I’ve noticed several of our favorites, notably Cynthia Sayer and Dan Levinson, take the time to put significant portions of their back catalogs up on Bandcamp for perusing and possible download by fans new and old. It isn’t like you are going to do another run of that CD from 1997 anyway, and a few bucks from a few people, going directly to the artist, is better than them hunting your albums down on eBay. Jon-Erik Kellso, who has a hefty discography, is not one of those people. Possibly because much of his catalog is tied up on record labels like Jazzology, Arbors, and many more. He only has a couple of albums up on Bandcamp, but sometimes a record is too good to be lost to history even if a new CD or LP version isn’t viable, and that seems to be the case with this unique set recorded a week before Christmas in New York City back in 1998. Originally released in 1999 on Nagel Heyer as Mark Shane’s Christmas All Stars’ What Would Santa Say? It was quickly recognized as one of the swingingest Christmas jazz records around.
Shane put that original album up on Bandcamp back in 2020, and he does seem to have some CDs available if you insist on physical formats. Lush Life: Christmas in New York, could be seen as the expanded download-only version. It includes three extra tracks, including “Lush Life,” which make it too long for a CD, let alone an LP, and they come in a different track ordering that I believe brings out what is truly great in the set that might have been missed by those who had the earlier CD with its cartoonish cover. Indeed, comparing the releases is an interesting study in how track ordering can recast an album. Listening now to the Mark Shane version it is more fun and lively, more trad even, than the presentation on Lush Life, which feels like a quieter more focused exploration of the material. Despite 14 of 17 tracks being the same exact cuts!
The thing that makes this set stand out is the extremely high level of musicianship. Even 27 years later everyone involved will be immediately recognizable to most of our readers, and all but one, drummer Dave Ratajczak, who left us far too soon in 2014, are still active and sought after on their instrument. Jon-Erik Kellso remains one of the most in-demand trumpeters in traditional and swing jazz, the longtime leader of The EarRegulars and a fixture of New York’s classic jazz scene. Tenor saxophonist Harry Allen has built a global reputation as one of the preeminent mainstream players of his generation, with a warm, buttery tone that evokes the best of the midcentury stylists. Guitarist and banjoist James Chirillo is a first-call rhythm-and-harmony mind, a veteran of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and countless top-shelf sessions. Pianist and vocalist Mark Shane carries forward the spirit of Teddy Wilson and Jess Stacy, admired for his elegant touch and impeccable time. Bassist Pat O’Leary brings both drive and subtlety, equally at home in big ensembles and intimate rooms.
Lush Life: Christmas in New York belongs among an exalted and very small set of unmatched Christmas jazz recordings, a group including Turk Murphy’s Songs of Christmas and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band’s ’Tis the Season to Be Jammin’. Though Lush Life is decidedly more mainstream than those two, even our moldiest figs will appreciate it, cherish it, for many seasons to come. (The Figs would likely prefer the Mark Shane version.) The set warrants the repeated listening, over many Decembers, that makes a beloved Christmas album special.
This is Christmas music that really swings. Recorded at Nola Studios on December 17-18, 1998, the session captures a live-in-studio energy from a New York jazz world that no longer exists in quite the same way. It plays as if the band were turning up at a Manhattan club on a wintry night, lights outside, sleigh-bells somewhere in the distance, but the horn players still want to burn. Nothing about it feels like a “holiday lounge” repackaging. These are serious players taking holiday material seriously, as music worth interpreting.
Kellso’s trumpet leads with clarity and spirit, never softening the edges just because it’s Christmas. Harry Allen brings that full-toned, late-’40s small-combo warmth he’s famous for. Chirillo’s guitar and banjo add texture and occasional vintage tint without any hint of gimmickry. Shane’s piano is elegant throughout, his vocals delivered with charm, particularly on the novelty numbers that are placed more prominently on his version of the release. O’Leary and Ratajczak keep the rhythm both buoyant and grounded.
The track list mixes familiar carols: “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”,“Silent Night,” “The Christmas Song,” with less-usual choices like “Till Christmas (Blues for Valerie)” and the bouncing “Santa Claus Came in the Spring,” and the title track “Lush Life,” stepping outside the carol canon altogether and signaling that this band isn’t simply playing it safe. On “Merry Christmas Baby,” which stretches past nine minutes, the band gives the kind of room only confident players can afford; solos breathe, ideas develop, and the tune becomes a little world of its own.
What makes the record work is how real it feels. It avoids every holiday-album cliché, no schmaltzy strings, no forced sweetness. Fun tunes like “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” are swung to the rafters, while other titles are sophisticated, warm, and deeply musical, capturing the mood of a New York holiday night. The songs are recognizable, full of seasonal spirit, but the solos and phrasing make them worth revisiting. If you’re expecting radical reinterpretation, you won’t find it here, but that’s not what this album is trying to do. It’s aiming for tradition executed at the highest level, and it hits the mark.
This is an ideal record for company in the living room on a December evening, especially if the gathering includes jazz-literate listeners. It gets you in the spirit without being too Christmasy. It’s perfect for post-dinner conversation, or late-night tree-lighting with a cocktail in hand; the grown-ups’ soundtrack once the house quiets down. At 83 minutes for the “extended” Lush Life version, it may even outlast your eggnog.
Lush Life: Christmas in New York
Jon-Erik Kellso, Harry Allen, James Chirillo
jon-erikkellso.bandcamp.com
What Would Santa Say?
Mark Shane’s X-mas Allstars
markshane.bandcamp.com
Joe Bebco is the Associate Editor of The Syncopated Times and Webmaster of SyncopatedTimes.com
