A Legend-ary Christmas

Just found out that John Legend, singer, actor, songwriter, producer, pianist and many other things besides, has never recorded a Christmas album. This is very strange. After all, he has been making music for almost 20 years and has hits like

Ordinary People, Beauty And The Beast and All Of Me. 

Add to this the fact that he is an artist who is one of the youngest in showbiz history and the first African American to have the EGOT under his belt. That means he has already won awards at the Emmys, the Grammys, the Oscars and the Tonys.  Quite a guy but no Christmas album. That is until now.

Now out in the market is John’s very first Christmas album ever and it is titled A Legendary Christmas. It is great news that he was able to come up with one of his own at a time when new Christmas albums are starting to become scarce. How many were released this year? Two or three?  But here is one by John and it sounds great.

I like it that Legend chose to blend Motown soul with his own new originals in the album. The Motown sound has become a huge part of the Holiday celebration, thanks to the record-breaking sales of the Jackson 5 Christmas Album nearly 50 years ago. John even has a true Motown legend in Stevie Wonder in the opening track, which has the great Stevie playing his trademark harmonica in What Christmas Means To Me.

Soul diva Esperanza Spalding is also featured in a very sad Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, which has been released as a single. Not to worry, this song always brings on a heartache or two and John is blithely cheerful in the rest of the cuts.

Other standards that John renders doubly soulful are Silver Bells; Christmas Time Is Here; The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire); Please Come Home For Christmas; and a joyous mash-up of Merry Christmas Baby and Give Love On Christmas Day. Given the way that John sings, having something traditional like Silent Night would have been nice, but maybe that will happen in some other Christmas to come.

Best of the lot though is a John composition, a heartfelt plea titled Bring Me Love co-written with Walter Rollins, Steve Nelson and Meghan Trainor of All About That Bass fame. He is also co-writer of No Place Like Home, Waiting For Christmas, Wrap Me Up In Your Love, By Christmas Eve and Merry Merry Christmas. Maybe, one of these new songs will be part of the Christmas catalogue someday.

Incidentally, John is one of the lead artists in the line-up of the Spotify Christmas Playlist this year. Yes, there is such a thing and if you want new Christmas music, the place to go to for these is Spotify. It turns out that the streaming site has now gone into music production and is releasing tunes under its own Spotify label. Isn’t this a case of unfair competition? I do not know how this practice impacts on the existing label contracts of the artists.  But it looks like they have permission to do these recordings.

And not just any artist. Launched a year ago, the Spotify Christmas Playlist has not only the big stars, but also some of the hippest names. If this playlist were available on CD or vinyl, it would be an excellent compilation album. With the scarcity of new Christmas albums, this is one of the year’s big Yuletide finds and it has some of the songs by which we will remember Christmas of 2018.

Still in a Motown mood, John performs a solo version of the Jackson 5’s Give Love On Christmas Day, the first by a solo male artist, for Spotify. Some of the other cuts are Feliz Navidad by the boy band Why Don’t We; Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, a jazzy duet by Tony Bennett and Diana Krall; White Christmas by Meghan Trainor; Little Drummer Boy by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts; El Burrito Sabanero by Aloe Blacc.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas by Demi Lovato; Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer by DMX; Can You See by Fifth Harmony; White In The Morning by Jack Johnson; Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by Josh Groban; Christmas Eve by Kelly Clarkson; This Christmas by Lalah Hathaway; Sleigh Ride by Miley Cyrus; It’s Not Christmas ‘Til You Come Home by Norah Jones; River by Sam Smith; The Christmas Song by Wyclef Jean; and Jingle Bells by Wynton Marsalis.