Chris Standring - Silent Night (2022)

The Christmas season is approaching with rapid steps. The department stores are already selling gingerbread and dominoes again. Also on the music market new Christmas albums are already offered. If you are looking in this direction in the field of smooth jazz, you should turn your attention to the new Christmas album by Chris Standring, which has the significant title Silent Night.

Chris performs guitar and keyboards on this album. He is accompanied by bassists Kevin Axt and John Leftwich, and drummer David Karasony. Chris has selected seven classic Christmas hymns and three well-known pop songs from the field of Christmas music.

For those who know Chris, it's clear that Chris approaches these songs in his own way and reshapes them in his style. The beginning is Deck The Halls, whose melody dates back to the 16th century. Chris first introduces us to the original melody before decorating and developing it with his own musical ideas.

The Christmas Song was written and composed by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. The Nat King Cole Trio recorded the song in 1946. Nat King Cole re-recorded the song later in various settings receiving high accolades and with great commercial success. Chris interprets the song in a jazzy approach.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen is a traditional English carol. A very early version dates from the 1650s. Standring's interpretation is the longest song of the album and once again dresses in a jazzy garb.

The atmospheric The First Noel is an English Christmas carol that sings about the birth of Jesus Christ. Chris takes the buoyant beat of the original carol and sensitively develops it further.

Silent Night is the one we Germans are most familiar with. The song was originally composed by Franz Xaver Gruber in 1818. Standring adheres to the original with great respect.

Hark The Herald Angels Sing is an English carol which is dated from 1739. Standring's version lives from the contrast between the traditional and the modern. We Three Kings is a Christmas carol that was written by John Henry Hopkins Jr. in 1857. Here, too, one gets the impression that the emotional is more important to Chris than losing oneself in wild virtuosity.

Winter Wonderland is a happy song by nature. Chris understands that too and gives the melody that special kick. O Little Town Of Bethlehem is especially popular in the United States, where it is particularly at home in church circles. Chris' cover is based on the well-known interpretations of the 50s.

Final song of album is the song White Christmas by Irvin Berlin wonderfully translated into Standring's musical language.

Chris Standring's new album Silent Night is recommended for all those who want to hear the traditional Christmas carols in a new guisez.