Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 09/30/2008
Grammy-winning banjo "fusionist"
Béla Fleck and his
Flecktones may be the most qualified collective to inject some life into the notoriously monotonous "holiday music" scene, and
Jingle All the Way (one would think that an innovator like
Fleck could come up with a more creative "Christmas" album title, or at least one that doesn't directly reference a 1996
Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy), doesn't disappoint. All of the standards are here (
"Sleigh Ride," "Silent Night," "Twelve Days of Christmas"), but they're filtered through the skewed prism of an outfit capable of just about anything from
klezmer, to
classical to Tuvan throat singing -- the latter is provided by the internationally acclaimed
Alash Ensemble. It's not all wacky though, as
Fleck,
Victor Wooten,
Jeff Coffin, and
Future Man prove reverent when needed, especially on a cover of
Joni Mitchell's
"River" and the
Vince Guaraldi classics
"Linus and Lucy" and
"Christmas Time Is Here." Jingle All the Way, despite its groaner of a title and questionable "frontman in Santa hat with eggnog" photo, is anything but predictable.
~James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
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