Jim Wilson

Remember Clark Griswold’s yuppie neighbors Todd and Margo in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the uptight antithesis of Clark’s über-holiday spirit? Smooth jazz pianist Jim Wilson’s My First Christmas With You is an album just for them. With images of John Tesh and charcoal turtlenecks dancing in his head, Wilson dresses traditional carols and newer standards in a glossy sheen of synthetic strings, from the disc’s opener “Doxology/Little Drummer Boy” to a sadly sterilized rendition of the Joni Mitchell winter classic “River.” In the end, Wilson’s offering is like a modest-sized faux Christmas tree: artificial, unobtrusive and sure not to leave any permanent marks after the holidays.