delightful and creative set of Yuletide favorites that is sure to be a hit during every Christmas season.
Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian