Soundcheck Special: Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O and Stewart Goodyear

New York-based drummer and educator Matt Wilson has performed with and/or played on many recordings by other musicians - Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz, among others -and leads ensembles of his own, but at this time of year, the thing he might be best known for is his Christmas Tree-O. And yes, he went there – putting a pun right in the band’s name. The trio, featuring multi-reed player Jeff Lederer and bassist Paul Sikivie, takes holiday tunes as a whimsical jumping off point for a variety of jazz styles, from swing to free improv. Their 2024 album is called Tree Jazz – The Shape Of Christmas To Come, and they play their gleeful, irreverent, and sometimes nerdy takes on music of the season, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Up on the Rooftop 2. Good King Wenceslas 3. Shine Your Light

Also, the young piano maestro Stewart Goodyear, known as both an improviser and composer, plays his own arrangements of pieces from Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker,' in-studio. The album, released in October 2015, was chosen by the New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015. He has since recorded Ravel piano works, his own "Callaloo" Suite and Piano Sonata, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He was supposed to have toured with Chineke! Orchestra, playing his "Callaloo" Suite in 2020, but well. Yeah. The Pandemic happened. Enjoy revisiting this 2015 in-studio performance of pieces from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. 

Set list: Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker: March
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker - Pas De Duex: Variation II (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker -Divertissements: Trepak (Russian Dance)
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker -Divertissements: Coffee (Arabian Dance)
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker -Divertissements: Waltz Of The Flowers