Search - Various Artists :: Canadian Christmas

The Great White North Does Christmas

08/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Some familiar seasonal tunes and a couple of original selections by fifteen of Canada's better-known artists is led off by the inimitable and internationally-renowned jazz singer/pianist Diana Krall, born on November 16, 1964 in Nanaimo, B.C., giving her unique treatment to Jingle Bells, recorded in 1998, followed by two made famous by Louis Armstrong and Eartha Kitt. Matthew-Aaron Dusk (born November 19, 1978 in Toronto, Ontario), a jazz musician/vocalist inspired by two of the best, Tony Bennett and Sarah Vaughan, does a more than credible 2003 job on Cool Yule, while yet another jazz singer, Holly Cole (born November 25, 1963 in Halifax, Nova Scotia), does a nice job on the 1953 hit, Santa Baby, recorded in 2001.



Unfortunately, I know very little about the group Take Three (except that it consists of Ali Slaight, Bess Mouckley and Stacey Kaniuk, according to the insert, which contains no other background information), nor am I particularly taken with their jazzy 2003 version of the carol, Silent Night. I do, however, really like Jann Arden's original Make It Christmas Day, which she wrote and recorded in 2001. Born Jann Arden Anne Richards on March 27, 1962 in Calgary, Alberta, she had a # 12 hit in 1996 with Insensitive from the film Bed Of Roses. Frank Mills, a Toronto-born (1943) composer/arranger/producer and pianist had several hit singles, including the 1973 # 3 Music Box Dancer, and here he and a chorus do a great 1983 job on The First Noel.



A faithful 1994 rendition of O Little Town Of Bethlehem is given by John McDermott, one of the famous Irish Tenors who was born in Glasgow, Scotland on March 25, 1955 but emigrated to Canada with his family in 1965, settling in Willowdale (Toronto), and from Bruce Cockburn (which he pronounces CO-burn), born in Ottawa, Ontario on May 27, 1945, we get a compelling 1993 take on I Saw Three Ships. That's followed by perhaps the best-known of them all, Anne Murray, doing a beautiful 1981 Country-tinged job on Silver Bells, and then another Maritimer,

Kim Stockwood (born on November 11, 1965 in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador) and member of the group Shaye, covering the 1951 Bing Crosby hit, A Marshmallow World, in a 1999 recording. Beautifully done.



Three members of The Rankin Family, a family group from Mabou, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, do an unusual 1997 jazzy-version of Brenda Lee's hit, Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree, and from someone named Joee (of whom I know nothing) we get a straightforward rendition of the standard I'll Be Home For Christmas. Randy Bachman dips back to his 1974 hit with Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Takin' Care Of Business, in this 1995 rocking Christmas version, and from Spirit of the West, a folk-rock band, we get another original tune, Christmas Eve, an instrumental with Celtic overtones, recorded in 1996.



And last, but not least, come those favourite hosers from SCTV (among other venues) and The Great White North, Bob & Doug McKenzie (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas) doing a hilarious 1981 version of The Twelve Days Of Christmas.



Highly recommended."