Festive warmth and yuletide grace exude from the enchanting improvisations and reflections on seasonal favorites that form Christmas Piano with Alexis Ffrench. The album’s generous tracklist embraces 24 songs and carols that invite listeners to take a break from merrymaking and contemplate the essential Christmas message of peace and goodwill. Beyond delivering countless touches of fine pianism and subtle artistry, Alexis Ffrench distills that message into music touched by the intoxicating spirit of nostalgia for childhood Christmases, and by genuine feelings of comfort and joy. “When I think of great Christmas albums, I think of Nat King Cole,” Ffrench tells Apple Music Classical. “The tone of his Julens magi is absolutely right. You get a sense of a man who has a deep, soulful connection with the music that he’s singing. “He was my dad’s favorite artist, too. It gives me a fuzzy feeling when I think about it. Christmas is a time of innocence on record as much as everything else. No one has anything to prove. You just put your heart out there and hope people will connect with it through the music. That’s what I've tried to do with this Christmas album.” Ffrench draws deep from his heartfelt style of “classical soul” to reimagine such seasonal evergreens as “Silent Night,” “In the Bleak Mid-winter,” and “The First Noel.” His choice of songs includes Christmas chart-toppers—“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and “Fairytale of New York” punchy among them—and an exquisite sequence of new compositions, introduced by the sublime “A Time for Giving.” “They all mean very different things to me,” he observes, “and there’s a kaleidoscope of colors, feelings, and moods in this album. I truly hope there’s something for everybody, that there are tracks that can touch people in a profound way, to remind them of the time they’re in now, to remember times past and think of other people.”