Blue Engine Records Celebrates the Holidays with BIG BAND HOLIDAYS: New release from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis features guest vocalists René Marie, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Gregory Porter

New York, NY – September 21, 2015 – Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Blue Engine Records celebrates the most wonderful time of the year with the release of Big Band Holidays, a compilation of holiday classics performed live by the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Special guests on Big Band Holidays are some of today’s commanding new voices in jazz: René Marie, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Gregory Porter. Big Band Holidays will be released on CD, limited edition 180g vinyl and digital formats on October 30, 2015.

Every December for more than a decade, the critically acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and an all-star roster of guest vocalists have explored the canon of holiday standards to perform new and traditional arrangements of Yuletide favorites. These Big Band Holidays concerts have become a seasonal tradition among jazz lovers and families. Blue Engine Records has assembled highlights from these historical performances to make them available on record for the first time.

Big Band Holidays tracks include holiday favorites including “Jingle Bells,” “White Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and feature the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s signature sense of swing, New Orleans-flavored nuances and deeply soulful and church-rooted grooves. 

To celebrate this special Blue Engine Records release, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guest vocalists Denzal Sinclaire and Audrey Shakir will embark on a nine-city Big Band Holidays U.S. Tour. Kicking off the holiday season with messages of peace and good cheer, the Big Band Holidays U.S. Tour commences on December 2 in Portland, ME and ends with four performances, including a special matinee, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, located at Broadway at 60th Street in New York, New York.
 

Big Band Holidays Track Listing:

1.  Jingle Bells

2.  Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant
3.  White Christmas

4.  ‘Zat You Santa Claus? featuring René Marie

5.  A Cradle in Bethlehem  

6.  We Three Kings

7.  What Child Is This? featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant

8.  Merry Christmas Baby  

9.  It’s Easy to Blame the Weather featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant

10.  I’ll Be Home for Christmas featuring René Marie

11.  Good Morning Blues featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant

12.  Band Introductions

The 2015 Big Band Holidays U.S Tour Featuring The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Denzal Sinclaire and Audrey Shakir
 

December 2 – Portland, ME – Merrill Auditorium
December 3 – Orono, ME – University of Maine, Collins Center for the Arts
December 4 – Providence, RI – The Vets
December 5 – Hartford, CT – The Bushnell
December 8 – Rochester, NY – Eastman Theatre / Kodak Hall

December 10 – Newport News, VA – Ferguson Center for the Arts

December 11 – Chapel Hill, NC – Memorial Hall

December 12– Bethesda, MD – The Music Center at Strathmore
December 17 – 19 (includes matinee and evening performances on December 19) – New York, NY – Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis:
 

REEDS

Sherman Irby – alto saxophone, flute, piccolo, clarinet

Ted Nash – alto & tenor saxophones, flute, alto flute, piccolo, clarinet

Victor Goines – tenor saxophone, clarinet

Walter Blanding – tenor & soprano saxophones, clarinet, oboe

Joe Temperley – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
Paul Nedzela – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

TRUMPETS

Ryan Kisor

Kenny Rampton

Marcus Printup

Wynton Marsalis

TROMBONES

Vincent Gardner

Chris Crenshaw

Elliot Mason

RHYTHM SECTION

Dan Nimmer - piano

Carlos Henriquez - bass

Ali Jackson - drums
James Chirillo - guitar

VOCALS

René Marie
Cécile McLorin Salvant