Independent labels tend to have a "sound", an "identity", and Green Hill is no exception. I've always had trouble verbalizing just what Green Hill's identity is. It's not really New Age, not really MOR or AC, not really Smooth Jazz. But you know it when you hear it. Ranging from the old time craftsmanship of a Craig Duncan to the lightly swinging Jazz vocals of Jaimee Paul, one thing you can count on from Green Hill is an annual care package of Christmas albums suitable for background music for an elegant Christmas dinner or soothing foreground music as you snuggle in front of the fireplace. And Green Hill's 2018 Christmas package is ready to be unwrapped.
The 2002 collaboration between Jim Wilson and Stephen Bishop on "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" has appeared already on a couple of Jim Wilson's Christmas albums. And why not? It's timeless. And it's back again on the new Green Hill compilation "Songbird: Voices of Christmas". Although it appears that all of the tracks have been previously released, I like compilations like this one because they fill gaps...delivering music you really should already have but don't while also introducing you to music you didn't know you wanted until you had it. In addition to Stephen "Save It For A Rainy Day" Bishop, "Songbird: Voices of Christmas" also contains selections featuring Dan Fogelberg, Olivia Newton-John, and Orla Fallon. Then there are the sweet Jazz sounds of Matt Belsante and Jaimee Paul (two tracks each), a track from former NFL player and current CCM artist Ben Utecht, Classical Crossover from Mark Masri, and the title track of David Arkenstone's "Winter Fantasy" (Charlee Brooks on the vocals). Surely your holiday library is missing a few of these. I confess that mine is.
| 1. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Jim Wilson & Stephen Bishop 2. Sleigh Ride - Matt Belsante 3. What Child Is This? - Orla Fallon 4. The Christmas Song - Jaimee Paul 5. Christmas Eve - Ben Utecht 6. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Jim Wilson & Dan Fogelberg 7. Home For The Holidays - Kathy Troccoli 8. White Christmas - Luke McMaster 9. Every Time It Snows - Mark Masri & Olivia Newton-John 10. Winter Fantasy - David Arkenstone & Charlee Brooks 11. My First Christmas With You - Jim Wilson & Marilyn Martin 12. ingle Bells/Jolly Old St. Nicholas - Jaimee Paul & Beegie Adair 13. Christmas Time Is Here - Mark Douthit & Laurie Wheeler 14. Baby it’s Cold Outside - Matt Belsante 15. Ave Maria - Mark Masri |  |
There's little doubt that the superstar of the Green Hill roster is Beegie Adair. The 80 year old Jazz pianist is so prolific, it's almost annoying. Part of me wants to ignore her and dismiss her music off-hand. But the problem with that is that she's just so damn good. Beegie's style of Jazz is a softer kind of Jazz, but it's definitely Jazz--the kind that can appeal to people whose tastes range from Beautiful Music all the way up to Fusion. And since communicating through music was one of the whole reasons I became obsessed with Christmas music, she's an essential artist of the genre.
For Christmas 2018, Beegie is joined by vocalist Monica Ramey on "Some Enchanted Christmas" (something of a Yuletide follow-up to the pair's "Some Enchanted Evening" CD). No religious tunes on this one, just all your secular winter and holiday favorites (plus one Beegie original). Part of me wishes Beegie had brought along her trio for the outing (I luvz me some stand up bass and some gentle brush play on the skins), but its just piano and vocals, here. And the result is a very warm and intimate album to which no one should object (save maybe that Death Metal kid that your teenage daughter wants to date just to tick you off; so, as to that, think of this album as mosquito repellant). "Some Enchanted Christmas" is quintessential Green Hill.
Can't find a Christmas tune with both Beegie Adair and Monica Ramey on YouTube, so how about Halloween....ish? Here's "Witchcraft".
