It's quite a miraculous fleet: after 57 years, Johnny Mathis is still on the same major label that first launched his career. He is currently the only 78 year-old on Columbia Records' sharing the same roster as Nine Inch Nails, St. Lucia and Beyonce. And while many of his peers are already in their rocking chairs, this septuagenarian has just released his brand new Christmas record "Sending You a Little Christmas." Just in case you are wondering, this is his seventh festive offering starting off with "Merry Christmas" (1958), "The Sound of Christmas" (1963), "Give Me Your Love for Christmas" (1969), "For Christmas" (1984), "Christmas Eve With Johnny Mathis" (1986) and "The Christmas Album" (2002). One of the reasons for the longevity of Mathis' almost six-decade career is that you can always count on him to deliver his patented style of love songs. Against a backdrop of rock music, Mathis has had never been threatened to compromise. Never resorting to crackle with the latest guitar riffs or the trendiest beats, Mathis has always allowed his identifiable tremulous tenor to carry each and every of his record.

Teaming up again with producer Fred Mollin (Jimmy Webb, Billy Ray Cyrus & Barbra Streisand) who has worked with Mathis on his last album "Let It Be Me: Mathis in Nashville," "Sending You a Christmas" is the best amongst Mathis' canon of Christmas offerings. On this record, there are two major departures relative to his preceding seasonal album "The Christmas Album." First, while "The Christmas Album" was very much a solo effort, this time around Mathis has surrounded himself with distinguished vocals. Flown in to contribute to the microphone are established stars like Billy Joel, Natalie Cole, Gloria Estefan and the Jordanaires. Also included in the alignment are British singing sensation Susan Boyle, country crooner Vince Gill and his contemporary Christian singer wife Amy Grant. Second, while his 2002 Christmas album contains of entirely traditional and jazz favorites, this time around there are three new songs amongst the regular Yuletide tunes.

Let's start with the newer songs first. Featuring the magic touches of Jim Brickman on the ivory keys is the title track, "Sending You A Little Christmas" was a no.1 AC hit for Brickman and Kristy Starling a few years ago. "Some gingerbread, a candy cane/A stocking I made with your name/I filled it with your favorite things," so croons Mathias. Christmas doesn't get more romantic than this. Romance gets top billing again on the 80s sounding string-laden ballad "Decorate the Night." While the bilingual "This is a Time for Love" sonically puts us back in a time warp back into the days where pop ballads have melodies that transcend through time and where words resonate with poetic elegance. While Mathias has a languorous tendency in his phrasing, Billy Joel who is more urgent in his elocution provides a complementary contrast that brings out the different ways people yearn for Christmas in "The Christmas Song."

Natalie Cole who has also made a career out of singing love ballads is quite at home in joining Mathis on "Have Yourself a Merry Christmas." Gloria Estefan, on the other hand, is to be applauded for taking some risk in singing tangentially to Mathias on the Biblically based "Mary's Boy Child." While Amy Grant's breathy vocals is a standout on her collaboration with hubby Vince Gill and Mathis on the medley "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "White Christmas." If seven is to be a favored number, Mathis' seventh Christmas offering "Sending You A Little Christmas" is indeed a favored record. Not only does it nostalgically brings us back to all the beauty of the season, it is also heart-tuggingly beautiful layered with the soft gauze of Mathis unctuous vocal prowess.