A very Jazzy Christmas
All-stars headline PJI’s ‘Nutcracker Swings’ benefit
By Kirk Silsbee 12/10/2009
Stage productions of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite” in the month of December are as common as Christmas trees and department store Santas. The Pasadena Jazz Institute has mounted a number of year-end Nutcracker productions — using Duke Ellington’s recasting of the work as a jazz suite as its centerpiece — during its nine-year history.
But this PJI Nutcracker will be a little different than in years past. This show is a benefit; the financially embattled organization is fighting for its life.
For the past three years, the ambitious PJI — which has mounted well-conceived, ambitious concert schedules for most of its history — focused on the Paseo Colorado nightclub it called home over that period: Concerts at Suite 206. PJI founder and CEO Paul Lines poured all his effort into the nicely appointed wood-paneled room, only to lose his lease a couple of months ago.
Lines isn’t taking his current challenges lightly. This year’s Dec. 19 production of “The Nutcracker Swings: A Cool Jazz Christmas” — the PJI’s most elaborate ever — will be held in the Grand Ballroom of the Pasadena Convention Center. The Pasadena Jazz Orchestra, led by California Philharmonic Conductor Victor Vener, will perform the Tchaikovsky/Ellington piece, with guests including tenor sax great Rickey Woodard (handling Ellingtonian Paul Gonsalves’s solo sections), the redwhite+bluezz All Stars, vocalists Sylvia St. James, Renee Olstead and James Tormė, the Sacred Nation Gospel Choir and the PJI Junior Superstars.
In addition, Vince Guaraldi’s “Charlie Brown Christmas” soundtrack will be played, a sit-down dinner will be available and Santa Claus will drop by. Lines is swinging for the fences, gambling big on this night.
It’s not often that Lines is caught with the corners of his mouth turned down. The energetic six-footer has a reputation as a human juggernaut of positive thinking and forward motion. That optimism has come in handy in facing the vicissitudes of running a jazz nonprofit catering to a fickle public in years of economic uncertainty.
After the closing of his Paseo club, Lines was ready to throw in the towel on all those years of hard work. But it appears his karma has intervened.
A casual phone call from friend André Vener, son of Victor and owner of redwhite+bluezz restaurant at South Raymond Avenue and Green Street, caught Lines at his lowest point. The two not only have business and jazz interests in common, they have a history of mutual help and cooperation. In fact, it was Vener who helped Lines obtain nonprofit status.
“Two months ago I was a basket case,” says Lines in an interview from his Pasadena home. “I was disenchanted and discouraged. Then André called just to say hello and I told him about our problems.
“André singlehandedly pulled us out of the ashes; we had nowhere to turn,” Lines recalls. “He bought a lot of the club’s furniture and that helped us quite a bit. Then he called and suggested we do a show together. He suggested we do a Christmas show benefit for the institute and that we do it in a big way. We’ve done Nutcracker shows before, but this one is beefed up considerably.”
André Vener has relied on Lines’ experience and goodwill in the past. Lines supplied the first musicians to play redwhite+bluezz and helped Vener with pricing and other details.
“I loved jazz, but I didn’t know how to move in that world,” says André. “Paul got me started and I’ll never forget that. We’ve helped each other along the way and it just happens that it’s my turn to help him now.
“Outsiders might think that Paul and I are in competition, but I don’t see it that way,” André explains. “I said, ‘Let’s take this show to another level; you be the music director and I’ll produce the show.’ My father has conducted the Nutcracker many times before, but he’s having a lot of fun learning the Ellington version of this music. He’s looking at scores, listening to recordings and studying DVD performances.”
PJI revenue has historically funded its summer jazz camps, which have tutored thousands of jazz-minded youngsters. That’s probably Lines’ proudest achievement. “These kids are so amazing,” he says. “One of them is a drummer who came to us when he was 8 years old. I got him with my neighbor Roy McCurdy, the great drummer. Now this kid attends the Stanford jazz camp and he’s being taught by [Altadena resident] Tootie Heath. You’ll hear how good our kids are at the concert.”
But it was André Vener who Lines says “gave us the confidence to persevere. … Rather than quietly waving the white flag, the Pasadena Jazz Institute will live to fight another day.”
“The Nutcracker Swings: A Cool Jazz Christmas,” plays Dec. 19 in the Grand Ballroom of the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena, (626) 793-2122. Tickets: $30, $40, $50, $60, $70; optional dinner: $35. Contact Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com
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