Rating: NNN
Listening to this very Christmassy Christmas album right now makes me want to retch, but come the later half of December there’s nothing I’ll want to be listening to more than this disc. Aw, who am I kidding? Still, you could go way, way lamer (A 98 Degrees Christmas, for example) than this cute little jazz and R&B album of Charlie Brown Christmas covers. The production is lush but unobtrusive, and yuletide joy doesn’t get rammed down your throat. Sensitive players and singers like David Benoit, Dave Koz, Toni Braxton, Brian McKnight and Chaka Khan call Schroeder and the gang to mind tastefully, sounding cozy but not overtly sentimental.
