Friday, December 17, 2004

Jazz for the holiday season from hometown favorites

By Jim Harrington, CONTRIBUTOR

IT'S beginning to sound a lot like Christmas.

Bay Area jazz fans will have multiple opportunities to get in the seasonal swing of things as Yoshi's at Jack London Square hosts great local artists performing holiday-themed shows next week.

Festivities get under way Tuesday with Oakland saxophone-great Anton Schwartz leading his fab band in an evening of Christmastime standards. Vocalist Clairdee will visit for another one-night stand Wednesday to perform jingle-bell favorites from her acclaimed CD "This Christmas." Red-hot singer Ledisi takes us right through Christmas with four shows Thursday to Dec. 27 (no shows Dec. 25).

"These are three very talented, very different artists," says Peter Williams, Yoshi's artistic director. "With Anton Schwartz, we'll hear instrumental jazz versions of Christmas songs performed by a quintet featuring three of the brightest lights in the local jazz scene: Taylor Eigsti, Julian Lage and Anton Schwartz, backed by two of the busiest musicians in the area, John Shifflett and Tim Bulkley.

"Clairdee puts a different spin on Christmas music. It's a vocalist inviting you into her home for Christmas with a lot of heart and soul. Then with Ledisi, it's a big funky Christmas party that just won't quit."

Schwartz, a New York City native who stayed in the Bay Area after attending Stanford University in the early 1990s, is an amazingly talented horn player with a great ear and oodles of stage presence.

His Christmas-themed CD "Holiday Time," with covers of "Jingle Bells" and "Winter Wonderland," has drawn rave reviews from the likes of Jazz Improv Magazine, which called it a "superb album, bubbling with a combination of imaginative and sweet sounding playing."

Schwartz takes various approaches on the recording. On the tender "Christmas Song," he plays it straight as an arrow and then colors other selections, like the reggae-tinged "Winter Wonderland," with clever new vibes.

The common factor on all the songs is Schwartz's warm tenor playing, which is so articulate that one might swear he's singing through the sax.

"(The saxophone is) a very human instrument, plain and simple," he says. "It's extremely expressive. The saxophone just has this innate flexibility to it and this expansiveness. You can push a lot of air through it and produce this massive sound or get these very subtle sounds."

Clairdee mixes things up, too, on her holiday offering, "This Christmas," and the results are equally satisfying whether the vocalist is going for a gospel feel on "Bringing in a Brand New Year" or bringing hip-hop to the house on the title track.

Perhaps the most shocking transformation occurs with the San Francisco-based vocalist's sunny take on "Winter Wonderland."

"I think that what most people who hear that song think is sleigh bells and (wintry images)," says the former Oakland resident. "We've totally changed it so that it is a samba. I'm a tropical weather person. My favorite place to be is in the tropics. I decided to take those lyrics and apply it to a Brazilian theme."

That's exactly the type of adventuresome decision making that's made Clairdee one of the most exciting singers in the Bay Area. The vocalist moves freely through many realms, from R&B and blues to straight-ahead Ê and Latin jazz, always finding the right touch to personalize each piece.

Although Schwartz and Clairdee will undoubtedly deliver fine nights of holiday cheer, the main event takes place when Oakland's increasingly popular Ledisi takes the stage. Boasting a huge local fan base, the singer is expected to sell out all eight of her shows at Yoshi's.

Unlike the other two artists, Ledisi does not have her own holiday CD to sell at the merchandise table. But the New Orleans-born soul singer, who moved with her family to Oakland when she was 10, does have enough energy to light up every Christmas tree from Oakland to Orlando. The comparisons to Tina Turner are certainly not without merit.

"You can just tell (performing is) something that comes very naturally to her," Schwartz says. "And she has amazing chops."

Although the California Music Award winner will likely use the Yoshi's gigs as opportunities to premiere material from her new CD, she's also expected to wrap her lush voice around some holiday favorites.

And that should be just the right gift for local jazz fans this holiday season. You can write music critic Jim Harrington at jimthecritic@yahoo.com.

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