Album Review: Christmas All the Way from Accent

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Album:  Christmas All the Way
Artist:  Accent
Label:  Accent Entertainment, LLC
Websites: accentvocal.com
                 youtube.com/AccentVocal
                 facebook.com/AccentVocal
                 instagram.com/AccentVocal
                 twitter.com/AccentVocal

Christmas songs presented by traditional vocal ensembles seems like a trend from the past but every now and again, a vocal group brings audiences the beauty of traditionally decked tunes like the vocal sextet Accent.  Their Christmas album Christmas All the Way simmers like a slow burning flame on tracks like "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "The Christmas Song," and jangles like a holiday festival in numbers like "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year."  The group's vocal harmonies are gorgeously nuanced, making them uplifting and able to bring an ounce of bliss to the holiday season.

Accent's rendition of the Swedish holiday gem, "Jul, Jul, Strålande Jul" (English: Christmas, Christmas, glorious Christmas), glitters softly in the care of the sextet's vocal harmonizing.  Uncluttered by instrumentation, the group's vocal sonics are mesmerizing.  The recording shifts to the dashing swing-clad instrumentation of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow," producing a celebratory atmosphere laden in the blazing horns of the Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band.   Don Shelton's clarinet solo on "The Christmas Song" creates wispy swells along the track like velvety snow covered slopes, and the string arrangement played by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra on "O Holy Night" shroud the vocal harmonies in silky gossamer that suspends the verses floating along the track. Accent creates a new stratosphere in the melodies where their voices move.

The six members of Accent reside in five different countries, Simon Åkesson from Sweden,  Jean-Bapiste (“JB”) Craipeau from France, Danny Fong and Andrew Kesler from Canada, James Rose from the UK, and Evan Sanders from the US.  The six singers got together via the internet and have released 3 recordings previously.   Their works are collective collaborations whereby each member has a part in the arrangement and/or writing and direction of the melodies.  Their recordings are indeed homespun and made for listeners to hear at home and for audiences to share the experience in arena settings.  

Accent Members:
Simon Åkesson - tenor (Sweden)
Jean-Bapiste (“JB”) Craipeau - tenor (France)
Danny Fong - tenor (Canada)
Andrew Kesler - tenor (Canada)
James Rose - baritone (United Kingdom)
Evan Sanders - bass (United States)

Special Guests:
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band
The Budapest Scoring Orchestra
Gayle Levant - harp
George Shelby - saxophone solo
Walter Rodriguez - percussion
Arturo Sandoval - trumpet solo
Don Shelton - clarinet solo 
Estonian Voices - vocals
Jo Goldsmith- Eteson - vocals 
Sam Robson -  vocals

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