by Steven Miller

Jazz and Christmas music have a long history of harmonious interplay; Rich Willey’s Boptism Christmas celebrates this spirit. Released under Willey’s Boptism Music label, the album merges beloved holiday standards with the harmonic colors, improvisational vigor, and rhythmic drive of jazz. Drawing on decades of performance experience and arranging skills, Willey brings a lively set of some of the season’s most familiar melodies.

Willey’s genius shines through his arrangements, transforming time-honored tunes into relatable jazz statements. His four-horn voicings—featuring alto and tenor [...]

by Shannon Smith

Megan Moroney’s Blue Christmas… duh brings a fresh, candid perspective to country holiday music, infusing it with her signature “emo cowgirl” style. This surprise EP—featuring two of her new original songs and a take on Elvis’s timeless “Blue Christmas”—showcases Moroney’s knack for blending playful, light-hearted charm with deeply resonant, melancholic storytelling, a combination that has quickly set her apart in the country music scene.

The EP opens with “All I Want for Christmas is a Cowboy,” a fun, honky-tonk romp that captures the magic of the holiday [...]

Welcome Winter, the latest holiday offering from acclaimed guitarist Bryan Lubeck, is a fusion of traditional holiday melodies with contemporary musical sensibilities. Lubeck’s album is a symphonic journey that reinvents the soundscape of holiday music, blending his renowned Spanish guitar stylings with a rich ensemble of acoustic instruments.

The album opens with a spellbinding rendition of “Deck the Halls,” where Lubeck’s acoustic guitar takes the lead, weaving a warm and inviting melody. The track is elevated by the contributions of Joel Norman on the vibraphone, Nick Bisesi on flute, violinist Erik Rumsa, and [...]