Capping an extraordinarily prolific decade of sonically innovative releases featuring ensembles of L.A.’s top-tier musicians and recording engineers, Lyn Stanley releases her 2022 wildly ambitious, stylistically eclectic holiday album, Novel Noël - A Jingle Cool Jazz Celebration.

As Lyn herself adds in the beautiful liner notes, and describing the extraordinary journey of creating and developing Novel Noël, she writes, It survived one of the most horrific events of our lifetime, mainly a worldwide pandemic that sidetracked the train of life for most of us.

In addition to the opportunity to, as she says, “center our efforts in love and new beginnings, an impactful silver lining musicians being sidelined from the road during the year of quarantine was their availability to have what Allen Sides calls “every amazing player in L.A. available for the sessions at The Village.

1. Zat You Santa Claus?
2. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
3. Come Dance with Me
4. Little Drummer Boy - Jazz Version
5. It’s Magic
6. The Way You Look Tonight
7. I Concentrate On You
8. Christmas Waltz
9. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus
10. Moonlight In Vermont
11. Merry Christmas, Darling
12. Holy Night (Bonus Track)
13. Mary Did You Know? (Bonus Track)

Opening with a dead pan, veritably hilarious impression of Louis Armstrong, this festively opulent new, 13-track holiday collection leads with a spirited romp through Zat You Santa Claus? and the elegance of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and then comes the cinematic cha-cha of Come Dance with Me (an ode to her other life as a former amateur champion ballroom dancer), a spirited piano/bass 5/4 tempo then bursts forth on Little Drummer Boy - Jazz Version, an alluringly engaging, modern day twist on the iconic Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn classic, It’s Magic, and then we get the female perspective now found within The Way You Look Tonight (now inclusive of a rather playful Santa reference) and with a gracious nod to Cole Porter, a quite stunning I Concentrate On You is brought forth.

Created as a fast paced Viennese Waltz styling, along next on this lovely new festive album is the spirited Christmas Waltz and an enthusiastic twist on the post WWII classic Boogie Woogie Santa Claus, and they are in turn nicely backed by a lush Moonlight In Vermont (word has it, included as a special nod to an audiophile fan who lives there), a cheerfully nimble Latin swing next guides us through Merry Christmas Darling, the album rounding out on the bonus tracks: a heartfelt, spiritually-imbued, original ballad, Holy Night and an adroitly tasteful Mary Did You Know?

“I was driven to record this by my fans, who had been asking me, Where’s your holiday album? says Lyn, who released her eighth album in 2020-2021, the critically acclaimed Live at Studio A, recorded at the famed Capitol Recording Studios, in June 2020.”

“Originally, I thought about doing a winter solstice themed collection, and my vision was to try to cover all holidays, not just Christmas, celebrated by a variety of religions and traditions that time of year. I wanted to create a perennial recording that my fans around the world could enjoy.”

“Over time, however, the project evolved to secular and Santa songs plus a handful of non-holiday classics that to me also capture the range of emotions people feel around the holidays.”

The rhythm section includes guitarist and leader John Chiodini, upright bassist Chuck Berghofer and percussionist Luis Conte, all members of Lyn’s longtime core band, affectionately dubbed The Jazz Mavericks, now re-dubbed Big Band Jazz Mavericks; pianists Bill Cunliffe, Christian Jacob and Pat Coil; drummer Bernie Dresel; and drummer and percussionist Aaron Serfaty. Rickey Woodward is the featured saxophonist.

Novel Noël was recorded by a team of several of the industry’s most renowned engineers, including five time Grammy winner Allen Sides (Natalie Cole, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, Ray Charles), two time Grammy winner and Emmy winner Bill Schnee (Steely Dan, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow), five time Grammy winner Leslie Ann Jones (Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock), Spencer Guerra, Playback Designs Founder Andreas Koch and DSD Audio Pioneer Gus Skinas.

Lyn Stanley Announces Her Big Band Holiday Album, Novel Noël (Official Video)

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