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The live recording really captures the warmth of that hotel performance—you can almost hear the crowd settling in as the quintet starts Tchaikovsky's themes with a jazz twist.

The piano and bass interplay on the slower tracks is gorgeous, especially the Nutcracker melodies reworked into a jazz quintet setting. I put it on while wrapping gifts and ended up just sitting there listening instead.

This has become my default holiday dinner soundtrack since November. The quintet's take on the Nutcracker suites swings in a way I didn't expect, and knowing it was recorded live at that Boulder hotel makes the room feel real.