Album
Christmas Time Is Here
Chart Peak (US Billboard Top Jazz Albums): No. 17 · Chart Peak (US Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums): No. 9 · AllMusic Rating: 3/5 · All About Jazz Rating: 3.5/5
A Seasonal Detour in Reeves' Jazz Career
A solid holiday album that respects the listener's intelligence without pretending to reinvent Christmas.
By the time Dianne Reeves recorded Christmas Time Is Here, she was already an established voice in jazz—skilled, versatile, and comfortable enough to take on material that sits outside the mainstream of her catalog. This is not a debut statement or a career peak. It's a deliberate pause, a late-career seasonal project that shows what happens when a singer known for her range and taste turns toward the holidays.
The album peaked at No. 17 on the US Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart and No. 9 on the Traditional Jazz Albums chart, which is respectable for what is essentially a niche project. All About Jazz found it "an above-average and sometimes spectacular album that doesn't deserve to compete with screaming kids and tearing paper for the listener's ear"—a fair assessment that acknowledges both its quality and its specific appeal. The critics weren't blown away, but they weren't dismissing it either. There's craft here, and restraint.
This is not the album to start with if you want to understand Reeves' main body of work. It's a side road, pleasant and professional, made by an artist secure enough to spend time on something seasonal and contained. It matters mainly to those already invested in her voice, or to listeners specifically hunting for jazz-inflected Christmas music that doesn't condescend.
Where next?
More by Dianne Reeves
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