Harumi Nomoto: I’ll Be Home for Christmas

Dec 21, 2025

The 2023 release I’ll Be Home for Christmas is a pleasant holiday collection of seasonal music from Japanese pianist Harumi Nomoto. The 31-minute album is an unexpected departure from her usual releases, as her previous three trio albums are filled with her unique style of contemporary jazz, J Jazz, and various world genre influences that add interesting layers to straight-ahead trio music.

In contrast to her signature Harumi Nomoto sound, this holiday release offers shorter, simpler, and sincerely played versions of traditional Christmas carols, hymns, pop Christmas tunes, classical whimsy, and modern pieces. Whereas her trio albums have been filled with Nomoto’s original material, only one of her original pieces appears here, tying up the album as a set closer like a ribbon on a wrapped present.

Nomoto’s piano performance fills the album with her sensitive solo playing. On a few songs, she overlays her acoustic piano with a synth: an Nord electric keyboard layers a soft choir-like organ on track #1 “O Little Town of Bethlehem” for a holy effect, and #4 “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker has synth organ bells taking center stage for a sweetly dark atmosphere. Patient, precise, yet flexible and full of feeling, it’s all as warm and comfortable as a tranquil holiday fireplace setting.

In addition to traditional carols and Christmas classics, Nomoto also plays a few pop- and jazz-aligned tunes. John Lennon’s #9 “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is always popular in Japan at this time of year and gets a friendly, gospel-y solo piano treatment. Similarly, #6 “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” is another iconic and nostalgic instrumental theme in Japan, originating from the 1983 Japanese film and soundtrack of the same name, and it is often featured in Christmas playlists despite its not being written specifically as a holiday song. #2 “Blue Christmas” is a groovy rock-and-roll country song that Elvis sung and made more popular. Perhaps the song here with the deepest jazz credentials is track #8, “A Merrier Christmas”, a rare, unrecorded holiday piece written by Thelonious Monk for his family.

Cheery and cozy, the spirit of jazz piano comes through each song on this album. The relatively short takes make it a quick one, too, and even those who may normally avoid jazzy Christmas albums will sense that, while I’ll Be Home For Christmas promises that tender reunion, it humbly does not overstay its welcome. Finally, the last song, Nomoto’s original composition “Snow Melts”, is a bittersweet parting, and its introspective mood recalls the promised closeness at the end of the year, charming as a hug, and something to look forward to again, someday.