It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like

An updated post from last year with help from BCL.


On The Prowl for new Christmas Albums?

The classic albums to own are Charlie Brown Christmas, Nat King Cole Christmas, The Carpenters, and (maybe it's just me) Mannheim Steamroller. (In the interest of full disclosure, I grew up in rural Nebraska and saw "the 'mroller" live in concert at least twice.)

In the jazz world, Wynton Marsalis' album is great, while Cyrus Chestnut wins the award for coolest Christian solo piano album. I love it. This Warner brothers album has a lot of modern giants (and is worth the hard effort to track down a copy), but for pure class, you've got to hear the Ellington Nutcracker.

In the gospel world, you might know Israel Houghton's album, but you should really check out Broadway Inspirational Voices for that awesome choir sound. Wowsers. Worship pastors should get the sheet music and do some of the songs, and pianists should go to school on the album.

Let's talk rock. My favorite is Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb. SOO good. Also, Songs for Christmas (Sufjan Stevens) and O Holy Night by Duvall (featuring WORLD-CLASS keyboard parts.

Also, you should really hear Bob Kauflin's album Savior. It's really great.