WELCOME TO THE A-TRAIN NEWSLETTER!Tis The Season...

Another Holiday newsletter from A-Train?! We just can’t get enough

Christmas cheer! Its never too early to begin the holiday festivities and you

simply can’t start to make that list, bake those cookies, or trim that tree without

some holiday cheer to lift your spirits and ring in the Christmas season. To

help with the gift giving A-Train is swooping down your chimney with a wide

variety of music to stuff stockings and fill caroling voices, from traditional takes

of classic tunes, to jazzy renditions, new age interpretations, acoustic

arrangements and everything in between.

Not to be missed, aside from mom’s pumpkin pie, is the latest

collaboration/compilation from KKSF and your very own A-Train! Just in

time for this years celebration comes the KKSF Sampler for AIDS Relief

Volume 19, Holiday edition, packed with the stations most requested, must

have holiday Smooth Jazz titles. And in the spirit of giving, proceeds benefit

the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in efforts to raise both research funding

and awareness for this most worthy cause. So hang the mistletoe already, and

be sure to keep Tiny Tim away from the eggnog, as A-Train heralds in this

year’s Christmas extravaganza!

- The A-Train Staff

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A-TRAINe n t e r t a i n m e n t

•KKSF Sampler For AIDS Relief Vol. 19

•Jeff Golub

•Warscout

•Gregg Karukas

•Shelby Flint

•Todi Neesh Zhee Singers

•Silver Wave Artists

•Peter Kater

•R. Carlos Nakai

•William Eaton

•Southern Scratch

Release Artists

KKSF Sampler For AIDS

Relief Volume 19 - Various ArtistsKKSF is proud to present Volume 19 of their benefit CD sampler. This collection is one that they havereceived many requests for over the past eighteen years - the "must have"

Holiday Smooth Jazz titles. Included here is a small sampling of the KKSF Holiday Library including classic tracks performed by smooth jazz icons like Kenny G, Diana Krall, Luther Vandross and Boney James as well as a new, never before released, track from the Bay Area's Joyce Cooling. We are pleased again to team up with KKSF to raise money and awareness for The San Francisco AIDS Foundation and other Bay Area AIDS organizations, but hope that in the future there will be no need to do so.

Todi Neesh Zhee Singers - Navajo ChristmasChristmas comes to Navajoland as the Todi Neesh Zhee Singers present five Christmas songs done in traditional song and dance style interspersed with four social dance songs. These popular singers are joined by Roger Begay, Radmilla

Cody, Socie Saltwater and Consuela Chacon in Christmas standards sung in both Navajo and English.

Navajo Christmas Review:Sick of the same old shopping mall music? Interested in exploring the roots of Americana? Here is something very unique and cool for the holiday season. On Navajo Christmas, the Todi Neesh Zhee Singers & Friends do something I had never previously experienced. They interpret classic Christmas chestnuts such as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as traditional Navajo song-and-dance pieces, and the result is mesmerizing. This music is fascinating; the ambience is both relaxing and stirring. Very sweet. -Carol Swanson, ChristmasReviews.com

Gregg Karukas with Shelby

Flint - Home for the holidaysPopula r con temporary jazz keyboardist Gregg Karukas captures all the warmth of being "Home For The Holidays" with this exquisite collection of seasonal classics, recorded live in studio in an intimate,

acoustical setting featuring fresh, inventive piano trio arrangements of some of the best-loved holiday songs ever recorded. Gregg teams up with longtime musical partner Shelby Flint, whose singing and songwriting talents are featured in unforgettable, heartfelt performances of original and familiar holiday music.

Jeff Golub - Six String SantaCombing a rich love for blues, rock and pop with potent jazz chops, Jeff Golub and his band recorded their first Christmas record, Six String Santa. "I’ve always wanted to do a record of Christmas music…" Golub says. "I went in the studio, and we came up with some very spirited

arrangements of these classic songs that I love so much. " On this lively holiday CD, Golub lays down his own smooth and funky interpretations of holiday classics, backed by the stellar line up of saxophonist Warren Hill, Chris Palmaro on keyboards, Lincoln Goines on bass, Stephen Ferrone and Shawn Pelton on drums, and Roger Squitero on percussion. A great accompaniment for any holiday party, sure to get your guests in the spirit!

