Swing into the holiday spirit with Joseph Hasty & Centerpiece Jazz
Joe Hasty and Centerpiece Jazz will present an intimate, cabaret-style show on stage at CoMMA this evening.
Are you looking for an elegant evening of classic holiday music, the kind that’s guaranteed to put you in the Christmas spirit? How about an evening of wine and food in an intimate setting?
Then you may want to snatch up one of the remaining tickets for this evening’s Winter Solstice and Christmas Jazz Concert, featuring Joseph Hasty & Centerpiece Jazz.
The concert will take place on stage at the City of Morganton’s Municipal Auditorium (CoMMA) beginning at 7:30 tonight.
Tickets ($43 plus tax) will be available online at commaonline.org until almost showtime. Any remaining seats may be purchased at the CoMMA box office before the show.
Hasty, who has been doing Christmas jazz/holiday shows in Morganton for the past decade, will bring his band to CoMMA for the third year in a row.
“We did it in the lobby area of CoMMA two years ago and on the stage last year as part of their ‘Cabaret Series,’” Hasty said.
Cabaret shows bring the audience up on stage with the band, with listeners seated around small bistro tables. The setup mimics a small nightclub in New York, according to Hasty.
“It’s limited seating of around 150 to 200 or so, a very intimate setting, with great ambiance,” he stated. “But you’re still on a sound stage with professional sound equipment and engineers, so the quality of sound and production is the same as any other show in the auditorium.”
The audience is invited to have a drink along with a snack of charcuterie or similar foods during the performance.
Hasty said the cabaret experience is nice for performers and audience.
“Having the audience on stage with us doesn’t really change our performance- having the audience right there with us — it’s just more intimate,” he said. “You can play and sing with a little more nuance, without the need to be loud or feeling the need to project your sound all the way to the back of the auditorium. It’s nice and cozy.”
According to Hasty, audience participation is encouraged at the show.
“We invite the audience to sing along with us on all of the songs, which include a lot of holiday and Christmas standards which folks will recognize,” he stated.
The playlist will include secular songs, such as, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” “Sleigh Ride,” and “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.”
“Plus we will play some classic Christmas carol hymns, which we jazz up just a bit,” he said, “songs like ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,’ ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,’ and ‘Silent Night.’”
“A couple of the hymns we will play and sing straight up, as if in the church choir loft,” Hasty added. “Very reverential.
“We will also feature a couple of the Charlie Brown Christmas special songs composed by Vince Guaraldi, including ‘Christmas Time is Here’ and ‘Linus and Lucy.’ These will be played by our special guest pianist, Pavel Wlosok, who is a professor of jazz studies at Western Carolina University,” he concluded.
For information and tickets, contact the CoMMA box office at 828-433-7469 or visit www.commaonline.org.
Sandra Wilkerson Queen may be reached at 828-445-8595, ext. 2002, or sandra@thepaper.media.
