It's a Jazzy Christmas!

In December of 2012 Jazzy Christmas was proud to present the performance in additional markets as well as wwell as selling out a 400 seat venue and added a second show due to demand! The band is back for a third season of great holiday jazz music with new surprises and music in store for the audience.

The Peanut Gallery Jazz Trio will take concertgoers on a musical journey reminiscent of a 1940s radio drama, evoking images and emotions from an innocent childhood and days gone by. The concert begins. Suddenly, a news flash: the Christmas spirit has been lost! Can the band and the audience get enough Christmas spirit to save the day? With Guaraldi’s music made famous in the “Peanuts” holiday specials, the band enlists the audience as their fourth member for an interactive, educational, and fun holiday concert. It’s a perfect concert for the jazz lover and the entire family, just in time for the holidays.

ABOUT THE PEANUT GALLERY JAZZ BAND

David Gleason is a Capital Region pianist, composer, and music educator. As an ethnomusicologist, he researched Caribbean folk and popular music in Puerto Rico and Cuba. As a jazz and Latin pianist, he has performed with ensembles such as RumbaNaMa, The Boston Latin Band, The Either/Orchestra, Altiplano, The Empire Jazz Orchestra, Big Soul Ensemble, Soul Session, Mojive and the Kinewe African Drum Ensemble. He has performed with such renowned musicians as Lee Konitz, Laurel Masse, Fred Wesley, Danilo Perez and John Fedchock. He currently leads the acclaimed Latin jazz ensemble Sensemaya (www.sensemaya.net). Gleason also authored “The Total Blues Keyboardist” (Alfred Publishing, 2010).

Mike Lawrence (www.mikelawrencemusic.com) is in his ninth year of teaching strings in the Schenectady City School District. Recent music projects include Bopitude, whose debut recording has received national radio airplay with a second album due out in spring 2012, Keith Pray’s Soul Jazz Revival and Mike Benedict’s Jazz Vibes. Lawrence can often be seen performing in clubs and restaurants around the region collaborating with a variety of musicians.

Pete Sweeney (www.petesweeney.net) is a drummer, author and educator who performs in every genre of music. He has performed, recorded and toured with such outstanding artists as Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour, Robben Ford, Frank Gambale, Ronnie Earl, “Dangerous” Dan Toler, Ed Mann (Frank Zappa), Andy Summers (The Police), Malcolm Cecil, Jay and the Americans, Johnny “Clyde” Copel, and Ray Vega. In addition, Sweeney has written 18 drum instructional books as well as 3 DVDs and has numerous instructional lessons online with Workshoplive. Sweeney is on the faculty of the National Guitar Workshop, The Berkshire Music School, Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the Crown of the Continent Guitar Foundation.