Sending You a Little Christmas (album)
| Sending You a Little Christmas | ||||
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| Studio album by Johnny Mathis | ||||
| Released | October 29, 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2013 at Starstruck Studios, Nashville, Tennessee , Loud Recording Studios, Nashville, Tennessee, Village Recorders, Los Angeles, California, Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California, Crescent Moon Studio, Miami, Florida , Gorbals Sound, Glasgow, Scotland |
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| Genre | Christmas | |||
| Length | 43:32 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Fred Mollin | |||
| Johnny Mathis chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | Positive |
| BREATHEcast.com | Positive |
| Examiner.com |   |
| SacCulturalHub.com | Positive |
Sending You a Little Christmas is a Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on October 29, 2013, by Columbia Records. In addition to piano accompaniment on the title track by its composer Jim Brickman, this particular holiday release of original material (number six for Mathis) is distinguished by duets with guest vocalists Susan Boyle, Natalie Cole, Gloria Estefan, Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Billy Joel, and The Jordanaires.
Mathis recalls, "My producer, Fred Mollin, and I wanted to do some duets," and the number of singing partners for this one project far exceeded the tally of pairings arranged for any of his previous studio albums. In addition to covering several familiar holiday favorites "we decided that we wanted a newer song and we came up with Jim Brickman's ["Sending You a Little Christmas"]. He'd recorded it before, but it gave the record that finishing touch." Brickman's original recording of the song featured Contemporary Christian singer Kristy Starling and spent a week at number one on Billboard magazine's Adult Contemporary chart after debuting there in December 2003. The musician enjoyed the time spent collaborating with Mathis. "It was surreal, and definitely a ‘pinch me’ moment. I was so honored, and he sounds so beautiful." The fact that Brickman originated the music definitely added to his experience. "It wasn’t something like ‘Silent Night,’ where you’re just performing. It was actually a song that I wrote."
After the album's release in October 2013 it was generally well-received, with some critics quite enthusiastic in their praise. BREATHEcast's Timothy Yap described the album as "the best amongst Mathis' canon of Christmas offerings," and Michael P. Coleman of Sac Cultural Hub wrote that Mathis was "serving as host of a wonderful Christmas party that you should think about crashing this season." Joe Szczechowski of Examiner.com was a bit more equivocal in his comments, describing it as a "solid" collection with Mathis in "fine vocal shape" but finding it lacking in comparison with his previous Christmas albums in noting that "there's nothing on Sending You a Little Christmas that would be considered a landmark recording.
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