| Of all the musical genres, jazz seems to be the most easy match with Christmas. Artists from Ella Fitzgerald to Duke Ellington have taken their own jazzy stab at holiday favourites and now Calgary has its own home grown example of that jazzy approach with the Mainstream Jazztet.
You might not be too familiar with this group, but it may ring a few bells if you think back a few decades. "We had a group that used to be called the Mainstream Jazz Quartet in the ’70s and then it kind of went into limbo," says group leader Dave Klinger. "My music partner Dave Edgar suggested that we start that up again. And we talked about it and said well this time we’ll call it a jazztet."
Jazztet is an unusual enough name, but there is a deeper and more practical reason for the title. "We have the flexibility of changing the number of musicians so we’ve worked with six or we’re going to be working with seven (soon)," says Klinger. "I’d like to just get it up to nine sometime, just short of a big band. It would give it more flexibility in the arrangements and more colour."
The Jazztet’s CD is appropriately titled Christmas with the Mainstream Jazztet and over the course of the 17 tracks on the album it takes us through children’s favourites like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus to the more traditional Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night. Klinger explains that these choices were quite deliberate because the jazztet is always thinking about the listener.
"It’s for children and also for adults – older adults. I mean by that middle aged and beyond."
Klinger and Edgar chose the songs and also co-produced the CD which was a new experience for both of them. It has, however, made a convert out of Klinger who thoroughly enjoyed producing and as a result has added a new word to his musicial biography. "I call myself musician-impresario. I just love the word impresario and people say, ‘What is that?’ I don’t want to say producer. I mean it (has to do with) production, but producer has other implications. It’s something I really enjoy doing."
Christmas with the Mainstream Jazztet was recorded at the world renowned Cantos Museum right here in Calgary. Their collection of pianos proved irresistable for Klinger "We first of all looked for an excellent piano and of course Cantos Music Museum has just fabulous instruments and we were able to use one. Also, we’ve performed there three times, and it’s just been an ideal situation for us. Not only the instruments and the space (but) particularly the people."
Though the Jazztet enjoyed their holiday endeavour, Klinger says they have other non-Christmas projects in mind "I would really like to do a tribute to Duke Ellington – all Duke Ellington tunes. And in the future beyond that… Dave (Edgar) has a number of compositions that he’s done that he wants to record." |
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