Review

Fed up with Yuletide records that put the “white” in “White Christmas”?
If you’re fed up with Yuletide records that put the “white” in “White Christmas,” Shawn Lee’s A Very Ping Pong Christmas might just cure what (wass)ails ya. Lee’s previous Ping Pong outings have suffered from a paucity of memorable melodies, but here he applies his knack for funky beats and atmospheric grooves to twelve holiday classics, resulting in one of the cooler Christmas waxings in recent memory. There’s a heavy '60s/'70s soul vibe goin’ on, and it’s easy to picture Santa pulling up to your house in a red Cadillac with matching velvet double-breasted pimp vines to the tune of Lee’s clavinet-stoked “Do You Hear What I Hear” or wah-inflected “Jingle Bells.” His takes on “Deck the Halls” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” would surely have Ramsey Lewis’s 'In Crowd' doin’ it to death around the ol’ Tanenbaum. Hopefully we’ll get a Volume 2 in next year’s stocking.