Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

If you’re walking through a shopping mall department store this holiday season and hear pleasant sounding Christmas jazz playing in the background, it may very well be the music of Boney James. James music, I hate to say, is very similar to that of Kenny G. Thankfully it seems he has avoided the same fate as far as reputation goes. James tries hard to make this album of smooth Christmas jazz cool by enlisting the help of a few R&B vocalists and covering a Joni Mitchell classic. Chante Moore pulls vocal duty on Santa Baby, and while the music is expertly crafted and played the vocals seem uninspired. Angie Stone fares much better on her take of Merry Christmas Baby. Still, better versions have been recorded. The most inspired vocals belong to Anthony Hamilton on Silent Night. His silky, smooth vocals are the perfect complement to James’ saxophone. James performs an instrumental cover version of the Joni Mitchell classic, River, and pulls it off with flying colors. Many of the other tracks are instrumentals such as My Grown Up Christmas List, Hark The Herald Angels Sing and The First Noel which sound like they came directly from the dentist’s office.

This album is full of great laid back jazz to help you relax this holiday season. It is just a little too sedate for me.