The advanced emails about holiday recordings started arriving in October, halfway through my semester of teaching and research presentations, and well before I could think about the holidays. For a while now I’ve followed a “no holiday music before December” rule, but my Italian American family has always celebrated “Little Christmas,” so along with whatever La Befana might be leaving for you, TRoS is bringing this small gift on January 6th. And if you’ve already moved on from the holidays, consider adding this music to your rotation next year, whenever it is you start listening to this seasonal fare.

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George Burton, The Yule Log (self-released on November 3rd)

On Yule Log Burton treats the season’s traditions as creative inspiration for an imaginative — or maybe re-imaginative — exploration of holiday music. A string trio — comprised of Diane Monroe (violin), Veronica Jurkiewicz (viola), and Maura Dwyer (cello) — plays a large part is realizing Burton’s vision. Burton dug into the music inside all nine tracks, rebuilding them from the inside out and producing an album showcasing his own ingenuity as arranger and the superior musicality of his ensemble. His attempt to create a compelling record free of traditional cliches is a gift to all his listeners.

George Gee Orchestra, Winter Wonderland (Stereophonic, released November 1st)

Trombonist David Gibson was busy with holiday releases this year, working on this record as trombonist and arranger and the Imani Records below. (He also has a new album coming out on Imani early in the New Year.) The George Gee Orchestra, for which Gibson serves as musical director, has been a fixture in the New York big band scene. The personnel includes some NYC’s finest unsung jazz heroes like Patience Higgins (baritone sax), Marcus McLaurine (bass), and Willard Dyson (drums). The record, like the band’s regular repertoire performed at their longstanding residency at Swing 46, has a distinctly vintage vibe, harkening back to Rat Pack holiday shows on the Vegas strip and the early days of broadcast TV holiday specials, complete with a new rendition of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

Imani Records, Holiday Extravaganza (Imani, released November 24th)

More so than any of the other records here, this album stretched my ears a bit. Ordinarily holiday releases tread a fairly traditional path; not necessarily in this compilation from Imani Records. The most wide-ranging in terms of musical genres, holiday traditions, and even languages Holiday Extravaganza is the recorded stream from a live session at the historic Sear Sound Recording Studio originally broadcast on Christmas Eve 2020. Inside the package that George Cables so neatly wraps up with his solo piano version of “Have Yourself a Merry Christmas” are nine more tracks featuring vocalist Alexia Bontempo (“Boas festas”), organist Shedrick Mitchell (“Drreidel Song”. and “We Three Kings”), drummer Nasheet Waits (“Let It Snow”), and many others.

John Paul McGee, A Gospejazzical Christmas (Jazz Urbane, released November 16th)

Both in musical performance and track selection, this album reflects McGee’s formidable knowledge and rootedness in the gospel tradition and African American sacred music. Much of McGee’s recorded works showcase the intersections of gospel and jazz music, and the arrangements on this album are in the same vein of the rest of his Gospejazzical projects. This record is reflective, joyful, and musically exceptional.

Gregory Porter, Christmas Wish (Blue Note/Decca, released November 3rd)

A mix of carols and holiday pop favorites, Porter’s album mixes small group and orchestral settings with appearances by vocalist Samara Joy, Gregoire Maret on harmonica, and Tivon Pennicott on flute and saxophones. Porter approaches this album as homage to the long tradition of jazz artists like Nat Cole and Dinah Washington recording holiday music. There’s a wide variety to the arrangements here — from lush orchestrations to intimate uptempo and ballads in a combo setting to the soul jazz/gospel shout choruses of the title track.

Christian Sands, Christmas Stories (Mack Avenue, released October 20th)

This record was Sands’s major release for the year. The expectation of how good this album was going to be nearly convinced me to break my no-holiday-music-before-December rule. When the time was right, it didn’t disappoint. Of all the themed albums I heard, I think this one will end up on my perennial “holiday jazz” playlist. Featuring an all-star cast including Jimmy Greene on saxophone and Stefon Harris on vibraphone, Sands balances out five traditional holiday songs with five originals, including the rock-heavy “Snow Dayz,” the reflective solo ballad “Shoveling” (multi-tracked with bells and celeste), and the whimsical, folk-inspired “The Gift.” Whatever your preferred season for listening to holiday music, this album will be good all year long.

Lizzie Thomas, singles on Dot Time Records.

I can’t say I’ve ever found an artist via their covers of holiday songs, but these singles from vocalist Lizzie Thomas were the first of her music I’d ever heard. I missed her March 2023 record, DUO Encounters, when it was released, but after hearing these four singles, I’m going back to check it out. Over the weeks prior to the Christmas holiday, Thomas released as individual tracks “Wonderful Christmastime” (November 17th), “Christmas Time Is Here” (November 24th), “It’s Magic” (December 1st), and “Star Of Wonder” (December 8th). The recordings feature John Di Martino on piano, Wayne Escoffery on saxophone, Antoine Drye on trumpet and flugelhorn, Dezron Douglas on bass, and Neal Smith on drums.

Singles by Laila Biali, Nicky Schrire, and Turboprop.

I also received release notices for a number of holiday singles, including notable stand-outs from Biali, Schrire, and the Canadian group Turboprop.