Product Description Just Wright for Christmas is a perennial favorite of Danny Wright fans. Originally released in 1992, Danny shares the inspiration behind the album's songs including his original piece "Innocence." His personal favorite is "Silver Bells," which he played for his mother at the last concert she attended before passing away. Many of the Latin titles featured on the album bring fond memories of his years traveling and performing as a 1st soprano in the Texas Boys' Choir Review "Just Wright For Christmas," originally released in 1992, is part of a very large body of pianist Danny Wright's recorded work being remastered and re-released on the WH Sound Studio, Inc. label. After trying for ten years, Wright was recently able to acquire the Moulon D'Or catalog and plans to make the recordings available in both physical and digital formats, remastered and re-packaged with retrospective liner notes and bonus tracks. Quite a few of these new albums will be released before the end of 2012, with the rest coming in 2013. Wright is also celebrating his twenty-fifth anniversary as a composer and recording artist with a series of concerts in many cities in addition to all of these new albums and digital downloads - a very exciting time for one of the most popular contemporary pianists in the world and his many, many fans! "Just Wright For Christmas" is a collection of thirteen songs of the season, some arranged for solo piano and some with light accompaniment on oboe, English horn, and/or violin. All of the pieces are rather low-key, emphasizing the beauty of each melody with simplicity and heartfelt expression and making this the perfect accompaniment to a holiday dinner party, decorating, reflecting, relaxing, and just kicking back and enjoying some great Christmas music. The collection also includes two Danny Wright originals: "Innocence" and "My Son's Lullaby," the latter composed for his own children and presented as a bonus track. I really like all thirteen tracks on this album, but a couple of favorites include the medley of "Patapan" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen," "Away In a Manger," "Panis Angelicus," "Gesu Bambino," and the haunting "Innocence," which was composed for a fund-raising concert for a young child critically-ill with leukemia. That story has a lovely ending with the boy receiving a bone marrow transplant from someone in the audience and then joining Danny onstage as a teenager some years later. The song also started Danny's tradition of creating music inspired by people's personal stories. Other song titles include "Silver Bells," "White Christmas," "In Dulci Jubilo," "Pie Jesu," "The First Noel," "O Little Town of Bethlehem," and "I'll Be Home For Christmas." Highly recommended! --Kathy Parson-MainlyPiano.com 2012
Pianist Danny Wright just recently re-acquired the rights to his back catalogue and he has set about re-mastering and re-releasing all of them. That includes two holiday classics (see my next review, too). First up is Just Wright For Christmas, which is my favorite of the two. Mixing secular tunes, religious carols, and originals, Wright infuses a lot of emotion in his playing and for the most part keeps things low key, which I for one usually prefer. Silver Bells opens the album and Wright gives it a sensitive treatment while retaining the usual feel of the song. Wright is joined on some tracks by other artists on English horn, oboe, violin, and vocals, but despite this, this is first and foremost a piano music release. White Christmas gets a short prelude, then Wright settles in and does the Irving Berlin piece proud. Likewise, Wright's take on I'll Be Home For Christmas is spot on and begs to be heard in front of a fireplace with loved ones near. --Bill Binkelman-Zone Music Reporter
Just Wright For Christmas