Événement

Soli Deo Gloria A Jazzy Little Christmas

A Jazzy Little Christmas will put a festive spring in your step. You'll enjoy newly arranged Christmas carols by Bob Chilcott, Michele Weir and, our own artistic director, Allen H. Simon. In addition to Chilcott's A Little Jazz Mass, you'll listen to the melodic tones of the Dan Zemelman Trio! This evening is sure to begin your holiday season on an uplifting note!

Notes from Artistic Director Allen Simon:

I've been performing and arranging jazz for my 5-singer ensemble The San Andreas Singers for many years, but I've always steered away from it from Soli Deo Gloria, mostly because of our commitment to sacred music. The best-known jazz Christmas songs White Christmas, Chestnuts Roasting, Silver Bells, Sleigh Ride, and so on are all secular. But this year I finally decided to bite the bullet and just write arrangements of God Rest Ye Merry, Angels We Have Heard, We Three Kings, and many other familiar carols; plus I hand-picked a few versions by other arrangers which stood out as the excellent quality you've all come to expect from SDG.

You may never hear some of these songs in the same way again. Once you've heard "O Holy Night" with a Latin rhythm, or "Silent Night" as a jazz waltz, or "Away in a Manger" with a walking bass, the memory of those versions will give you a smile every time you hear the conventional version in the supermarket background. In fact, it might buoy up your entire December.

The name "A Jazzy Little Chistmas" is a combination of two titles from the program: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from the musical "Meet Me in St. Louis"; and "A Little Jazz Mass" by English composer Bob Chilcott. Using the traditional Latin words of the Mass, Chilcott uses jazz musical language to create a kind of classical/jazz hybrid along the lines of Gershwin. Chilcott has become one our favorite composers at SDG and we've sung many of his compositions over the years, and I'm sure you'll enjoy this one.

We'll be joined in the performance by pianist Dan Zemelman, bassist Mike Bordelon, and drummer Greg Wyser-Pratte.