Jaclyn Guillou has become one of my favorite Jazz singers over the past year. I don't think I was terribly familiar with her until last year's "Winter For Beginners" album. It's not a Christmas record by any stretch, though it's certainly winter themed, with songs like "Land of the Silver Birch", and "Summer Where?". Her version of "Poetry Man" is gorgeous. And the title track is just lovely beyond lovely.
As I tend to do, I looked further into Ms. Guillou's catalog and she does have a few Christmas performance videos on the YouTubes, though not available for purchase or download so far as I could tell. And, over the last few weeks of the year, she was tossing up videos and streams of Christmas songs like she was Santa pulling presents from a big old bag. Jaclyn described these (mostly) as home-brewed demos. I'm not sure she understands that demos, by their nature, are supposed to sound like crap; if she released these tomorrow--as is--I would not only buy them, but rush to recommend everyone else do so as well. You can still listen to Jaclyn's "demos" for "The Christmas Song", "Jingle Bells", "O Holy Night", and "Nothing Out There But Snow" at her Facebook site or via Soundcloud. And it does have me looking forward to a Jaclyn Guillou Christmas album, if such a thing ever comes to be, like a kid looking forward to Christmas morning.
But I, like many of you, am a "collector". To me, streams are torture. It's like looking at those big ticket toys in the store window that you'll never be able to afford. So here's a Jaclyn Guillou song that you can purchase (Amazon, iTunes, wherever). And, where most songs about the New Year tend to be optimistic odes to the year ahead, "Goodbye December" is a nod to the ending of the old--both the good and the bad of it.
As I tend to do, I looked further into Ms. Guillou's catalog and she does have a few Christmas performance videos on the YouTubes, though not available for purchase or download so far as I could tell. And, over the last few weeks of the year, she was tossing up videos and streams of Christmas songs like she was Santa pulling presents from a big old bag. Jaclyn described these (mostly) as home-brewed demos. I'm not sure she understands that demos, by their nature, are supposed to sound like crap; if she released these tomorrow--as is--I would not only buy them, but rush to recommend everyone else do so as well. You can still listen to Jaclyn's "demos" for "The Christmas Song", "Jingle Bells", "O Holy Night", and "Nothing Out There But Snow" at her Facebook site or via Soundcloud. And it does have me looking forward to a Jaclyn Guillou Christmas album, if such a thing ever comes to be, like a kid looking forward to Christmas morning.
But I, like many of you, am a "collector". To me, streams are torture. It's like looking at those big ticket toys in the store window that you'll never be able to afford. So here's a Jaclyn Guillou song that you can purchase (Amazon, iTunes, wherever). And, where most songs about the New Year tend to be optimistic odes to the year ahead, "Goodbye December" is a nod to the ending of the old--both the good and the bad of it.
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