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Chaise Lounge: A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas

By Mark Sullivan
December 21, 2015
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Chaise Lounge: A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas

Sparkling holiday music from the Washington, DC area group Chaise Lounge. Calling what they do "martini-jazz" gives them license to toss just about anything into the stylistic mix, and they have an eclectic good time with it. The use of "Christmas" in the album title is a bit of a misnomer, since only about half of the songs actually are Christmas songs—the rest have more general holiday or winter season themes. The opener, a jump blues cover of Jimmy Charles' 1960 hit "Christmasville USA," gets things off to an exuberant start. "Mister Santa" (the 1950s a capella hit "Mr. Sandman" with seasonal lyrics) subverts expectations with its Dixieland arrangement, while the traditional "Good King Wenceslas" has the non-traditional instrumentation of guitar, hand drums, and accordion.

Guitarist/pianist

Charlie Barnett

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Barnett provides three strong original additions to the holiday song canon: "December 25," the ballad "The Heart of December," and the exuberant "Snow Day" (which will bring a smile to anyone whose childhood included those wonderful unscheduled days off from school). It's a crack sextet, but special honors have to go to winning vocalist

Marilyn Older

" data-original-title="" title="">Marilyn Older, who is never less than charming, and ready for every stylistic twist that is thrown at her.

It's a fun-filled half hour, enjoyable even to a Grinch like me who is no fan of holiday music. Highly recommended if you enjoy holiday music with a bit of jazz flavor.

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Track Listing

Christmasville U.S.A.; December 25; Mister Santa; Good King Wenceslas; The Heart of December;Snow Day; The Man With the Bag; Cool Yule; The Little Drummer Boy; Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming.

Personnel

Chaise Lounge

Marilyn Older: vocals; Charlie Barnett: guitar, piano; Tommy Barrick: drums; John Jensen: trombone; Gary Gregg: sax, clarinet, flute; Pete Ostle: bass, tuba.

Album information

Title: A Very Chaise Lounge Christmas | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: Modern Songbook Records

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