Since before Thanksgiving, seasonal music has filled every mall, store or restaurant. Those songs work best live, however, in our annual parade of Nutcracker ballets, Slambovian rockers, cosmic and comic McKrells, Melodies of Christmas, jazzy improvisation, world music hybrids and church choirs.

O Holy Night

Poster provided

Seasonal music natually happens in churches – including St. Luke’s (1235 State St., Schenectady) Friday at 7 p.m. when our own ambitious oratorio composer and church music leader Maria Riccio Bryce directs “O Holy Night,” featuring the acoustic classical-jazz chamber ensemble Musicians of Ma’awyck. She’s a master of organizing large musical resources – orchestras and choirs – into impressive sound. Admission is free, though donations are welcome, to maintain the church and community center. 

Of Course, It’s A Jazzy Christmas

It’s A Jazzy Christmas will likely be sold out Friday at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs by the time you see this. So let’s look at their second show, Saturday at Proctors GE Theatre (432 State St., Schenectady).

Area jazz stars gang up on seasonal faves, interpreting, improvising and refreshing tunes we’ve all heard 20,000 times. New this year is host/MC Bill Levering, who’s long filled that role at Sunday Jazz Vespers at Schenectady’s First Reformed Church.

Dave Gleason, seen here onstage in last year’s It’s A Jazzy Christmas at Proctors GE Theatre, where the all-star holiday celebration returns Saturday

With this addition, the performers are the same jazz veterans as in past years. Dave Gleason plays piano, leads the band and contributes many of the arrangements, with Mike Lawrence, bass; Pete Sweeney, drums; Brian Patneaude, tenor saxophone and bass clarinet; Ben O’Shea, trombone; Chris Pasin, trumpet; and Hannah Amigo, vocals. Gleason, Lawrence and Sweeney also comprise the Art D’echo Trio; and the players mix and match in various other bands.

It’s a Jazzy Christmas, last year at Proctors GE Theatre; from left: Dave Gleason, piano; Hannah Amigo, vocals; Brian Patneaude, tenor saxophone; Mike Lawrence, bass; Chris Pasin, trumpet; Pete Sweeney, drums (obscured behind) Ben O’Shea, trombone

Gleason sees holiday music looking backward and forward. “We used to listen to the Lou Rawls/ Lena Horne Christmas album when I was a kid,” he said Monday. “Lou Rawls has a great version of ‘The Christmas Song,’ and I remember liking Lena Horne’s ‘Winter Wonderland.’” He said, “A one-handed ‘Silent Night’ was one of the first things I learned to play on the piano.” To this day, he plays “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from the same sheet music he followed in an early holiday recital.

Keeping things fresh “has to do with the unique arrangements that I created for the show like the ‘Jingle Bells Mambo’ or our deep gospel version of ‘O Holy Night,’” said Gleason. “The improvisations change each year as we come back to the material, especially since we’ve been practicing and listening to different things. For example, in the last few months, I’ve been studying and practicing a lot of Chick Corea and that’s inevitably going to work its way into the show a little bit this year when I play.”

The show evolves through Gleason’s arrangements and individual improvisation, but they don’t play originals, yet… “I do have one original Christmas song that I wrote with my daughter called ‘Don’t Tickle The Reindeer,’” Gleason said. “I’m saving it ‘til she can perform it with us.” This year, she’s otherwise engaged; singing with Melodies of Christmas on the same nights as It’s a Jazz Christmas.

“We’ve lost count of the years that we’ve done this,” Gleason said. “It has to be more than 15 now; and every year is a little different and every year is a little bit of the same. That’s the magic blend that keeps it going!”

It’s a Jazz Christmas plays Proctors GE Theatre Saturday. 7:30 p.m. $30 adults, $15 children 17 and under. 518-346-6204 www.proctors.org

Sing Solstice!

The next night, Sunday, the Eighth Step at Proctors presents its holiday show Sing Solstice! in the same Schenectady venue.

Like It’s A Jazzy Christmas, this annual celebration offers fresh elements among familiar attractions.

It features Magpie (Terry Leonino and Greg Artzner) and Kim and Reggie Harris; both couples are musical and life partners. However, Reggie is still recovering from a late-2023 health crisis on tour in Austria. Hospitalized there, then in Albany, he’s recovered from subsequent complications and will join the celebration remotely, by video. So will Minnesota-based folksinger-songwriter Matt Watroba, who organized a funding effort to defray Reggie Harris’s medical expenses.

Magpie. All Sing Sostice! photos provided

Kim Harris, above; Reggie Harris, below

Joe Bruchac, above; Matt Watroba, below

New to the Sing Solstice! roster are both Watroba and Joseph Bruchac. Raised by his Abenaki grandparents in the Adirondack foothills, Bruchac is a widely respected and prolific writer, musician and guardian of traditions. He was one of many area folk performers who participated in Caffe Lena’s poignant celebration of the life of longtime Caffe audio engineer and multi-Grammy winner Joel Moss. The Pokingbrook Morris Dancers, costumed and playing vintage instruments, will open the show, performing the ancient Abbots Bromley Horn Dance from Britain’s Cotswold region. 

Sing Solstice! plays Sunday, Dec. 21 at the Eighth Step at Proctors (GE Theatre). 7 p.m. $28 advance, $30 general, $45 front and center. 518-474-1703 www.8thstep.org or www.proctors.org. This coincides with the Eighth Step’s End-of-Year Giving, at www.8thstep.org/donate.

Eclectic, Indeed

Maria Zemantauski, above; Elizabeth Woodbury Kasius, below. Both are shown on Proctors Main Stage in a Music Haven presentation in August.

Also Sunday, Caffe Lena presents longtime onstage regulars Elizabeth Woodbury Kasius & Maria Zemantauski & Friends in an Eclectic Evening of Seasonal Celebration. World-music/jazz keyboardist Kasius and flamenco guitarist Zemantauski team up with bassist Jason Emmond, percussionist Zorkie Nelson and violinist Mitsuko Suzuki in a mixed/multi-tradition seasonal celebration. 7 p.m. Sunday. $23.86 members, $27.11 general, $11.93 children and students. 518-583-0022 www.caffelena.org