Making Spirits Bright: A Smooth Jazz Christmas

The other half of the album finds most of the artists doing their own thing, the best of which is the funky groove saxophonist Richard Elliot and keyboardist and co-arranger Jeff Lorber lay over "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen." Like a few of the other tunes however, the production suffers from the frightening trend of producers and/or record companies fading tracks prematurely in an obvious effort to appease smooth-jazz radio. It should be noted that the Diana Krall track was previously released on a holiday EP three years ago. --Mark Ruffin