An Alternative Holiday Playlist

Remember the old “Saturday Night Live” parody of the “60 Minutes” Point/Counterpoint debate, the one remembered for the line “Jane, you ignorant slut”? Things didn’t get that heated on the December 3, 2021, edition of WBGO’s excellent “Jazz United” podcast, but co-hosts Nate Chinen and Greg Bryant revealed a definite difference of opinion in their discussion of holiday jazz. Nate is a self-described “Will Farrell elf” where holiday jazz is concerned while Greg Bryant is an unapologetic Grinch.

I’m with Bryant all the way—and maybe a bit further. Growing up in a retail family, December was the most stressful time of the year, certainly at work and inevitably at home, too. And I’ve never quite shaken the sentiment. Most years, all I want for Christmas is for it to be over. So, there will be no sleigh bells jingling, ring-ting-tingling too for me at this time of year, but that needn’t stop the music.

I’ve heard some non-holiday jazz and jazz-adjacent music from recent releases that can form an alternative playlist for the holiday averse this December. Maybe you have a few suggestions of your own.

Jacqueline Kerrod – “December 1: Trill to Begin” [17 Days in December (Orenda, 2021)]

Having established my Blue Christmas bona fides, let me cop to a love of the strange, minor-key French noëls and spooky Christmas songs of the British Isles that seem to have their roots in the pre-Christian winter solstice rites. Harpist Jacqueline Kerrod surely knows this material and the opening selection from her new solo CD, 17 Days in December evokes the chill and stillness of the bleak midwinter as effectively as any ancient modal carol might—and also the awe and wonder of Christmas. While you’re listening, check out the recent interview with Kerrod by PostGenre editor Rob Shepherd.

Benny Benack III with the Steven Feifke Big Band – “I Have A Little Dreidel… (Gambling Problem)” [Season’s Swingin’ Greetings (Cellar Music Group, 2021)]

On Season’s Swingin’ Greetings, trumpeter and vocalist Benny Benack III and Steven Feifke’s Big Band spin the beloved Hanukkah song into a gambler’s tale out of a Yiddish theater production of “Guys and Dolls.” Benack III delivers the goods with wry, finger-snapping insouciance while Feifke’s arrangement has the bite and snap of a classic Sinatra-era Billy May chart. If you like your silver bells with a side of ring-a-ding-ding, this might be your thing.

Sara Serpa – “How Do You Know Where to Go?” [Intimate Strangers (Biophilia, 2021)]

Intimate Strangers is a setting by vocalist-composer Sara Serpa of passages from Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma’s 2018 book, “A Stranger’s Pose.” It’s a travelogue, diary and oral history project that documents stories of migration and dislocation on the African continent. There’s nothing Christmas-y about it, but you can’t hear “How Do You Know Where to Go?” without remembering that the Christmas story is also that of a refugee family and forced resettlement.

https://saraserpa.bandcamp.com/track/how-do-you-know-where-to-go

Joe Fiedler – “I Love Trash” [Fuzzy and Blue (Multiphonics Music, 2021)]

This capsule review is brought to you by the letter “C.” In the context of this piece, C is for Christmas, but C is also for cookie, and that’s one of the delightful songs on trombonist Joe Fiedler’s new release, Fuzzy And Blue. Fiedler is the music director of “Sesame Street” and like that much-loved program, his arrangements of 13 “Sesame Street” songs have something to delight both kids and adults. Saxophonist Jeff Lederer, who knows this territory from his work with Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O, and trumpeter Steven Bernstein join the leader in a front line that keeps things loose and fun without lapsing into schtick. Whether you grew up as a “Sesame Street” kid or watched with your own, as I did, you’ll find the urge to sing along impossible to resist. C is for children, too, and that’s good enough for me.

Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra – Movements 1 through 9 [Promises (Luakabop, 2021)]

Until the bombshell of the rediscovered John Coltrane A Love Supreme dropped, Promises, Pharaoh Sanders’ collaboration with the British musician known as Floating Points, was the most talked-about release of the year. I’ll leave the question of whether this is or isn’t jazz to others. All I know is that in the chill Great Lakes air of my pre-dawn walk this morning, this music sounded like a most appropriate response to the carol that beseeches, “Sing choir of angels, Sing in exaltation.”

All five albums noted above can be purchased on Bandcamp through the links provided.