CHRISTMAS EXTRAORDINAIRE

Chip Davis has been yoking his electronic keyboard skills to Yuletide musical themes for enough years to have become a cottage industry, and his 2001 offering under the long-standing Mannheim Steamroller name, CHRISTMAS EXTRAORDINAIRE represents no dip in quality. Davis wisely plays to his huge, faithful audience's expectations by providing simple, straightforward instrumental versions of such well known Christmas classics as "Silver Bells," "Do You Hear What I Hear," and "White Christmas." The focus of the arrangements is, of course, Davis's own poignant, extremely melodic synthesizer work, neither as grand as the Yanni/Tesh school, nor as introspective as George Winston-style new-agers. While vocal tunes are in the minority in the Mannheim Steamroller catalog, pop icon Johnny Mathis does turn in a nice cameo on the old holiday chestnut "O Tannenbaum," adding an effective change of pace.