December 17, 2015

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Review of the CD in ClevelandClassical.com!  

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Vocalist Liz Huff, who can be heard and seen about town in a variety of settings — musical theater productions, new music performances, variety shows, and as half of the duo Los Gatos with guitarist Robert Gruca — has just released a Christmas album. My Favorite Things features Huff and her “Merry Band” in 17 selections ranging from jazz-influenced traditional and popular carols to Celtic-infused versions of familiar and less-familiar Christmas songs.

Pianists Jordan Cooper and Marshall Griffith, classical guitarist Robert Gruca, drummer Justin Hart, violinist Ariel Clayton Karas, bassist Tim Keo, electric guitarist Brian Mueller, and flutist Linda White — many of whom share Cleveland Institute of Music ties with Huff — join in the lovely, sometimes striking arrangements.

There’s something for everyone here. Huff’s laid-back, intimate singing adds a new flavor to commercial Christmas music, even to the ubiquitous Little Drummer Boy and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. On the more classical side of the repertoire, carols like Gustav Holst’s In the Bleak Midwinter receive haunting treatment with the stark accompaniment of multi-tracked flutes.

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— Daniel Hathaway