December [2006]

by Botti

Overview

The story about there being more suicides around the holidays turns out to be a myth, but like all urban legends, it caught on among the populace (or at least among lazy journalists) because it sounds like it should be true; as trumpeter Chris Botti writes in a sleeve note to his seasonal collection, December, "At no other time of the year is there a wider array of emotions than the month of December." This is a clue that Botti, in acceding to his record company's request that he undertake a Christmas album, was not interested in simply celebrating the season in his interpretations of holiday standards. There have been other such contemplative Christmas records: George Winston's album, also called December, is calm rather than celebratory, and Barbra Streisand's Christmas Memories, released in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, is another collection that takes in the season's complexities. Add Botti's album to that list. The approach, of course, fits in with the trumpeter's overall musical style. Often heard through a mute, his playing usually has an intimate, low-key character, and that is true here, too. Critics have compared him to Miles Davis, and to that one easily may add Chet Baker, especially because like Baker, Botti has chosen to sing here, applying an adequate tenor to Richard Marx's "Perfect Day" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (the latter one of the more troubled of lyrics to become a Christmas standard). It isn't all doom and gloom, of course; there's a playful reading of "Winter Wonderland," for instance. But this is still an album to be put on in the shank of the evening when the Christmas festivities have subsided, not at the height of the celebrations. [December was re-released in 2006 with a slightly different track list.] ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	10/10/2006
Label:	Bmg / Columbia / Sony Music Entertainment
UPC:	0887254263722

Tracks

1. The Christmas Song
2. Ave Maria
3. Winter Wonderland
4. The First Noel
5. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
6. Hallelujah
7. I Really Don't Want Much for Christmas
8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
9. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
10. Silent Night
11. Little Drummer Boy
12. O Little Town of Bethlehem
13. I'll Be Home for Christmas

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Chris Botti   Primary Artist,Trumpet
Eric Benet   Guest Artist,Featured Artist
Vinnie Colaiuta   Guest Artist,Drums
Brandon Fields   Guest Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Peter Erskine   Guest Artist,Drums,Percussion
Billy Childs   Guest Artist,Piano,Fender Rhodes
Richard Bullock   Bassoon
Joel Derouin   Violin
Richard Marx   Vocals (Background)
Jimmy Haslip   Bass
Randy Waldman   Piano
John Wittenberg   Violin
Donald Markese   Clarinet
Anthony Wilson   Guitar
Kurt Snyder   Flugelhorn
Brian Bromberg   Bass
Jon Ossman   Bass
Susan Chatman   Violin
David Carpenter   Bass,Bass
Robert Shulgold   Flute
Bruce Otto   Trombone
James Harrah   Guitar
Yvonne S. Moriarty   Flugelhorn
Jeffrey "C.J." Vanston   Synthesizer
Andrew Radford   Bassoon
Gina Kronstadt   Violin
Nicholas Lane   Trombone
Andrew Picken   Viola
Mary Anne Steinberger   Cello
C.J. Vanston   Organ,Piano,Synthesizer
Richard Mitchell   Flute
Heitor Pereira   Guitar
St. Jon's Choir London Session Orchestra   Orchestra
Justin Hagerman   Flugelhorn
John Van Houton Jr.   Tuba
Brian O'Connor   Flugelhorn
John Lubbock   Choir Conductor
Steve Kujala   Flute
Bob Sheppard   Sax (Tenor),Flute (Alto)
Christian McBride   Bass
Shane Fontayne   Guitar
London Session Orchestra   Featured Artist

Technical Credits

Gil Goldstein   Arranger
Franz Gruber   Composer
Joseph Mohr   Composer
Jeremy Lubbock   Arranger,Composer
Jule Styne   Composer
Nathaniel Kunkel   Mixing,Engineer
Phillip Brooks   Composer
Mel Torme   Composer
Richard Marx   Composer,Producer
Richard Rudolph   Composer
Buck Ram   Composer
David Cole   Mixing
Henry Onorati   Composer
Haven Gillespie   Composer
Franz Schubert   Composer
Walter Kent   Composer
Billy Childs   Arranger,String Arrangements
Felix Bernard   Composer
Harry Simeone   Composer
Dick Smith   Composer
Sammy Cahn   Composer
Robert Wells   Composer
William Sandys   Composer
Jeffrey "C.J." Vanston   Engineer
Tom Halm   Copyist
Mary Maurer   Art Direction
Kevo Sassouni   Design
Lewis Redner   Composer
JoAnn Tominaga   Contractor
Christopher Robert   Engineer
Joe Brown, Jr.   Engineer
Charlie Paakkari   Engineer
Davis Factor   Photography
C.J. Vanston   String Arrangements
Haydn Bendell   Mixing,Engineer
Traditional   Composer
Hugh Martin   Composer
Bobby Colomby   Producer
Leonard Cohen   Composer
J. Fred Coots   Composer
Chris Botti   Arranger
Kim Gannon   Composer
Felix Mendelssohn   Composer
Shane Fontayne   Arranger
Charles Wesley   Composer
Steve Hall   Mastering
Katherine K. Davis   Composer
Ralph Blane   Composer
Al Schmitt   Mixing,Engineer