For the first time in many years, I’m not doing a big round-up of all the new holiday music albums. But I am going to pluck three of my favorite discs out of this year’s batch and review ’em.

This is FRESH AIR. We're going to remember Dan Hicks, who died of liver cancer Saturday. He was 74. He was a singer-songwriter and leader of the band Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, which he formed in ...

(Surfdog, 2009): Hicks was the ultimate hipster when he launched his recording career back in the ’70s with a unique blend of acoustic swing and Gypsy jazz that was at once nostalgic and surreal.