Christmas Jazz Jam

Background and composition

Christmas Jazz Jam marked Marsalis' first holiday album in twenty years. For the album, Marsalis assembled a group of ten musicians to perform uncredited arrangements of twelve holiday standards. Following "Mary Had a Baby" are traditional New Orleans jazz-style renditions of "Jingle Bells" (James Pierpont) and "Blue Christmas" (Billy Hayes, Jay W. Johnson).

Reception

Kirk Silsbee of the Los Angeles Times awarded the album three of four stars and called the arrangements "smart yet not ostentatious".

Track listing

1. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (John Frederick Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 4:50
2. "Mary Had a Baby" – 4:03
3. "Jingle Bells" (James Pierpont) – 4:43
4. "Blue Christmas" (Billy Hayes, Jay W. Johnson) – 5:24
5. "Go Tell It on the Mountain" (John Wesley Work, Jr.) – 7:08
6. "O Christmas Tree" (Ernst Anschütz) – 7:25
7. "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (Phillips Brooks) – 7:21
8. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Johnny Marks) – 6:05
9. "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells) – 5:30
10. "Good King Wenceslas" (Thomas Helmore, John Mason Neale) – 6:49
11. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane) – 7:08
12. "Greensleeves" (traditional) – 2:05

Charts

In 2009 Christmas Jazz Jam reached peak positions of number six on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart, number nine on the Top Holiday Albums chart, and number nineteen on the Top Independent Albums chart. In 2010 the album reached number 125 on the Billboard 200.