Notable CDs

The emotional trajectory followed by this infectious pop Advent calendar is a familiar one. First, there’s a desire for “Snow, Snow, Snow” (Track One). Two tracks later, there’s a “Wishlist” (sung by Natasha Bedingfield, one of 22 guest singers). Five tracks later, the Sam Hollander/Kevin Griffin–composed originals, some of which might become classics, give way to “Jingle Bells.” Finally, the sacred kicks in with an “O Holy Night” and “Joy to the World” so fresh that they render the concluding, not-bad “Auld Lang Syne” anticlimactic.

Braxton Family Christmas

Toni Braxton is the star, but her sisters are no slouches either. And the beautiful music they make together will appeal to fans not only of the soft-focus R&B at which the siblings excel but also of gospel: “Mary, Did You Know,” the a cappella “O Holy Night,” and the too-short-at-two-minutes-and-four-seconds “Blessed New Year” are worthy of church. And speaking of nonslouches, brother Michael wrote the splendid “Under My Christmas Tree.” His cameo vocal lights it up.

Chante Noël

Paul Brembly (baritone) joined in 1971, Frank Davis (first tenor) in 1995, Thierry Francis (bass) in 1998, and Timothy Riley (second) in 2012. Together they honor and keep alive the name and the Jubilee-singing tradition of a group inaugurated during the presidency of FDR. “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Go Where I Send Thee,” “The Coventry Carol,” “Silver Bells,” “Mary Had a Baby”—it’s all Christmas to them. But the sacred does predominate, a statistical fact that the concluding track, The Impressions’ “Amen,” suggests is no accident.

Joyful Jazz

This album’s marketers were smart to put Freddy Cole’s name on the cover. Although Cole sings only three songs, one is “A Cradle in Bethlehem,” possibly the only time that he has lifted his remarkable voice in faith-based song near a hot mic. As for the nine instrumental performances of mostly well-known pop standards and carols, they find the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra executing uncommonly imaginative arrangements with enthusiasm and precision. Most imaginative of all: the intermittent “quotations” from the “Hallelujah Chorus” throughout “Joy to the World.”

Spotlight

2015 has been quite a year for Christmas music. Besides the albums described at left, the following deserve honorable mention: Ann Hampton Callaway’s multi-faceted, Broadway-lite The Hope of Christmas: Ann Hampton Callaway Sings the Lyrics of William Schermerhorn (MCG Jazz), Andrew Carwood and St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir’s gloriously traditional Carols with St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir (Decca), the dB’s & Friends’ indie-rock extravaganza Christmas Time Again! (Omnivore) in its most recently expanded edition, and Barbara Dennerlein’s seasonably jazzy Christmas Soul (MPS Jazz).

And there’s more. Mario Frangoulis’ Tales of Christmas (Beautifulthings Productions Ltd.) gift-wraps various genres (who knew “Nature Boy” was a Christmas song?) in tasteful, classical-crossover paper. The Gaither Vocal Band’s Christmas Collection (Gaither Music Group) defies stereotypes and exceeds expectations. And Garry Kean’s acoustic-pop This Christmas with You (Dream) would feel friendly even if its proceeds weren’t earmarked for the widows-and-orphans-first Jacaranda Community that Kean and his wife oversee in Nairobi, Kenya. —A.O.