Lifetime Intimate Portraits: Christmas Belles

Christmas Belles is stocked with the crooning, caroling, and scatting of Garland, Fitzgerald, London, Horne, Clooney, Vaughan, Kitt, and others. Although these singers' last names are as memorable as the names of Santa's reindeer, their careers obviously transcend the holiday genre of music. Featuring some of America's primary female vocalists, from pop to jazz, this rich, 14-track sampler seldom disappoints. There's Ella Fitzgerald's lovably upbeat "Sleigh Ride," and Judy Garland's romantically melancholy "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," seemingly written just for her. There is so much enjoyable singing on Christmas Belles, in fact, that by the time you reach Sarah Vaughan's lushly orchestrated "Snowbound," you're left wanting to hear more and more from these timeless beauties. --Martin Keller