Once you’ve made Thanksgiving your very own, what do you do for an encore? You set your sights on Christmas, of course.
YouTube and Spotify (Out November 28)
Album Release Party – Thursday, November 28 at The Jazz Bistro, Toronto
In 2022, Cobalt, Ontario jazzman Alex Bird and his songwriting/piano partner, Ewen Farncombe, wrote and released “The Sweetest Moments,” which was promoted as Canada’s official Thanksgiving anthem via a national ad campaign and interviews on major outlets like the CBC and CTV. This year, they and their band, The Jazz Mavericks, are turning their collective attention to the biggest of all holidays with the release of their album Another Christmas Day, an original 10-song compendium of laid-back cool that encompasses all the emotions of the season. From romantic ditties like “The Forecast for Today” and “A Cup of Tea and You”—which use the chill in the air as a convenient excuse to cuddle up—to the more mournful title track—in which a lonely soul reflects that it doesn’t feel much like Christmas at all this year—there’s something here for you no matter how you feel about Yuletide merriment, whether in 2024 specifically or just in general.
“The darkest time of year is somehow full of light, magic and love,” says vocalist Bird. “The holidays exist with both the happiest you can be but also the saddest. Some of the greatest Christmas classics are full of yearning and heartbreak, and we wanted to capture both the light and dark of this time of year. I hope the tunes on this album can find a place of peace, resonance and healing with you … they surely did with me when writing them.”
Bird and his band recorded the album live off the floor at Toronto’s Canterbury Music Company—in the middle of July, yet! They also recorded without the use of headphones and studio monitors, in the air like the recordings of the past—with Bird supplying all the lyrics and collaborating on the music with pianist/organist Farncombe, who also co-produced. The instrumental lineup was rounded out by band mainstays Jacob Gorzhaltsan (tenor sax and clarinet), Julian Anderson-Bowes (bass) and Norbert Botos (drums and jingle bells)—the same crew that’s racked up two JUNO nominations in the course of their relatively short but already illustrious career.
As a duo, Bird and Farncombe have done everything from put their indelible stamp on Canadian Thanksgiving to release an album (Songwriter) that DownBeat called “an elegant, romantic and well-executed gem of a record” to collaborate with Latin Grammy winner and Grammy nominee Cheo on an original bossa nova EP, which also featured Gorzhaltsan along for the ride.
In the process, the Jazz Mavericks have earned a well-deserved reputation as a stompin’ live act, headlining the 2023 Sudbury Jazz Festival and being featured at prestigious events like the Markham Jazz Festival, Kensington Market Jazz Festival and Niagara Jazz Festival, as well as playing solo shows at such top venues as The Jazz Bistro, Upstairs Jazz, Knox Hall, Reid’s Distillery, The Old Mill and Sellers & Newel.
It’s all been a dream come true for the Romanian-born Bird, who was brought to Canada at six weeks old and by the time he was 2 found himself being taken out to Toronto clubs to catch sets by legends like Tony Bennett, Diana Krall, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Mel Tormé and Ray Charles. That’s the kind of early education you just don’t forget, and Bird will be bringing its lessons on stage with him with The Jazz Mavericks’ next big engagement: a Thursday, November 28, gig at The Jazz Bistro that’ll serve as the launch party for Another Christmas Day. In an amusing twist of the calendar, that just so happens to be American Thanksgiving; do we detect another takeover coming in 2025?
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