Christmas Special 2023: releases & upcoming holiday shows

This is the first annual Christmas special, where you and I take a fun look at the new seasonal music from our community. We've got:

• Two new tracks from Laila Biali (with one more coming next week)
• One from Nicky Schrire
• One from Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop
• One from Caity Gyorgy
• A full 'funky Christmas' album on Cellar from San Francisco artist Adam Shulman

Laila Biali

"Four Sundays to Christmas"

This weekend, it'll be four Sundays to Christmas! Biali's piano opening has Celtic trills as she brings in the great violinist Natalie MacMaster. Oh yeah, and there's a string arrangement bolstering her regular trio of bassist George Koller and drummer Ben Wittman. The groove switch in the middle is something. My Christmas playlists don't usually yearn for epic tracks like this, but your mileage may vary:

Belle nuit de Noël

Sung in French and played solo by Biali, recorded from home, this is my kind of Christmas track: soft and muted. There are a couple of sparkles, along with a piano comp that evokes Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" intro. Biali co-wrote the song with fellow Juno-award winning vocalist, Sonia Johnson – the Francophone contributed the lyrics:

Biali has one more in the can: "Joy to the World" on Dec 8 will be another big-budget affair.

Nicky Schrire

"Yuletide"

Pianist Chris Donnelly and bassist Dan Fortin reunite with Schrire from her recent album Nowhere Girl. The string arrangement weaves in and out of this inside-sounding mix; Schrire sounds cozied-up inside the windows she sings about, as opposed to the cover's snowy streetwalk. The two-violins and cello solo interlude cradles some Christmasy melodic bits just as Schrire's recognizable, clear voice does in the verses:

Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop

"Little Drummer Boy"

The drummer and jazz publicist's 2020 Juno-winning sextet turns probably my least favourite Christmas song into a vehicle for tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm's high-energy blowing. Alto saxophonist Tara Davidson delivers the melody in a barely-recognizable way, at high speed, at first just with Cervini's drums. The trombone, piano, and bass thicken it up before launch:

Caity Gyorgy

"Perfect Time of Year"

Gyorgy drops a nice new entry to the 'jazzy holiday songs' lineup right in the Ella Fitzgerald pocket. It's her first track with strings, prompted by Gyorgy's duo-mate Mark Limacher offering to arrange and record a string section for her back in the summer. Cedric Blary's clarinet solo is sweet atop Limacher's smooth arrangement. Returning her close collaborator's extra effort in style, Gyorgy animated the lyric video herself:

Adam Shulman

We Wish You A Funky Christmas

This is a full album, the American keyboardist Shulman's fourth record for Cellar. Shulman and company synth-up some holiday favourites into post-Head Hunters, post-souljazz, Vulfy fun jams. Jesse Levit plays mean alto as well as electronic wind instrument, the drumming is tight, and the bass is fat. From the organ-jazz quick closer on "Silent Night" to the 10+ minute slow jam on "Let it Snow," the disc could help you change up the holiday playlist as the month gets long:

Round 2

I added more music I found throughout the week, below for subscribers:

Chris Sigerson & Benjamin Sigerson

Snowdust

A full album by the local pianist Chris and his son. Chris wrote the music and lyrics for the standard-like "Snowdust" and "Snowy Path", as well as the instrumental featuring Chris Gestrin on melodica "A Dream it Seems".

Ben wrote the short hard bop instrumental/scat tune "Freezer Burn", where the dexterous bassist Darren Radtke trades off with drummer Dave Robbins; as well as the medium swing "Fits Like a Glove", the ballad "My Snowdust Love", and "This Time of Year" where he alone briefly accompanies Steve Maddock's voice.

Father and son, trading off on keyboards, lead an ensemble that backs up Maddock's powerful and reverberant vocals on those originals plus many carols and traditionals:

Hutchinson Andrew Trio

"Joy to the World (Live)"

Unlike their recent album The Senator - A Tribute To Tommy Banks – which has trumpet, tenor, and vocals across its tracklist – this is just the Albertan piano trio of Chris Andrew, Kodi Hutchinson, and Karl Schwonik. The arrangement comes out kind of like "In Your Own Sweet Way" and revs up into a Ray Brown / Oscar Peterson Trio-style medium swinger. The bass is boomy as you might expect it to be in a room to some extent, but it still all sounds solid. Barely seasonal, just swinging as they would be at any time of year:

Emilie-Claire Barlow

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

Accompanied by Toronto experts Kelly Jefferson, Reg Schwager, & Jon Maharaj, Barlow sings a straightforward take. The typical Christmas-jazz vocalist doesn't get the kind of juice out of every little diminished chord that these fine folks do. Only Jefferson gets a solo in the tight arrangement. A bit of fun in the ending tag! The track is mixed for radio excellence and is out now on Barlow's Bandcamp in advance of its full release on December 15th:

What did you enjoy most?

Did I miss any releases that should be in here?

More holiday-themed shows this month

Only events that aren't sold out & still upcoming

Wed, Dec 13

• 8:00 PM - Brentwood Presbyterian Church, Jazz Evensong ft. We Three Queens w/ Jennifer Scott, Karin Plato, & Kate Hammett-Vaughan (by donation)

Fri, Dec 15

• 7:00 PM - Brentwood Presbyterian Church, The Shorties Christmas Concert w/ Kaya Kurz, Cindy Dai-Thiessen, & Sydney Tough ($11.98)
• 7:30 PM - Trinity-Grace United Church, Christmas Jazz ft. Quintessential Jazz (by donation)

Sat, Dec 16

• 7:30 PM - Inlet Theatre, Laila Biali Wintersongs and Holiday Classics w/ Jane Bunnett, Rebekah Wolkstein, Katrina Chitty, Dan Fortin, & Ben Wittman ($40.54)
• 8:00 PM - Surrey City Hall Centre Stage, O Come All Ye Soulful ft. Dawn Pemberton, Jodi Proznick, Vince Mai, Tilden Webb, Nicholas Bracewell, & James Danderfer (sold out)

Sun, Dec 17

• 1:00 PM - Hero’s Welcome, Jazz Feeds Vancouver ft. Jodi Proznick’s Holiday Hootenanny ($5)
• 8:00 PM - Rogue Folk Club, Van Django's Cool Yule w/ Cameron Wilson, Finn Manniche, Brent Gubbels, LJ Mounteney, & Andy Hillhouse ($28)

Wed, Dec 20

• 2:00 PM - West Vancouver Memorial Library, Sam Davidson's Ambient Electronic Clarinet Christmas (FREE)
• 8:00 PM - Brentwood Presbyterian Church, Jazz Evensong ft. Ilhan Saferali Trio plays the music of A Charlie Brown Christmas, w/ Riley Dibble & Ben Boardman (by donation)

Thu, Dec 21

• 7:00 PM - Brentwood Presbyterian Church, Chelsea McBride - Thomas Houlden Holiday Concert ($21.97)
• 8:30 PM - St. Michael’s Hall, Rhythm City Productions presents holiday party ft. Josh Roberts Hot Five ($18)

Sun, Dec 24

• 4:00 PM - St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, Jazz Vespers ft. We Three Queens (by donation)