Three sisters - Rae, Vicki and Shelley - are the core of this mixed group's clean and contemporary jazz sound. About half accompanied, the CD begins with a Gene Puerling arrangement of "The Christmas Song" (a second Puerling chart, "Deck The Halls," is a cappella). Michele Weir's version of "A Child Is Born" (certainly one of the loveliest of Christmas carols) includes a vocal trombone solo by Denis Allaire. Phil Mattson's a cappella "Here We Come A Caroling" offsets the first verse with a delightful four-bar countermelody; it's these little touches that elevate a song from the pedestrian to the remarkable. |