For Christmas 2018, Beegie is joined by vocalist Monica Ramey on "Some Enchanted Christmas" (something of a Yuletide follow-up to the pair's "Some Enchanted Evening" CD). No religious tunes on this one, just all your secular winter and holiday favorites (plus one Beegie original). Part of me wishes Beegie had brought along her trio for the outing (I luvz me some stand up bass and some gentle brush play on the skins), but its just piano and vocals, here. And the result is a very warm and intimate album to which no one should object (save maybe that Death Metal kid that your teenage daughter wants to date just to tick you off; so, as to that, think of this album as mosquito repellant). "Some Enchanted Christmas" is quintessential Green Hill.
Can't find a Christmas tune with both Beegie Adair and Monica Ramey on YouTube, so how about Halloween....ish? Here's "Witchcraft".
 | 1. Happy Holiday 2. The Christmas Song 3. The Christmas Waltz 4. Jingle Bells 5. I'll Be Home for Christmas 6. Winter Wonderland 7. Frosty the Snowman 8. White Christmas 9. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow 10. (Wouldn't You Like) An Old-Fashioned Christmas 11. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town 12. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 13. Up on the Housetop 14. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? |
Jack Jezzro is a bit of a musical chameleon. His guitar has led the way on numerous Christmas albums, but it's hard to find any two that sound remotely alike. As Jack's Christmas guitar work has ranged from Old Timey mountain music ("Smokey Mountain Christmas Memories") to Bossa Nova ("Bossa Nova Christmas"), finding a representative video is a bit of a challenge. This one came the closest (IMO) to the sound of the new album.
Jack Jezzro's 2018 holiday set is "Christmas Jazz Guitar" and, from the samples provided by Green Hill, it's a straight ahead Jazz album with Jack's electric guitar right up front...just the way I like 'em. Jezzro uses whatever accompaniment will enhance the song--a sax here, some keys there--but never loses the overall focus on his guitar or the intimacy of the recording. I enjoyed "Bossa Nova Christmas" very much, but "Christmas Jazz Guitar" has the potential of becoming my favorite Jack Jezzro Christmas album. We do get a bit of a Latin rhythm on "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas". There are echoes of Guaraldi elsewhere. A few of the tunes (notably "The Christmas Song" and "Silent Night") are Yule Log worthy. And who could argue with a gently Jazz-full "Mr. Grinch"? All in all, superbly conceived and executed.
| 1. I'll Be Home for Christmas 2. Happy Holiday 3. The Holly and the Ivy 4. Up on the Housetop 5. White Christmas 6. Santa Baby 7. Here We Come A-Caroling 8. The Christmas Song 9. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas 10. You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch 11. Silent Night 12. O Christmas Tree 13. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas 14. My Favorite Things 15. Auld Lang Syne |  |
While Green Hill has their instrumental and vocal identity down to a science, their dabblings into Chill Out are a bit more hit and miss (and, not to be too critical, more miss than hit). Chill Out is a constantly evolving genre most readily explained as "Modern Easy Listening", often characterized by the use of electronic beats and effects. There's been some very good Christmas Chill Out music--I'm quite fond of "The Reindeer Room" series--but Chill Out tends to work best as a mix and less so in individual bites. Green Hill's current Chill Out project is Deep Wave, under the direction of Luke McMaster. They've done a couple of albums re-imagining 80s hits and have now turned their attention to Christmas music. The 30 second samples Green Hill provides for "Chillout Christmas" are insufficient for me to fairly render a thumbs up/thumbs down conclusion. But Chill Out is about creating a mood or ambience, and Deep Wave's covers of the 80s hits seem more process than mood to me; I'm just not feelin' it. "Wrapped Up In My Sheets" sounds promising. And it's nice to have a Chill Out version of Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again". (And I swear I've heard this Chill Out "Wonderful Christmastime" before, though I can't locate any evidence of it's prior existence.) But I'll likely pass on this one. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
Since the Christmas music isn't up on YouTube, yet. We'll give a listen to Deep Wave's Chill Out version of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", featuring SHASTA.
