The three most commonly streamed holiday songs last year were Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and Bobby Helm’s “Jingle Bell Rock,” according to the analytics platform Luminate.
People, we can do better. Much better. And, fortunately it’s not hard to find dozens of opportunities to hear holiday-related music that’s as uplifting, interesting and stimulating as anything you might hear the rest of the year. Kitsch and clichés have their place (preferably far, far away), but there’s no reason to get caught in a “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” rut.
Here are some options for getting your holiday groove on.
Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O
Matt Wilson is a drummer of unusual musicality and bonhomie, and as a bandleader he’s found numerous ways to disrupt tired jazz conventions so that his performances communicate unabashed joy and pleasure. He’s been honing his Christmas Tree-O show for years with bassist Paul Sikivie and powerhouse saxophonist Jeff Lederer, with a repertoire that ranges from arrangements of “You’re a Mean One Mr. Grinch” and Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” to John Lennon’s “Merry Christmas (War Is Over)” and originals.
Details: 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz; $31.50-$36.75; www.kuumbwajazz.org; 7 and 8:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco; $25; www.sfjazz.org.
Kitka, “Wintersongs”
The all-women vocal ensemble Kitka presents its annual program celebrating the season with a sumptuous collection songs from Balkan, Baltic, Caucasian, and Slavic lands.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at Peace United Church, Santa Cruz; 4 p.m. Dec. 10 at St. Bede’s, Menlo Park; 8 p.m. Dec. 15-16 at St. Paul’s Church, Oakland; 4 p.m. Dec. 17 at Old First Concerts, San Francisco; $25-$50; www.kitka.org (Old First Concerts performance also available via livestream).
Martin Luther McCoy
San Francisco soul singer, actor, and guitarist Martin Luther McCoy presents “The Funk That Stole Christmas,” a program exploring Prince, Sly and The Family Stone, and McCoy originals.
Details: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Dec. 10; Black Cat, San Francisco; $15-$45; blackcatsf.turntabletickets.com
Veretski Pass
For the fourth night of Hanukkah the Bay Area’s premiere klezmer trio presents “The Lost Jewish Melodies of Ukraine.” Featuring violinist Cookie Segelstein, bassist Stuart Brotman and Joshua Horowitz on the 19th-century button accordion and hammered dulcimer cimbalom, Veretski Pass takes its name from a rugged route through the eastern Carpathian Mountains through which Jews fled and then returned to the kingdom of Hungary in the late middle ages.
Details: 4 p.m. Dec. 10 at St Alban’s Episcopal Church, Albany; $15-$30; www.eventbrite.com (search for Veretski Pass).
Mr Sun Plays Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite
Featuring fiddle great Darol Anger, mandolin expert Joe K. Walsh, guitarist Grant Gordy, and bassist Aidan O’Donnell, Mr Sun is an acoustic music supergroup that released its debut album “Mr Sun Plays Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite” last week. It’s a brilliant and ambitious reimagining of Ellington’s masterly jazz interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s beloved score.
Details: 8 p.m. Dec. 13 at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $28-$33; thefreight.org; 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Monterey United Methodist Church; $35; otteropry.org.
The Klezmatics
The Grammy-winning band is known for taking klezmer where it’s never gone before, such as a program creating original music for previously unknown Woody Guthrie lyrics about Hanukkah. With Lorin Sklamberg on lead vocals and accordion, Frank London on trumpet and keyboardist and bassist Paul Morrissett, there are three original members still in the fold after nearly four decades.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14 at SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco; $25-$85; www.sfjazz.org.
Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini
The exquisite Brazilian jazz duo of vocalist/trombonist Natalie Cressman with Brazilian-born guitarist/vocalist Ian Faquini just released the EP “An Old Fashioned Christmas” in partnership with the Nancy Langhorne Foundation to raise funds for the Virginia-based cancer research nonprofit. They’ll be playing some of the new arrangements at the Sound Room, including the premiere of an arrangement setting Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” to a samba groove.
Details: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15; The Sound Room, Oakland; $26-$31; www.eventbrite.com (search for Natalie Cressman)
Adam Shulman Trio
Over the past decade pianist Adam Shulman has become the primary keeper of the Vince Guaraldi “Peanuts” flame, performing the irresistibly swinging score from the beloved 1965 television special “It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas” every year. His trio features bassist John Wiitala and drummer James Gallagher.
Details: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco; $45-$105; www.sfjazz.org.
Barbara Higbie
Inspired by the Windham Hill label’s hugely popular “Winter Solstice” and holiday album anthologies, East Bay violinist and pianist Barbara Higbie has spun off her own celebration in conjunction with her new “Solstice” album, featuring percussionist/vocalist Vicki Randle, cellist/vocalist Mia Pixley, percussionist Michaelle Goerlitz, bassist Dewayne Pate, and mandolinist Jasper Manning.
Details: 7 p.m. Dec. 17 at Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $30-$35; thefreight.org.
Mads Tolling and the Mads Men
Grammy Award-winning jazz violin master Mads Tolling celebrates the holidays and the release of his new Mads Men CD “Cool Yule” with bassist Gary Brown, drummer Eric Garland and Colin Hogan on piano and accordion. In addition to swinging versions of holiday standards the program embraces his Danish origins with a song from “Frozen” and traditional Nordic songs of the season.
Details: 8 p.m. Monday Dec. 20; Freight & Salvage, Berkeley; $30/$35; thefreight.org
Sam Rudin
Blues/jazz pianist Sam Rudin, the proprietor of the Back Room, presents the “6th Annual Merry Christmas from a Jewish Atheist Pianist,” a program of Christmas tunes he’s come to love over the years.
Details: 8 p.m. Dec. 24 at The Back Room, Berkeley: $12; backroommusic.com.
Alvon Johnson Holiday Show
A blues master who knows that his music is a potent antidote to doldrums and despondency, guitarist/vocalist Alvon Johnson keeps the holiday spirit going at Yoshi’s.
Details: 8 p.m. Dec. 26 at Yoshi’s, Oakland; $27-$49; yoshis.com.
