Album Review: Patricia Holly — 'Satin Sashes'

With a stage name like Patricia Holly, a Christmas album seems to be a no-brainer. Name synergy aside, the Des Moines-based jazz and Americana artist is wholly up to the task of a new holiday effort; her signature vintage sound glides effortlessly between dazzling big-band-style orchestrations and a jazzy, moody piano bar, guided by a vocal delivery reminiscent of a Peggy Lee or Rosemary Clooney. Across 12 tracks, Satin Sashes enfolds its listener in a wooly and warm embrace, crackled with fiery flare-ups of jazzy horns.

The holiday music genre, as a whole, is often a daunting realm to enter, unwelcoming to new renditions, trotting out not only the same songs but also the same singers. In doing so, there’s a preoccupation with how to break through with something completely different — a 10th reindeer, a 13th day of Christmas, an addition to the Christmas carol oeuvre. That’s where Satin Sashes strikes a balance, heralding back to classic holiday in a way that still rings fresh, while offering up two new songs for the seasonal rotation. Sometimes, it’s less about reinvention than playing on iteration, providing echoes of comfort and familiarity, just as family traditions are passed down.

With each flurry of tinkling piano and delicate drum brush patterns, the album not only skates but glides. Whether through smoldering Christmas romancers “Santa Baby” and original “Gingerbread Man,” or the melodic hearth of “Sleigh Ride” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” Satin Sashes neatly nestles under the tree.

Holly’s crystal-clear vocal tones and clean production channel the whimsy of the stop-motion worlds of Rudolph and Frosty specials, with candied, pristine snow and ice blue skies. But just as quickly, at the signal of a horn solo or key change, the sun sets and the album enters a smoky, dark jazz club full of jeweled-toned tinsel and whiffs of eggnog. Cheerful intimacy gives way to smoldering swagger.

These jazzy flourishes make the well-trodden songs dynamic. “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” starts traditionally, simmering and slightly mischievous, before Holly begins playfully harmonizing with the horns, vocally ramping up, only to pause before enunciating, “Stink, stank, stunk!” Each word lands in light staccato, like an olive plopped into a glass. On “Santa Baby,” the songstress leaves the listener with a winking closeout: “I’ll be waiting. Mwah.” And on new track “Gingerbread Man,” Holly spins the melodies and structure of “Run, Run, Rudolph” into a spiced love story, with bluegrass background harmonizing.

Holly closes out with the wistful “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” As much as Satin Sashes brings the yuletide and glimpses of yesteryear, the decorations are put away and a new year lies ahead, lying in wait for next holiday season, and where perhaps, you may have a new Christmas album to join the yearly shuffle.