Putumayo Presents: Jazz & Blues Christmas

From All Music Guide: Jazz and blues have both had their share of Christmas recordings over the years, and Christmas jazz can easily work well alongside Christmas blues -- which is what happens on Putumayo Presents: Jazz & Blues Christmas. This Christmas-oriented compilation has one foot in jazz and the other foot in the blues; the ten-track CD is fairly diverse, ranging from vocal jazz on Canadian singer Emilie-Claire Barlow's playful performance of "Santa Baby" to electric urban blues on B.B. King's "Christmas Celebration." Many of the tracks combine jazz and blues elements, including the late Charles Brown's "Santa's Blues," Topsy Chapman and Lars Edegran's version of "The Christmas Blues" and the Dukes of Dixieland's arrangement of "Merry Christmas, Baby." Most of the selections are vocal-oriented; the exception is the Ramsey Lewis Trio's 1964 recording of Gene Autry's "Here Comes Santa Claus," which is instrumental soul-jazz.

1. Christmas Celebration
2. Santa's Blues
3. Wrap Yourself in a Christmas Package
4. Santa Baby
5. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
6. Here Comes Santa Claus
7. Merry Christmas Baby
8. TheChristmas Blues
9. Xmas Baby Listen
10. All I Ask for Christmas