Time to get merry — and jazzy, too @ Proctors, UPH

“It’s a Jazzy Christmas” will celebrate the season twice, first on Dec. 15 at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs, then on Dec. 16 at the GE Theatre at Proctors  in Schenectady.

Jazz players have celebrated and improvised on Christmas tunes since jazz was invented, but pianist-composer Vince Guaraldi’s music for the Peanuts holiday specials made Christmas-y jazz mainstream.
It also inspired “It’s a Jazzy Christmas” 14 years ago.

That’s when Sal Prizio, then-chief of the Massry Center at The College of Saint Rose, invited pianist-bandleader David Gleason to collaborate in a Guaraldi-based holiday show.

“He approached me with the idea of doing a concert of Vince Guaraldi music wrapped in the guise of a live, old-time radio show,” Gleason explained.

Gleason rebranded his Art D’Echo trio — bassist Mike Lawrence, drummer Pete Sweeney — as the Peanut Gallery Jazz Band for the holiday revue. Over time, “We have added a horn section of the finest jazz players in our area,” said Gleason, including trumpeter Chris Pasin; Brian Patneaude playing tenor saxophone and bass clarinet; and trombonist Ben O’Shea. Hannah Amigo as this year’s guest vocalist, and Mike McCord is the show’s radio host and narrator, expanding Prizio’s original script with new humorous bits.

As musical director, Gleason first adapted Guaraldi’s tunes to the Art D’Echo trio’s style but soon went further. He applied Oscar Peterson’s prolific style to “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” and made a rhapsody of “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel.” Adding horns and singers expanded the possibilities — “Jingle Bells” as a mambo and “The Grinch” theme as a bass-clef rumble, for example — while standard holiday vocal numbers got new keys and arrangements.

“Each year we add something new,” said Gleason.

“It’s more than just ‘jazzy,’ ” Gleason added. “It’s actual jazz … with plenty of room to stretch out. We have full choruses of improvised solos and each of the horn players has a feature. Each of those features draws inspiration from jazz greats including a Coltrane-esque version of ‘We Three Kings’ that Chris Pasin developed.”

Looking back, Gleason recalled, “Like most young musicians I poked around at Christmas music every December.” A self-taught pianist at first, he mastered “Jingle Bells” and other simple holiday tunes on his own. Piano lessons developed both skill and appreciation.

“I remember learning to play the original version of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ from the printed sheet music from [the film] ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ for a winter piano recital,” Gleason said. He found the harmonies and chord voicings of Christmas tunes inspiring, resonating with the big-band jazz origins of 1940s popular songs. And yes, they play “‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” in “It’s a Jazzy Christmas” — as a vocal and piano duet, “as if we were around a family piano on Christmas Eve,” he said.

During its 14 years, “It’s a Jazzy Christmas” moved from the Massry Center at St. Rose to Proctors, went on the road one winter to Old Forge and even accompanied dinner at the Rivers Casino.

“In the last few years there has been plenty of interest among concertgoers,” said Gleason, “and we’ve performed for full houses at Proctors and at the UPH [Universal Preservation Hall]  in Saratoga.”

The Proctors Collaborative presents “It’s a Jazzy Christmas” on Dec. 15 at Universal Preservation Hall (atuph.org/event/its-a-jazzy-christmas/) and Saturday at the GE Theatre at Proctors (atproctors.org/event/its-a-jazzy-christmas-3/).

Both shows are at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $30 for adults and $10 for children 17 and under. Reach the box office at 518-346-6204.

Michael Hochanadel is a Nippertown contributor.