High note: Spokane Jazz Orchestra to feature Nat King Cole music in Christmas concert
MOSES LAKE — The Spokane Jazz Orchestra will celebrate the holiday season with the music of Nat King Cole, along with some classic swingin’ Christmas sounds, at 7 p.m. Dec. 18 at the Masto Conference Center, 7611 Bolling St. NE.
The orchestra played in Moses Lake in 2016 and was scheduled to return in spring 2020. That concert fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic.
Orchestra director Don Goodman said in an interview Tuesday the concert will feature some of Cole’s Christmas songs, performed by guest vocalist Horace Alexander Young. The orchestra also will perform some of Cole’s non-holiday hits, like “Unforgettable” and “L-O-V-E.”
The concert also includes music arranged by Goodman and other orchestra members, songs by jazz legends, like the Count Basie and Glenn Miller orchestras, and modern artists like Harry Connick Jr.
Cole’s Christmas album was released in 1960 and many of the other classic Big Band arrangements are at least 80 years old, some almost a century old. Goodman said the music – the Christmas music and the jazz interpretations – has stood the test of time because of its deep roots in American history and culture.
“This is part of our American tradition,” he said. “A true American art form.”
And Christmas music just appeals to most people, he said.
“Bottom line, I think everybody likes to hear Christmas music,” he said.
Goodman said he is a fan of rock and roll, funk and Latin rhythms, and all of them have been influenced by jazz.
“It underpins all of that music in an interesting way,” he said.
The structure of jazz allows musicians to put their own spin on the music, especially during the solos.
“The musician is expressing himself, or herself, in a really personal way,” he said.
Goodman wrote in an email jazz allows musicians to work together, and still show their own style. For him that’s part of the appeal, he said.
“It’s the combination of performing as a team (in the ensemble setting), combined with the chance for individual expression (while improvising solos) that interests me. There aren’t many types of music that give you both of those opportunities,” he wrote.
“I was once told that the three American institutions that best represent our society are the Constitution, baseball and jazz, because all three provide a framework for working together as a team, but also allow for and protect individual achievement. I like this theory a lot,” he wrote.
The concert is sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased on the CBAA website, www.cba-arts.org. Allied Arts director Shawn Cardwell said seating is very limited, so CBAA officials will livestream the concert, as well. Tickets for the livestream are $5 and will be available on the website.
The coronavirus pandemic has required some changes for concertgoers. People attending will be required to show proof of coronavirus vaccination or a negative test at the door. The audience also will be required to wear masks.