Since the Christmas music isn't up on YouTube, yet. We'll give a listen to Deep Wave's Chill Out version of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", featuring SHASTA.
 | 1. Christmas Time Is Here (feat. Arun Chaturvedi) 2. Jingle Across the World (feat. Luke McMaster) 3. Christmas All Over Again (feat. SHASTA) 4. Blue Christmas (feat. Arun Chaturvedi) 5. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (feat. Janet Turner) 6. O Christmas Tree (I Don’t Know How to Let Go) (feat. Luke McMaster) 7. Last Christmas (feat. SHASTA) 8. Wrapped Up in My Sheets (feat. Arun Chaturvedi) 9. All I Want for Christmas Is You (feat. Janet Turner) 10. Wonderful Christmastime (feat. Luke McMaster) 11. Silent Night (feat. SHASTA) 12. Auld Lang Syne (feat. Arun Chaturvedi) |
| 1. The Gift of Christmas Love 2. Christmas Is… 3. Every Time It Snows 4. Ave Maria 5. Silent Night 6. Panis Angelicus 7. Holy Child 8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas / I'll Be Home for Christmas 9. A Christmas Time with You 10. Don't Save It All for Christmas Day 11. Lullaby, My Love 12. What Child Is This? 13. O Holy Night |  |
One thing about Green Hill is that they do recycle. And they don't usually advertise the fact. So, who knows, its always possible that, somewhere down the road, I'll discover that one of the above records was actually recorded and released in the 1990s. It's happened before. I'd prefer they'd say something but, no, they just randomly slap a new title and cover on some albums to give them that new car smell and you're on your own to figure that out. It means a lot more research for me, but it isn't really good for them, either, as it kinda contributes to the false but existing impression that "all Green Hill music sounds the same".
Fortunately, it's not at all difficult to recognize Mark Masri's 2018 Green Hill release as a re-issue of one from 2010. Masri is a Pop vocalist who walks that balance beam between AC and Classical Crossover. In 2009, he released a holiday album called "Christmas Is...". A year later, he released an expanded version, then titled "Christmas Time With You". Green Hill re-issued "Christmas Is..." a few years back and are now re-issuing the latter disc as "Christmas Is... (Deluxe Expanded Edition)". Masri's style isn't exactly in my wheelhouse, but highlights include "Ave Maria", "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day", and the duet with Olivia Newton-John, "Every Time It Snows" (which also appears on the "Songbird" collection up top).
Fortunately, it's not at all difficult to recognize Mark Masri's 2018 Green Hill release as a re-issue of one from 2010. Masri is a Pop vocalist who walks that balance beam between AC and Classical Crossover. In 2009, he released a holiday album called "Christmas Is...". A year later, he released an expanded version, then titled "Christmas Time With You". Green Hill re-issued "Christmas Is..." a few years back and are now re-issuing the latter disc as "Christmas Is... (Deluxe Expanded Edition)". Masri's style isn't exactly in my wheelhouse, but highlights include "Ave Maria", "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day", and the duet with Olivia Newton-John, "Every Time It Snows" (which also appears on the "Songbird" collection up top).
Green Hill's 2018 crop also includes Craig Duncan's "Colonial Christmas" and Jaime Conway's "20 Piano Christmas Classics", both of which sound exactly like you'd think they would based upon their titles. All of these Green Hill releases are expected to hit the online retailers like Amazon on October 19, but there's a good chance you'll get them sooner if you order through Green Hill or the individual artists. And Green Hill has song samples for all of them available now at their web site (just click on any of the order links, cover art, or new album titles to get there).
A couple of quick site updates. I got tired of waiting to hear from GoDaddy about my broken web mail, so we've got a new one -- [email protected]. Hopefully, this one works. And one thing I always liked about our other pages was the ability to search by genre. I always left that off the front page (with a couple of exceptions) to keep the clutter down. But, now that pretty much everything is likely to be front page, I'm adding genres as of this post. I'm not going back in time but, at least for this year (beginning now), you'll be able to search by genre (if I remember to do it). It'll be a pain in the butt, too. I mean, I think I had to add 9 new tags for this post alone (and probably left some off). But, what the heck. To quote someone from somewhere at sometime, let's make this the best Christmas ever!
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