Jazz to the World

Va-Jazz To The World | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000005GZQ
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,382 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #68 in Music > Indie Music > Dance & DJ > Dance Pop

Editorial Reviews

Winter Wonderland Herb Alpert & Jeff Lorber; Baby It's Cold Outside Dianne Reeves & Lous Rawls; Little Drummer Boy Cassandra Wilson; O Come Emmanuel John McLaughlin; What Child Is This Chick Corea; I'll Be Home for Christmas Herbie Hancock & Elaine Elias; plus Dr. John, Anita Baker and more!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cold outside? Come in and listen to this warm collection..., November 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jazz to the World (Audio CD)

I'm a purist when it comes to Christmas carols, and I like arrangements to be interesting and yet familiar. Although made up of Christmas standards, this album falls into the "interesting" camp more than the "familiar." It is, for example, difficult to sing along with most of the songs on this CD.

This album certainly isn't my favorite Christmas album, but it boasts three fantastic arrangements: Diana Krall's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Holly Cole's "Christmas Blues," and perhaps the most satisfying version I've heard of "Baby it's Cold Outside," sung by Dianne Reeves and Lou Rawls. Those three songs make this CD indispensible. Overall, the CD is a nice mix of the mellow, melancholy, and quietly happy. Worth playing several times a season.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The gals make it enjoyable., December 5, 2002

By 

Neal C. Reynolds (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jazz to the World (Audio CD)

With the exception of Herbie Hancock and Eliane Elias on "I'll Be Home For Christmas", I found the instrumentals here rather disappointing and unexciting, even for smooth jazz. Especially disappointing to me was Dave Koz' "Winter Wonderland". He has a very short version of the song on his album: "Dave Koz & Friends: A Smooth Jazz Christmas". On that album, the brief taste of the song as part of "Overture" has a life of its own. That's missing here. Of course, the personell except for Bill Sharpe on bass is different, and that makes the difference. Dave just doesn't play as well with the group of this CD as he does with the group on his own.

However, the Herbie Hancock cut comes out strong, and then there are the marvelous ladies here. I'll go with the crowd in lauding Dianne Reeves & Lou Rawls "Baby, It's Cold Outside". This is a tremendous rendition. But Diana Krall's soulful "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" comes across as a strong number also. Cassandra Wilson has fun with "Little Drummer Boy" and Cyro Baptista's percussion shouldn't be slighted. And Anita Baker carries "The Christmas Song" quite well.

If you enjoy the female vocalists as I do, you'll like this, but for a really good smooth jazz Christmas set, give Dave Koz & Friends a try.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For the virgin jazz purchasers..., December 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jazz to the World (Audio CD)

Like another reviewer on this page, I'm a bit of a "purist" when it comes to Christmas songs. But I wanted something a little jazzy and different. I don't like when jazz jammers knock a song nearly out of recognition with random jaunts up and down the keyboard, but this album as a whole, does not do that. The tunes are catchy and interesting and yet still very true to the Christmas spirit. A wonderful album that I listen to over and over each year.