Hepcat for the holidays
BRIAN SETZER TURNS FOCUS TO CHRISTMAS
MUSIC
Hepcat for the holidays
BRIAN SETZER TURNS FOCUS TO CHRISTMAS MUSIC
BY Yoshi Kato
Interview from: http://www.mercurynews.com
There's a saying among chefs that it can be less stressful to prepare 10 meals than to plan just one.
Singer, guitarist and bandleader Brian Setzer couldn't agree more, especially when it comes to planning the music for his annual Christmas Extravaganza tour, a feast of rockabilly and big-band swing built on a holiday theme.
``My least favorite thing is putting together a new set'' of songs, says the 46-year-old Long Island native, who rose to fame with the Stray Cats. ``And then once you've got one that works perfectly, you have to just dismantle it and put together a new one'' for the next year, he continues by phone from Minneapolis.
The 18-piece Brian Setzer Orchestra will play a sold-out show at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City on Tuesday, one of 24 dates on its fourth annual Christmas Extravaganza tour. The orchestra's last holiday visit was two years ago at the Flint Center in Cupertino, when the group had just released its first holiday album, ``Boogie Woogie Christmas.'' The follow-up, ``Dig That Crazy Christmas,'' came out in October, and so did a DVD version of the Christmas Extravaganza, filmed a year ago in Los Angeles.
Setzer himself has essentially had three musical lives. In the early '80s, the Stray Cats, which also featured Lee Rocker on double bass and Slim Jim Phantom on drums, were at the forefront of the retro rockabilly movement. They had the sound and look of a trio from the '50s, and thanks to Top-40 radio, songs such as ``Rock This Town'' and ``(She's) Sexy + 17'' became hits.
Then in the '90s, Setzer founded the Brian Setzer Orchestra and helped give momentum to the swing revival. Combining jump blues with some Stray Cats material, he became part rocker and part crooner. His 1998 version of Louis Prima's ``Jump, Jive and Wail'' also became a hit.
Since the turn of the century, Setzer has become a hip purveyor of Christmas music, creating originals and bringing his own style to both familiar and lesser-known holiday fare. On ``Dig That Crazy Christmas,'' he uses new sung and rapped lyrics to transform the Glenn Miller Orchestra's signature tune, ``In the Mood,'' to ``Gettin' in the Mood (for Christmas).'' On the slinky `` 'Zat You, Santa Claus?'' he wryly quotes his famous guitar solo from ``Stray Cat Strut.'' The infectious Setzer original ``Hey Santa!'' incorporates an authentic New Orleans second-line interlude.
Asked what it takes to put together a great new holiday disc, Setzer says, ``The first thing is choosing the songs that just kind of bend your ear, and the second thing is writing the arrangements. It takes a while to write 17 parts. Then you have to kind of make that arrangement original, . . . modern and hip.'' For that, Setzer enlists the help of colleague Mark Jones.
A key to Setzer's artistry is his ability to draw from the past and then infuse that inspiration with a present-day aesthetic. Two tracks from the new album -- ``My Favorite Things'' and ``You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch'' -- do just that, kindling musical memories while still sounding fresh.
He says he got the idea for using ``My Favorite Things'' on the new disc while watching ``The Sound of Music' with his daughters (who ``know every single song,'' he says, and the dialogue). They were singing along on ``My Favorite Things,'' and ``I'm thinking, `What a great song!' '' Setzer recalls. ``So I started fiddling on it with the guitar, and I go, `Wait a minute! I got something here -- got a big fish on the hook! Let's see if I can reel this puppy in.'' The resulting instrumental showcases Setzer's steely, lyrical tone and his elegant playing.
In addition to ``Dig That Crazy Christmas,'' Setzer also put out a new collection of '50s rockabilly standards, ``Rockabilly Riot Vol. 1: A Tribute to Sun Studios,'' in July. ``I'm a worker, really,'' he says. ``If I sit around my house, I just get fidgety. I'm the kind of guy who feels he has to go to work every day. Making music really is my job.''