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Ayiesha Woods
Christmas Like This
Artist Info: Discography
Album length: 9 tracks: 31 minutes, 47 seconds
Street Date: November 10, 2009
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Each year, new Christmas music is wrapped up and packaged for music listeners' consideration for entry into their annual holiday
music rotation. Among the many new 2009 offerings is Gotee Records artist Ayiesha Woods with her very first Christmas
project, Christmas Like This. In an odd marketing move, Christmas Like This is an almost exclusively digital
release, which is unfortunate, and the only outlet to obtain physical disc copies to sell is the online retailer MusiChristian.
Christmas Like This is a soulful project that mixes a bit of motown, R&B, blues and jazz into a delightful
holiday package. "Merry Christmas Baby" kicks things off to set the tone for the album, giving previous covers of the
song from artists like the Four Tops and Lou Rawls a run for their money. A dancing piano melody, saxophone accents
and even some sleigh bells ringing behind the delicious, raspy leads from Woods help make "Walking In A Winter Wonderland" another standout track.
"Jingle Bells" utilizes a little scat flavor for added fun before Woods slows it down a bit for a lovely piano
ballad with a 50's doo wop flair in "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and then strikes up the motown with a rendition of
"Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" in the same vein as the Temptations. But following another piano ballad with "O Holy Night,"
Woods tosses a bit of a curve with a reggae take on the popular "Joy To The World." While Woods successfully transforms
the jubilant carol into a reggae tune, it sticks out a bit too much from the rest of what the album has to offer.
Without "Joy To The World," Christmas Like This flows quite wonderfully from track to track with a very
cohesive presentation, but instead, the song kind of throws off the groove, so to speak, of the rest of the record.
Woods gets right back on track, however, for a jazzy rendition of "This Christmas," and closes the half-hour project with a beautiful
piano ballad of "O Come All Ye Faithful," taking the album out on a worshipful note.
When all is said and done, Ayiesha Woods' first Christmas album is a festive and delightful solution for anyone looking
for some new tunes this Christmas season. While none of the nine tracks (there couldn't have been one more track to
make it a nice even ten?) are originals, Woods does pick a few gems that haven't been done to death, like "Merry Christmas
Baby," "This Christmas," and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," while delivering fresh renditions of some of
the most common ones. It's a great release and I personally look forward to listening to Christmas Like This
each holiday season when it comes time to breaking out the Christmas records once again!
- Review date: 11/10/09, written by John DiBiase of Jesusfreakhideout.com
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 Record Label: Gotee Records
Album length: 9 tracks: 31 minutes, 47 seconds
Street Date: November 10, 2009
Buy It: MusiChristian.com
Buy It: iTunes
Buy It: Amazon.com
- Merry Christmas Baby (3:00)
- Walking In A Winter Wonderland (2:53)
- Jingle Bells (3:04)
- Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (4:36)
- Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (3:55)
- O Holy Night (3:14)
- Joy To The World (4:03)
- This Christmas (4:06)
- O Come All Ye Faithful (3:00)
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