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Our Review

Gerry Beaudoin and the Boston Jazz Ensemble play a highly stylized form of jazz, sometimes an almost an "old-fashioned" jazz, a jazz that harks back to sometime in the '50s when jazz (as I know and love it) was at its zenith. At times it swings, but it is mostly cool. Then, at other times it sounded contemporary almost to the point of being new age.

The Ensemble's sound is stylistically similar to a lot of traditional jazz trios. But an ensemble (this one features seven musicians) can be a lot more versatile than a trio, and this one is quite versatile. There is a lot of nice improvisational riffing throughout, but it is never forced. I got the feeling these musicians are comfortable together and that whenever one of them wanted to take the song in a certain direction, the others could and would intuitively follow.

The songs themselves are a standard set of traditional carols and well-known popular songs, beginning with a toe-tapping rendition of Deck The Halls, which serves to set a mood and a tempo for the entire CD, as well as introducing the voices of the ensemble. One somewhat novel selection was Silver And Gold, played in a lively, yet moody way thanks to Jeff Stout's fine work on trumpet.

With its high contrast between exaggeration and understatement, there was quite a bit hold my attention, leading me to believe it will be generally quite accessible to most listeners. This is a jazz record for dreamers, romantics, and pure jazzers.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2003)

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A Sentimental Christmas may be Purchased at iTunes.

From the liner notes:

Performing on A Sentimental Christmas are:

Gerry Beaudoin, guiter; Bob Nieske, acoustic bass; Alan Dawson, drums; Paul Schmeling, piano; Jeff Stout, trumpet and flugelhorn; along with special guests Dick Johnson, clarinet; and Fred Lipsius, alto sax.

Gerry Beaudoin and the Boston Jazz Ensemble

A Sentimental Christmas

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Track List