Search - Various Artists :: Christmas Heritage

Darol Anger's Heritage project released a set of traditional American songs in 1997 that couldn't have been less evocative of tradition if the featured all-stars had formed every note on microchips. A Christmas Heritage is more successful musically and emotionally, in part because the material is less familiar, but also because the Yuletide theme yields nicely to the dreamy, impressionistic arrangements of virtuosos Mike Marshall, Alison Brown, Tim O'Brien, Todd Phillips, and Philip Aaberg. O'Brien's singing even has a hearty, raw edge to it on "Greensleeves" and the mysterious original composition "Newgrange." The spacious, meditative interpretations of seasonal songs work best in the sparest settings: Mike Marshall's solo guitar take on "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" is liquid and loving. And the mandolin, mandola, and mandocello interplay on "Patapan" is inspired and pretty without being merely ornamental. --Roy Kasten