Picture this: four professional jazz pianists rocking out to “Jingle Bells.”
Welcome to National Public Radio’s A Jazz Piano Christmas, an annual holiday season event that features jazz pianists young and old performing popular Christmas melodies.
The Kennedy Center will host the event live Saturday, with one show at 7:30 p.m. and the other at 9:30 p.m. NPR will broadcast the event a few days later, after editing and producing it to air for exactly an hour.
Kevin Struthers, director of jazz programming at the Kennedy Center, said he could not be more excited for the holidays and this show.
“At the holidays, it’s always enticing to celebrate the season,” he said. “It’s great to see original interpretations of classic songs.”
Jazz is indigenous American music and has constantly evolved since its development at the turn of the last century.
“Its real zenith was in the 20th century,” Struthers said. “It was popular in between the two world wars, then lost its focus. Today, there is a mixture of contemporary and traditional jazz.”
The Kennedy Center hosts an entire jazz season throughout the year, including the Discovery series that offers young and unknown musicians visibility on the jazz scene and the Louis Armstrong Legacy Singer series, which invites an array of acclaimed singers to perform.
NPR has its own slew of jazz programming throughout the year, according to Anya Grundmann, the executive producer of NPR Music. She said she believes jazz is a vital style and interpretation of music.
“I think it’s one of America’s most important and wonderful music forms,” Grundmann said. “It’s evolving, and NPR is excited to be producing all generations of jazz, including traditional and new age and mixing it with other genres.”
This explains A Jazz Piano Christmas‘ continuous capacity concerts.
“The maximum is 500 in the theater, and 900 to 1,000 people annually attend the performances,” Struthers said.
When recruiting pianists, Struthers said he and Billy Taylor, the artistic director of jazz at the Kennedy Center, attempt to find an eclectic set of artists.
“We make sure to match up different styles and complementing personalities, as well as well-known and not well-known artists,” Struthers said. “We usually wait two to three years before inviting a previous artist back.”
Performing in this year’s concerts are Kenny Barron, Freddy Cole, Helio Alves and Renee Rosnes, among others.
NPR and the Kennedy Center have collaborated on this event for almost 20 years and often team up for various other events.
“We work with the Kennedy Center on broadcasting other events they do,” Grundmann said. “We have a show called Toast of the Nation, which we broadcast live on New Year’s Eve, from New York City, Boston and of course, Washington, D.C. The Kennedy Center is a great partner to work with.”
Radio is a unique form of mass communication, she said, and a strong medium for entertainment.
“The world is getting so fragmented. Public radio is heard all across the country and binds people together because they are all hearing the same thing,” she said. “When you turn on radio, you get an experience — a sound world, a spirit of conversation, exploration and surprise. That’s really powerful.”
Struthers is proud to say that jazz is not going anywhere.
“It’s interesting that people are not aware they have jazz in their lives all the time, in movies and commercials,” Struthers said. “It’s part of people’s lives. It’s everywhere.”
NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas will be at the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets are available for the later concert for $42.
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