Pediatrician and singer-songwriter Paul Rossy, joined by the Sunset Hill Jazz Band, introduces his first Christmas album: Montreal Winter Suite.

This second album from New York-based The Hot Sardines features music first made famous decades ago, reinvented and brought to life by the group's brassy horn arrangements, rollicking piano melodies and vocals from a chanteuse who evokes a different era with the mere lilt of her voice.

Bandleader Evan Bibs Palazzo and lead singer Miz Elizabeth combine with the Sardine ensemble of powerhouse musicians and their very own tap dancer to play hot jazz as it was in the era when live music was king…with a little glamour, a little grit, and a lot of passion. Even while giving voice to the history-defining jazz of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the Hot Sardines vibrant performances bridge generations and captivate 21st century audiences.

As a friend and student of Albert Mangelsdorff, Lucas Heidepriem became the hope of the German jazz trombone at a young age. A lip disease forced him to give up his trombone career in 1993. Heidepriem retired from the jazz scene and began 12 years of classical piano training with Erik Siefert at the Freiburg University of Music. His contemplative piano playing caused a sensation and astonished the professional world after his CD releases (Lucas Heidepriem Trio Next Return and Silence in Motion Lucas Heidepriem Trio with Peter Erskine). New to the trio is the son Michael Heidepriem on drums, a recent Masters graduate with distinction at the Jazz Campus Basel.