Serena Ryder’s 2018 Christmas album had an unusual path.

The Toronto-based singer-songwriter has amassed an impressive canon of work since her early days as a precocious powerhouse singer known for adding soulful grit and grace to her folk and pop-rock sounds. But she had always wanted to make a jazz album. Ever since she was a child growing up in the small town of Millbrook, Ont., she listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan.

Enter Bob Ezrin, the iconic rock producer known for his work in the 1970s that included the early albums of Alice Cooper, Peter Gabriel’s debut solo album, KISS’s Destroyer and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. They had never met before, but it turns out he is a fan of Ryder’s and asked her if she wanted to make a Christmas album of all things.

“I was like, ‘Can we do a

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