Review: “It’s A Jazzy Christmas” Saturday, Dec. 20 at Proctors GE Theatre

More felt familiar than new in “It’s a Jazz Christmas” Saturday in Proctors GE Theater Saturday, and that was a good, warm, familiar thing. The place was packed with families wearing happy smiles, holiday hats and those gaudy sweaters tugged from closets about a week a year.

Dave Gleason, pianist and bandleader

Bill Levering, above; Arielle O’Keefe, below

Bill Levering replaced Mike McCord as host, introducing the evening as an antique radio show, and Arielle O’Keefe sang the leads Hannah Amigo handled last year. The jazz combo behind them was the same as last year; as were many songs in the seamless 80-minute show. “Show” fits better than “concert,” a precisely planned and performed program that framed tunes and talk in a well-sewn cozy quilt.

Mike Lawrence, above; Pete Sweeney, below

Members of the well-seasoned Art d’Echo Trio – pianist-leader Dave Gleason, bassist Mike Lawrence and drummer Pete Sweeney – opened with Vince Guaraldi instrumentals; melodic, familiar “Charlie Brown Christmas” favorites that felt light-hearted and swung light-footed. “Christmas Is Coming” felt joyful while “Skating” could have been re-named “Sledding” for Gleason’s high-energy, down-the-scale note cascades as the lead ping-ponged among the players.

O’Keefe, who performs her own music as Girl

Blue, took the mic first for “Christmastime Is Here” at a more mellow tempo as the horn section filed onstage: tenor saxophonist and bass clarinet player Brian Patneaude, trumpeter Chris Pasin and trombonist Ben O’Shea.

“Jingle Bells” and toy piano, from left: Dave Gleason, Mike Lawrence, Pete Sweeney and Arielle O’Keefe

When O’Keefe teased Gleason to do “Jingle Bells,” he installed a red toy piano across his knees for some playful noodling; then he seriously jazz-fied things in a mambo arrangement with Pasin blowing sky-high before hot solos from Patneaude’s tenor and O’Shea’s trombone. Gleason’s very Latin solo evoked the jokey opening, pushing his arpeggios right off the high end of the keyboard, fingering notes in mid-air before the horns got serious on the coda. Mid-song, he engaged the crowd in clapping the Bo Diddley beat.

Arielle O’Keefe and Brian Patneaude

Chris Pasin, above; Ben O’Shea, below

Levering’s spoken intro set up the Grinch’s somber bah-humbug menace; the show’s only (comically) unpleasant note, though it felt safely cartoon-y. Then Patneaude’s bass clarinet and Lawrence’s bass underlined the mood.

Pasin’s muted trumpet and O’Keefes’ voice carried “Winter Wonderland” into “Let It Snow,” first singalong of the show, and a set-up for the horn highlights Gleason introduced in turn: Patneaude’s tenor eloquent in “Santa Baby” with a bluesy vocal, then all fun bebop in “Sleigh Ride,” Pasin playing a playful horse-neigh at the end. O’Shea sparkled in “Feliz Navichachacha” – Gleason revisiting his Latin approach, mixed with some Chick Corea phrasing before the rhythm section heated the coda.

Pasin owned the spotlight in “We Three Kings,” spectacular in drama and range, Lawrence pushing hard on electric bass.

Thereafter, cozy tunes settled the crowd and lively upbeat numbers kept things moving, with O’Keefe belting strong in “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” the hearty “Man With the Bag” setting up “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,” the show’s sole nod to non-Christmas holiday feel.

Levering went sentimental introducing “Hark the Herald” before the whole band reached back to 1950s elemental rock and roll for “Dig That Crazy Santa Claus” with echoes of “The Hucklebuck.” A reprise of Guaraldi piano lyricism in “Linus and Lucy” – then the horns, O’Keefe and Levering paraded offstage.

The whole thing flowed sweet and strong, jazzing up familiar songs imaginatively while respecting listeners’ happy memories of them.

MORE HOLIDAY JAZZ

The Brian Patneaude Quartet (Patneaude, tenor saxophone; Rob Lindquist, piano; Jarod Grieco, bass; Lance Comer, drums) plays Saturday, Dec. 27 at 9 Maple Ave., Saratoga Springs. 9 p.m. 

And Patneaude plays in Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensemble Tuesday, Dec. 30 at the Cock ’N’ Bull; so do It’s A Jazzy Christmas band-mates Gleason, Pasin and O’Shea. 6:30 p.m.

HAT’S OFF…

……to the kindly usher who recognized me as a reviewer and rescued me from a nosebleed seat and brought me down front to an unoccupied wheelchair-accessible spot. There I stayed, reluctant to roam for better camera angles; all photos are from that seat, except the set list that I spotted on my way in.