Antony Field Christmas CD Release Party @ Sterling's a Huge Success

On Sunday December 12 Antony Field and Chip Smith presented a CD release party of their new Christmas CD You and Me on Christmas Eve @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. For fans of jazz and country inspired music, this one's for you! Field has a vocal sound along the lines of Frank Sinatra or Harry Connick Jr. - a true gem of a singer with velvety smooth vocal chords - and musician Smith has an amazing versatility on keyboards, horn, sax and clarinet. Their 10 original Christmas songs have an easy-going, mellow sound perfect for a laid-back holiday evening by the fireside or sitting around a table with lots of friends and Christmas libation.

Highlights of the evening included traditional standards of Christmas and three traditional non Christmas numbers, as well as the 10 original Christmas songs from the CD. CD songs, all hopeful future standards are: "When It's Christmas", "Song of Joy", the country inspired "Home for Christmas", "Oh Santa Claus", "What Do You Want This Year?" "It's Lonely at Christmas Without You", "Puttin' Up the Christmas Lights", conceived as a kids' song, "Let's Get the Christmas Tree"", a jaunty two-beat theatre song, their most recent endeavor "Sliding Down the Chimney to You" and the title song "You and Me on Christmas Eve". Christmas standards included: Andy Williams' favorite "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", "I'll Be Home for Christmas", "Sleigh Ride", Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Non Christmas tunes included: Timothy Grey and Hugh Martin's "You'd Better Love Me While You May", "On the Sunny Side of the Street" and Duke Ellington's "Lucky So and So". The style of the originals fit perfectly with the standards, and vice versa, making the entire 80-minute set memorably joyful.

The comraderie between Field and Smith was a delight, with Smith frequently interjecting little anecdotes about their compositions. Definitely the funnier of the two, Smith facetiously expressed his desire for global domination of the Christmas market and gave, as an example of success, Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song", which put four of his children through college. The Chip Smith quartet, Phil Small on piano, Doug Macaskill on guitar, Peter Marshall on bass and Tony Humecke on percussion blended unbelievably, enriching the entire experience for all.

This was a terrific evening of cabaret and I can't wait until Field and Smith return to perform selections from the Great American Songbook. In the meantime, visit
www.antony-field.com
to download selections and buy You and Me on Christmas Eve.