Christmas Time is
a collection of, shall I say, interesting interpretations/arrangements of traditional
holiday/Christmas music (some originals are also on the album) from pianist
Andrew Colyer. Subtitled "Solo Piano Improvisations," the liner notes
describe how these eleven tracks are 100 percent of the moment including, in the
words of the artist, "warts and all." Four of the eleven tracks are
penned by the artist and they include some of the best songs here. If you love
a more standard version of carols such as "Silent Night," "Let It
Snow," and "We Three Kings," you may want to give this a pass. I
will say that the first time I played the album, I was unsure how I felt about
it, but it grew on me once I surrendered my preconceptions of how these songs should
sound. No such bias prevented me from enjoying the original numbers, all of
which range from quite pleasant to downright beautiful. "Melancholy
Holiday" is somber yet beautiful, a downtempo number that evokes the
feelings of those who spend the holiday season alone and lonely. Lower register
chords are combined with middle register refrains to impart of sensation of
weight and drama while the upper register runs do little to "brighten"
the mood, which is as intended, most likely. "A Night in Brooklyn" shares
a slight sensation of somberness with "Melancholy Holiday" but it is
less dark and more apt to depict walking through the streets late at night with
snow falling softly, musing on the holiday and what it offers, both good and
bad.
Colyer’s interpretations of the standards vary widely, but
none as stridently so as "Let It Snow in New Orleans" and the title
basically spells out what you will hear, i.e. a boogie-woogie/jazzy take on the
secular carol, with a bouncy rhythm and an infectious joyfulness. "Laissez les bon temps roule" indeed, especially at Christmastime!
Among the artist’s more interesting arrangements is what he does with a two-part
(tracks 3 and 9) re-working of Vince Guaraldi’s iconic tune, "Christmas
Time Is Here." Given a stark and minimalist interpretation, I first thought
to myself "Where is the song’s childlike joyfulness and warmth?"
Later on, I started viewing it as how someone my age, who first watched A Charlie Brown Christmas as a young boy
might now feel about not so much the song itself, but the holiday, i.e. viewing
it less with starry-eyed wonder and more as a well-worn glow of nostalgia. Part
2 of the "separated" piece hews closer to the original but still offers
a unique take with a slight jazzier inflection. "Have Yourself a Merry
Little Christmas" also gets a more somber, low-key interpretation, retaining
the warmth of the melody but also creating some minimalist space between the
notes.
Christmas Time is available at CDBaby, Amazon, and iTunes.
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