When My Heart Finds Christmas

1. Sleigh Ride 2. When My Heart Finds Christmas 3. (It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus 4. The Blessed Dawn Of Christmas Day 5. Let It Snow!, Let It Snow!, Let It Snow! 6. The Little Drummer Boy 7. Ave Maria 8. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers 9. What Child Is This? 10. Christmas Dreaming 11. I Pray On Christmas 12. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 13. O Holy Night 14. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

New Orleans pianist, singer, and songwriter Harry Connick Jr. has done what many makers of Christmas records strive for but seldom achieve: he's made a Christmas record that sounds convincingly like a '40s period piece and rigorously like a cool, contemporary jazz disc. His powerful, self-written Christmas songs sound like polished standards, and he delivers the whole package with a sassy, vocal economy (with the occasional New Orleans accent) and an orchestral richness that is never indulgent or overwhelming. When My Heart Finds Christmas is a true classic that no lover of big-band jazz and singing (in the Sinatra style)--and Christmas music--should be without. There are so many great moments here that singling any one out would be at the expense of the others. Still, the reverential, solo-piano intro to "Ave Maria," Connick's own "(It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus," (a rousing, second-line swing tune), and his triumphant "I Pray on Christmas" (a get-happy-now gospel song) deserve mention if only because they'll earn Connick extra credit in heaven and on Earth. --Martin Keller

Price: $11.98