‘Big Band Holidays’
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Frederick P. Rose Hall
Through December 22
Streaming Through December 29

Riddle me this: What kind of music does Santa Claus prefer above all others? The answer, of course, is cool jazz. That’s what everybody digs up at the North Pole.

The same is true at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Judging by attendance and by the schedule — six performances of the concert, which is at least twice as many as usual — the seasonal outing is certainly the JALC’s most popular program. 

They’ve given us at least half a dozen wholly different iterations of the lineup over the decades, with varying titles such as “Big Band Holidays” or “Red Hot Holiday Stomp.” Each requires an entire new wardrobe of fresh arrangements of well-known holiday songs and traditional carols.

I have no doubt that Santa himself was in the house somewhere Thursday night at Rose Hall, enjoying this latest edition of the holiday happening, for which trombonist Chris Crenshaw served as musical director and host. Being able to hide in plain sight is the most minor of miracles for the crafty St. Nick.   

I also have no doubt that Santa’s favorite number of the evening — and the biggest surprise — was saxophonist Sherman Irby’s arrangement of “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,” which followed the opener, bassist Carlos Henriquez’s mambo-laced version of “Santa Claus is Coming Town.” 

“Dreidel” commenced with a slightly somber piano interlude by Dan Nimmer, and then progressed into the melody in alternating  call-and-response passages by three flutes and the brass section. It was very cool indeed, as were a trumpet solo by Kenny Rampton and a moody baritone sax solo by Paul Nedzilla.

“Dreidel” was also a welcome signifier that after so many years of doing holiday concerts, the JALC Orchestra has moved well beyond the most familiar and obvious repertoire: As they burn through every Christmas song you can imagine, the selections grow ever more esoteric and interesting.  

For instance, “Dreidel” was followed by a piece I never thought I would hear any orchestra ever play, “Blue XMAS (To Whom It May Concern)” by Miles Davis and the jazz pianist-singer-songwriter Bob Dorough. Accurately described by Mr. Crenshaw — who arranged it — as an “anti-Christmas song,” this 1962 piece is actually a beat-poet-style diatribe against what was perceived even 60 years ago as the overcommercialization of the most spiritual and sacred of all holidays. “It’s a time when the greedy / Give a dime to the needy.”  

The text was sung and recited by Robbie Lee, a young vocalist and multi-instrumentalist making his debut with the orchestra.  Mr. Lee not only sang the libretto, but went into an extended rant humorously detailing all of his holiday horrors, in a way that honored not only the late Dorough but also contemporary jazz’s no. 1 hipster savant, Kurt Elling. 

Sherman Irby was the most prolific arranger of the night; after serving as the band’s resident rabbi on the “Dreidel” song, the Tuscaloosa-born saxophonist reconfirmed his status as JALC’s top soul brother with two of the funkiest blues arrangements I have ever heard the orchestra play. These were rendered by the two vocalists of the evening: Mr. Lee effectively crooned “Merry Christmas, Baby” by Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers with Charles Brown, while Ekep Nkwelle sang a searing blues titled “Santa Claus, Santa Claus,” written for Louis Jordan by a tenor sax legend, Teddy Edwards.

The whole concert was excellent — and, as with last year, it certainly left us wanting more; the total amount of music in both halves was less than 90 minutes — but it was the two young singers, Ms. Nkwelle and Mr. Lee, who truly stood out. 

Ms. Nkwelle also delivered a swinging and moving rendition of the Gospel “Mary Had a Baby,” arranged by Victor Goine. Her presence served as a reminder of what a great year this 25-year-old singer has had: I’ve heard her at least a half dozen times in 2024, and she always outdoes herself. The jazz world is eagerly awaiting her first album. 

The two singers, who wound up with a duet on the country pop standard “Blue Christmas,” also left a significant impression visually: In gold sequins, Ms. Nkwelle looked like a Christmas ornament; in a mariachi jacket, Mr. Lee looked like a merry matador. For his part, trombonist Elliot Mason, with his familiar goatee, looked like the world’s tallest elf on the shelf. He soloed memorably on “Dreidel.”

The other new instrumentals were also surprising and consistently excellent, like Mr. Enriquez’s startlingly serious treatment of the 1955 novelty “Nuttin’ for Christmas,” with a trumpet solo by guest Michael Rodriguez, and a whimsical, Ellingtonian “Up on the HouseTop,” by Vincent Gardner. 

Mr. Gardner, who was away on “paternity leave,” Mr. Crenshaw explained, also supplied us with the climax, a wildly pointillistic take on “Frosty the Snowman.” It generated so much heat that, by the final note, Frosty had been reduced to a pool of water.

The 2024 “Big Band Holidays” embraced the spirit of the season in a way that was probably not even planned by Mr. Crenshaw, JALC’s artistic director, Wynton Marsalis, or the vice president of programming, Jason Olaine. The orchestra has slowly and organically become a thriving endorsement of the values of diversity, equality, and inclusion — and is all the better for it.  

A major portion of the players, especially the reeds, are very young, and there is now a full-time female saxophonist in Alexa Tarrantino, while Mr. Lee joyfully described himself as “queer, Mexican, and Asian.” Then too, there was that new cool jazz classic “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,” something I couldn’t have imagined the orchestra playing 20 years ago.  

Maybe for 2025, the JALC’s December concerts should be titled “Red Hot Chanukah Stomp.” We’ll just have to wait until next year and hope.