Winter's Songs: A Windham Hill Christmas

Windham Hill specializes in a kind of unhurried, chiming, soothing, and instrumental new age jazz, and this sampler of some of the label’s artists doing holiday fare is perfectly suited to the sonic program. Every track is calm, mellow, and pretty, including two the sides by Steve Erquiaga, “Joy to the World” and “Greensleeves,” and Liz Story’s gently gorgeous piano version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” making this set perfect to play in the background for a calm holiday gathering.