Jewel Joy: A Holiday Collection CD

This is an Enhanced audio CD, which contains regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Personnel includes: Jewel, Nedra Carroll (vocals); Chieli Minucci (acoustic & electric guitars); Ira Siegel, Danny Blume, Michael O'Reilly, Peter Bliss (guitar); Larry Campbell (pedal steel guitar); Dennis Cinelli (lute); Robbie Kondar (piano, keyboards, programming); Leon Pendarvis (piano); Joe Mardin (keyboards, programming, background vocals); Steve Skinner (keyboards, programming); Jerry Barnes, Winston Roye, Wayne Pedswater (bass); Shawn Pelton, Sterling Campbell (drums); Willie Martinez (percussion).
Recorded at Right Track Recording and Sound On Sound, New York, New York.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.
This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.
Personnel: Jewel (vocals); Nedra Carroll (vocals); Chieli Minucci, Ira Siegel, Michael O'Reilly, Peter Bliss, Danny Blume (guitar); Dennis Cinelli (lute); Robbie Kondor (piano, keyboards, programming); Leon Pendarvis (piano); Joe Mardin, Steve Skinner (keyboards, programming); John Mahoney, Arif Mardin, Lee Musiker (keyboards); Sterling Campbell, Shawn Pelton (drums); Willie Martinez (percussion); Mary Lee Kortes, Sophia Ramos, Valerie Wilson (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Michael O'Reilly.
Recording information: Right Track Recording, NY, NY; Sound On Sound Studios, NY, NY.
Illustrator: Rob Eberhardt.
Photographers: West Kennerly; Jennifer Baumann.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Elizabeth Stockton; Andre Baranowski.
Arrangers: Joe Mardin; Arif Mardin; Steve Skinner; Robbie Kondor; Lee Musiker.
Joy: A Holiday Collection may surprise some Jewel fans, since it isn't a warm, intimate acoustic album. Then again, it may not, since it arrives on the heels of the exquisitely produced, unabashedly pop Spirit, which had lush musical backdrops for her folk-pop tunes. Joy is a full-bodied expansion of Spirit, however -- an unashamed classicist Christmas album, featuring all of the usual carols delivered with strings and choirs. Because Jewel has a big, powerful, attractive voice, Joy works, even if it is a little too predictable for its own good -- the closing "Christmas Version" of "Hands" is the only true signal, musically at least, that this is a Jewel number. Surely, this holiday album isn't a major addition to her catalog, but for hardcore fans, it may be a nice stocking stuffer. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Though it contains only three compositions penned by the singer, Jewel's yuletide album JOY: A HOLIDAY COLLECTION still manages to sound like a wholly original set of songs. This is due in large part to the singer's ability to modulate the texture of her voice, a technique that she will occasionally call upon several times within the space of a single song.
One example is Jewel's country-flavored rendering of "Winter Wonderland," which benefits from pedal steel guitar and a shuffling, rootsy beat. Jewel blends a light scat/yodeling melange, sultry and plummy diva-like crooning, and an airy and wispy vocal timbre not far from that of Dolly Parton. The more straightforward "Joy to the Word" benefits from warm strings and a piquant, well-placed lute. As one might expect, the take on "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a jocular affair, as Jewel mixes her sprightly vocal part amongst a bevy of choir voices. Jewel originals include the Latin-sung "Gloria" and a special Christmas version of the uplifting "Hands," a track that originally appeared on her SPIRIT album. As the song suggests, in Jewel's world, "only kindness matters."

Live Recording

CMJ (12/20/99, p.27) - "...includes both classics and original music....[She] allows her voice to soar with the kind of strength we've come to recognize as her signature."