You may remember John Bayless as somewhat of a wizard of improvisation and clever arranging skill in his Bach Meets the Beatles and Bach on Abbey Road CDs from the 1980s. Well, he’s at it again, this time applying his mastery of various piano styles and his impressive technical ability to a host of Christmas favorites, from “O come all ye faithful”, “O little town of Bethlehem”, and “Silent Night” to “The Christmas Song”, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, and “White Christmas”. In some cases, Bayless combines several songs into a sort of medley, seamlessly blended together, sometimes with more than one melody occurring at the same time.
Although each tune is clearly recognizable–no weird expressionistic musings–sometimes a non-Christmas melody ingeniously finds its way into the mix, as in the juxtaposition of the spiritual “Going Home” with “I’ll be home for Christmas”. Bayless works “Rudolph” and “Let it snow” into a jazzy dance, while “Santa Claus is coming to town” and its mate, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, are given the raggy-rhythm treatment, complete with jumpy syncopations and a rash of irregular meters. “The Christmas Song” gets an appropriately reverent, relatively straightforward interpretation, the melody prominent, with lots of pop-style fills and rich-textured harmonies, leading to a big, full-bodied conclusion.
“Ave Maria” is a tastefully unadorned rendition of the famous Bach-Gounod version, while the “Winter Wonderland”/”Jingle Bells” combination is a picturesque scene of swirling snow and twinkling starlight. Bayless even finds a way to work in an old recording of his mother singing one of the pianist’s childhood favorites, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy”, combining it with “Away in a manger” and “What Child is This?”, an indulgence that I’m sure is a memory far more precious to Bayless than it will be musically engaging for most listeners.
Perhaps the highlight of the disc is how Bayless manages to fit the tune “Amazing Grace” to the famous orchestral part of Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, a bit of inspiration that the pianist has been performing since his early days as a church organist. My one complaint is that Bayless too often can’t resist the opportunity to push a song a little too far, frequently ending with huge, extended, bombastic, rafter-rattling flourishes that just seem overdone. But the overall effect of this program is of happy, joyful excitement, a celebration of the “memories, the beautiful melody, and sentiment” Christmas music evokes in all who love it. The sound is a bit hard in the treble for my taste, but listeners who love a huge, full-bodied, very “present” piano, played to an inch of its life, will love this. And that “Amazing Grace” is really special.
