Navidades (CD - 2006)

Personnel: George Doering (guitar, guitars); Paul Jackson, Jr. (guitar); Nathan East (bajo sexto, bass instrument); Abraham Laboriel, Sr. (bajo sexto); Alyssa Park, John Wittenberg, Charles Stegeman, Rebecca Bunnell, Aimee Kreston, Razdan Kutumjain, Alan Grunfeld, Robert Matsuda, Edmund Stein, Kristin Fife, Mari Tsumura, Nicole Bush, Rachel Stegeman, Horia Moroaica, Frances Moore, Franklyn d'Antonio, Kevin Connolly, Patricia Johnson , Sid Page, Jacqueline Brand, Bruce Dukov, Julie Gigante, Clayton Haslop, Peter Kent, Natalie Leggett, Phillipe Levy, Ralph Morrison, Sara Parkins, Robert Peterson, Margaret Wooten, Armen Anassian, Guillermo Romero , Liane Mautner, Josephina Vergara, Michele Richards, Miwako Watanabe, Caroline Campbell, Charlie Bisharat, Mario Diaz de Leon, Tereza Stanislav (violin); Matt Funes, Dan Neufeld, Shawn Mann, Carolyn Riley, Karie Prescott, John Hayhurst, Robert Brophy, Keith Greene, David F. Walther, Renita Koven, Andrew Duckles, Robert Berg (viola); Paula Hochhalter, Kevan Torfeh, Larry Corbett, Dane Little, Rudolph Stein (cello); Brandon Fields (flute, saxophone); Stephen Kujala, Peter Sheridan, Jim Walker , Steve Kujala, David Shostac (flute); Tony Morgan, Tommy Morgan (harmonica); Earl Dumler, Barbara Northcutt (oboe); Keith Fiddmont, Robert Carr (saxophone); Ronald King (trumpet, trombone); Gilberto Castellanos, Bijon Watson (trumpet); Richard Bullock, Ira Nepus (trombone); Francisco Loyo, Francisco Loyo, Michael Lang , Randy Waldman (piano); Robbie Buchanan (electric piano); John "4 Daddman" Robinson (drums); Vinnie Colaiuta (drum); Thomas Aros (percussion); George Bohannon (trombone).

Recording information: Ocean Way Studios, Hollywood, CA; Right Track Recording, New York, NY.

Directors: Bruce Dukov; Ralph Morrison.

Photographer: Alberto Tolot.

Arranger: Juan Carlos Calderón.

Strangely, this 2006 collection is the phenomenally successful Latino superstar's first album of Christmas songs, in a career that scored its first international hit in the mid 1980s with a duet with Sheena Easton. His undeniably expressive tenor swoops and soars over a jazzy, big-band backing, on a program of seasonal favorites that includes Spanish versions of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" ("Frente A La Chimenea"), "I'll Be Home For Christmas" ("Estar En Mi Casa Esta Navidad"), and a heartfelt reading of Charlie Chaplin's melancholy "Smile" ("Sonrie") that highlights the sadness that the season can often bring into sharp relief. minimize