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Our Review

Oh, man. Don't listen to Jeffrey Alan Smith until you are ready to be rocked by the Christmas spirit. I had been grudgingly recalibrating my ear and tuning up my acerbic wit for the review season, having refreshed my palate with a (welcome) 10-month lull that I like to call the "other" season. I hadn't really gotten into the swing yet and was still somewhat on auto-pilot. Mr. Smith's A Journey to Christmas was just the holiday kick-start I needed.

Journey begins with two of Smith's own compositions, The First Day of Winter, an inspiring anthem, not unlike theme music for a made-for-tv holiday movie-of-the-week, and Snow, another bit of theme music, this one pensive and foreboding, like the heavy, ice-laden cloud bank that precedes a snowstorm. What follows these dual introductions are a retooling and retelling of familiar carols, mostly as a series of medleys meant to represent the several common vignettes, or archetypal moments, in the annual holiday "journey". And although sitting by the fire, and taking a sleigh ride are activities I enjoy only in my mind's eye, they are apt seasonal metaphors, and Smith's arrangements suit.

Smith's journey, integrating traditional Christmas music into a framework of his own compositions is not so unlike our own personal journeys, our quest to find peace and to make peace with the winter. One could do worse than to spend a few minutes journeying with Jeffrey Smith.

--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2002)

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Jeffrey Alan Smith

A Journey to Christmas

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Track List