Home For The Holidays Review:This lush, glorious holiday treat truly captures the warmth and intimacy of the season. Eased along by the rhythm section of John Leftwich and Joel Taylor, Karukas weaves freshness into well-worn standards, his acoustic piano touch has never been sweeter, crisper or more emotional than these interpretations. The ultimate in "Unplugged!" Adding passionate drama to this gem are the breathy, poignant vocal stylings of longtime cohort Shelby Flint. All in all, a beautiful holiday treat for all; a jazz collection even those who favor pop can treasure. - Jonathan Widran, LA Jazz Scene

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RELEASES

R.Carlos Nakai and William

Eaton - Winter Dreams for ChristmasR. Carlos Nakai and guitarist William Eaton have arranged these beautiful Christmas songs from Europe. It is as if these melodies carried themselves from the Old World across the

New...to the southwestern deserts where the wind and solitude imbued them with a new enchantment. It is the dream of Nakai and Eaton that the peace and goodwill expressed in these timeless melodies lives throughout the year for people of all cultures and faiths.

Winter Dreams is a bona fide new age Christmas classic, an instrumental masterpiece. This timeless recording excels on every level. Nakai is world-famous for his mastery of the cedar flute, which comes to life in his capable hands. The innovative arrangements and artful execution on Winter Dreams are guaranteed to make visions of sugar plums dance in your head!

-Carol Swanson, ChristmasReviews.com

Silver Wave Artists - A Winter Celebration A Winter Celebration features traditional and original instrumentals and vocals from these extraordinary artists: Peter Kater, R. Carlos Nakai, Joanne Shenandoah, Flesh & Bone, Tom & Susan Wasinger, Trio Globo, Fowler & Branca, Margot Krimmel and Mark

Miller, Eugene Friesen, Chris White, Danny Heines and Curandero. The glory of summer gives way to harvest, to solstice and to the preparation for the slumbering earth. The Silver Wave artists give us a gorgeous grouping of music in celebration of this time of year.

Peter Kater - Xmas EcstasyThe most recent of GRAMMY nominee Peter Kater’s holiday classics, Xmas Ecstasy displays the v i s i o n a r y a n d e v o c a t i v e interpretations of Peter's favorite Christmas songs as they transport us around the world to experience the soul of the season in a wholly

timeless and universal canopy of sound. Velvety smooth percussion and celebratory rhythms playfully dance with the Native American flute, Middle Eastern duduk, Irish penny whistle, woodwinds, guitar, bass and piano; all resounding deeply, joyfully and reverently, exposing layer after layer of Xmas ecstasy.

Radhika Miller - Blossoms In The SnowHoliday minstrel magic with delightful renditions of familiar favorites on traditional medieval and renaissance instruments plus refreshing originals for flute and recorders (Radhika Miller), harp (Michelle Sell and Cheryl Ann

Fulton), piano (Louis Magor), cello (David Darling), vielle and rebec (Shira Kammen), mandola (Peter Rowan), kalimba and dulcimer (Tony D'Anna). CD Review gave it their highest rating. "Simply the most striking Christmas album of any year." Great holiday gift item!

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RELEASES

Xmas Ecstasy Review:

If you're looking for a more sophisticated sound in your holiday music this is the one you should get. Each track is unique in its interpretation making these familiar tunes almost unrecognizable. Most pieces are gently rolling and majestic yet subtle enough to play as background music all day.

- ZANGOMUSIC.COM

Southern Scratch - Chicken Scratch Christmas Chicken Scratch, the social dance music of the Tohono O'odham ("Desert People"), also known as waila music, evolved from the earlier acoustic fiddle bands that adapted European and Mexican tunes heard in Northern Sonora. Twelve popular Christmas carols are done in the

happy go lucky chicken scratch style by one of the premiere bands of the Tohono O'odham. Includes “Frosty the Snowman”, “Silent Night”, “Feliz Navidad” and “Jingle Bells”.

Warscout - Red ChristmasFor the Plains Cree, winter brings the season of the Round Dance. A social dance of happiness and harmony, its songs contain often amusing lyrics about love and courtship. Inspired by this tradition, Warscout has crafted these songs infused with the spirit of Christmas. Joyful and

touching, Red Christmas is a heartfelt Native American yuletide celebration that will warm the soul on the frostiest winter night.

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RELEASES

Chicken Scratch Christmas Review:

Southern Scratch is only the best known of innumerable chicken scratch bands that are now flooding dance halls in the Southwest. This Native American-Southwestern crossover is exclusively instrumental and is performed to be danced to.

-Leon Jackson, All Music Guide