3 Ships - Reviews

I'm sure Steve Barta rolls his eyes every time he hears his music described as mellow. Sorry, Steve. In this instance, his soft touch serves up a jazzy new Christmas record. From the opening Caroling, Caroling through the first half of the CD, he plays improvisational counterpoint to Kim Stone's effective jazz bass line. Later on, he relaxes into his more measured and classical groove, creating a foundation for the other instrumentalists he has chosen to enrich this latest winter offering--a string orchestra and flutes, primarily. But whether jazzing it up (It Looks Like December, for example) or playing bona fide classics (Ave Maria), his music is accessible and soothing. Accessible in its ability to be jazzy without all those bitter scales of interest only to hard core jazzers, and gently soothing, without ever becoming translucently ambient or cloyingly ethereal.

What Barta does best is present music with a steady hand, in a manner palatable to garden variety listeners. It is comfortably straightforward evening music which has the heart and complexity to work well in the foreground but whose content and style still has some affinity for the quiet background.

Review by www.ChristmasReviews.com