Holiday Concert to Combine Jazz, Brunch

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Created on Wednesday, 11 December 2024 12:35

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By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    A holiday concert in which two musicians play Christmas music with a jazz reinterpretation will be presented at Stevenson Hall Sunday in the second annual Jazzmas, directed by Christian Fabian, an artist with a longstanding Sitka connection.
    Held in cooperation with the Sitka Music Festival, Jazzmas this year will feature Fabian on bass and Matt Perri, a pianist, conductor and director from Poulsbo, Washington, on piano, performing recognizable Christmas songs, among others, in jazz style.

Christian Fabian (Sentinel Photo)

    Fabian told the Sentinel he believes jazz resonates well with all sorts of people.
    “The great thing about jazz, it’s considered a universal language – no matter where on the planet you go, if you find a jazz musician, even if you don’t speak their native language, you can play music together. So jazz, to me, is unifying,” Fabian said.
    Originally from Sweden, Fabian studied jazz at the Berklee College of Music, and has performed in Sitka for years. The Christmas songs on the Sunday program will be played in jazz style, with its characteristic focus on beat and rhythm, as well as harmony.
    “It’s rooted in bebop, and we might have a few Latin songs, but, I mean, the thing about jazz is it’s more than 50 percent swing music and bebop – that’s the beauty of that concert. So we’re not going to do any pop music,” the director said.
    The event will be held on the SJ Campus in Stevenson Hall from noon to 2 p.m., Sunday. That historic building is ideal for this sort of music, Fabian said.
    “The thing about jazz is, because of its acoustic element, it’s considered chamber music, so that’s why we really have the perfect fit with the Sitka Music Festival, which means the music can play acoustically without a big sound system and things like that, just like classical music,” Fabian said, “and therefore it’s the perfect fit… The beauty of it, of a duo, is that you can hear every note.”
    Fabian also coordinates the annual Sitka Jazz Week and performed at the Sitka Jazz Festival when that event was active. Though he lives on the east coast, he owns a house on an island in Sitka Sound.
    The other half of this year’s Jazzmas duo is pianist Matt Perri, whose musical connections with Southeast run back decades, although this weekend will mark his first time in Sitka. Speaking by phone from Poulsbo, a maritime community northwest of Seattle, Perri said that he met his wife, Molly, in Ketchikan, and they have been back many times. He played in the Ketchikan jazz cabaret festival in 2004.
    Perri has worked in show business for years and, as a trained Broadway conductor, he now teaches the craft to new conductors. But jazz is the music that resonants with him.
    “I started out my whole music life as a jazz player, and kept doing that for a long time,” he said. “My jazz training and jazz thinking always stayed with me.”
    Tickets for Jazzmas are for sale online at https://vivenu.com/event/jazzmas-holiday-jazz-brunch-tui0f3 and cost $120. The concert runs from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, and includes a brunch buffet and drinks.