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Christmas carols and classics receive hip jazz arrangements on the John Mahoney Big Band’s gift for the season, Christmas Joy. Anyone who has experienced this ensemble would expect nothing less from the trombonist, bandleader, composer, arranger and music professor at Loyola University. Here, as always, he utilizes some of the city’s finest musicians such as saxophonists Ray Moore and Tony Dagradi, trumpeter Bobby Campo, trombonists Rick Trolsen and Jeff Albert bassist Jesse Boyd and his son, David Mahoney, on drums to name a few. The most obvious departure is that Mahoney usually digs into original material while here he leads the some 20-piece group performing familiar material.
“Joy to the World” receives big-band flavor with Mahoney’s signature modern arrangements and solos by baritonist Jason Mingledorff and the leader himself. This is a toe-tapping tune that, except for references to the classic Christmas melody, would be fine listening any time of the year.
The bass opens “Silent Night” and plays a major role in creating the softly quiet atmosphere of the carol. Pianist Meghan Swartz’s tasty light interjections reenforce the mood Boyd creates. For the most part, the horns provide simply a fluffy cloud as a base.
Saxophonist Dagradi, of Astral Project fame, boasts such an identifiable sound that he’s at once recognizable as the soloist on another swinger, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” Like “Joy to the World,” this tune is just good jazz. With some slippery slidin’, trombonist Trolsen brings humor to the lighthearted fare.
Perhaps less familiar to many are two cuts, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming.” They also both display unusual and rather surprising arrangements that take them far from their opening notes. “O Come” begins with a chorus singing the lyrics. “I envisioned a chapel full of monks chanting this old tune,” Mahoney writes in the liner notes. It then becomes much more rhythmically diverse particularly with the addition of percussionist Michael Skinkus. He also plays a significant part in the evolution of “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming” that begins like a ballad before transforming into a bolero.
Christmas Joy welcomes the spirit of the holiday by wrapping it with the sparkle of improvised jazz.
Terrific Team
Clarinetist Orange Kellin once described his involvement with Vernel Bagneris’ wildly successful “One ‘Mo Time” as a “life changing experience.” As the musical director, the Swedish-born clarinetist worked hand in had with producer/director/actor Bagneris as the musical moved from New Orleans to New York and abroad. Through the decades, the two have continued to work together and will be heard at Snug Harbor on Friday, December 4, 2009, with Bagneris as the featured vocalist with Orange Kellin’s Blue Serenaders. The band includes trumpeter Duke Heitger, bassist Kerry Lewis, pianist Steve Pistorious and drummer Frank Oxley.
“We’re going to do some good old stuff from the ‘20s and ‘30s,” Kellin promises. With Bagneris on the gig, that naturally means a healthy taste of Jelly Roll Morton. Bagneris, multi-faceted song and dance man, won praise and awards for his off-Broadway hit, “Jelly Roll” on which he evoked Morton’s spirit in stories and song. “I just stuck with his truth and his words,” says Bagneris of its success.
For the last 16 years, Bagneris has been heard celebrating Jelly Roll and other New Orleans musicians including Bunk Johnson and Danny Baker on a Public Radio International broadcast, “Live from the Landing.” He’s recently started to incorporate a bit about Jelly Roll’s wife, Mabel, and has included the song “Why?” in his repertoire. He plans to perform that number at Friday night’s performance as well as material from Fats Waller.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
For Kids from One to 92
There are a limited number of recordings that can truly satisfy youngsters and their elders. Los Lobos Goes Disney can be added to the list. Los Lobos, the Grammy-winning, hugely talented band from East Los Angeles, which instinctively combined their Chicano roots with rock ‘n roll to release such classics as Will the Wolf Survive?, boasts the instrumental chops and vocal harmonies to please discriminating music lovers. These guys are all aces from the beauty of the guitar, accordion and vocals of David Hidalgo to the edginess of guitarist/vocalist Cesar Rosas.
Los Lobos has always brought spunk and spirit to their music – two elements that just work great when the band playfully attacks material gathered from several Walt Disney movies. The kids know the films like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “The Jungle Book,” and “Toy Story” and they know the songs.
Young and old alike can get their mojos workin’ on lively numbers including a rambunctious “Heigh-Ho,” the fun loving “I Wan’na Be Like You” and the tropical sway of “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room.” “Grim Grinning Ghosts” goes reggae while “Cruella De Vil” from “101 Dalmatians” is touched with swing.
When it’s time for a bit of a rest, there are quiet moments too. “I Will Go Sailing No More” from “Toy Story” relies primarily on just guitar and vocals. The usually finger snapping, happy-go-lucky “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” from 1946’s “Song of the South” has a laid-back rhythm and feel.
As might be expected, the album ends with the Disney signature song “When You Wish Upon A Star.” Unexpectedly, however, it is raved up and done instrumentally — a fun and different way to hear it. The tune then segues into a Tex-Mex polka version of “It’s a Small World.”
Kids from one to 92 can share the pleasure and a dance when Los Lobos Goes Disney.
This article was originally published in the November 30, 2009 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
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