Music Review: Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, A New Orleans Creole Christmas

By Melissa Bratcher

On their first, and hopefully not last, Christmas album, New Orleans’ own Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse takes Christmas standards and lets them breathe. A New Orleans Creole Christmas rewards careful listening and attentiveness with unexpected grace notes, bent phrases, and excellent playing. While his name is prominently featured, Irvin Mayfield has surrounded himself with supremely talented musicians who complement his brilliance as a trumpet player.

“O Tannenbaum – O Christmas Tree” swings in true New Orleans jazz fashion. There’s a moment where Mayfield’s trumpet swells and swells, before breaking into a single note held by Derek Douget’s soprano saxophone, that is a lovely bit of ear candy. It is a delightful arrangement. “Silent Night” is propelled by a strolling piano from Ronald Markham. Here, Mayfield’s trumpet sounds like a guitar’s feedback as he riffs on the melody line. The spaces between the notes of this elegant take on “The Christmas Song” are as important as the notes played by Irvin Mayfield’s honeyed trumpet.

“Winter Wonderland” becomes something angular and expressionistic; Christmas music becomes an auditory Picasso. The things one’s ear expects from “Winter Wonderland” are taken and turned upside down where the melody pops in here and there, but this fascinating duet between pianist Markham and Mayfield adds layers of countermelody that are unexpected and surprising. Another duet by Markham and Mayfield, “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear,” begins in a very straightforward manner, simple piano and trumpet, before evolving into a free form improv that buzzes before coming back to the melody.

A pair of Vince Guaraldi classics are reinterpreted for A New Orleans Creole Christmas. “Christmas Time Is Here” features Michael Watson’s relaxed and soulful vocals (and is the only song on the album that isn’t an instrumental). Mayfield’s wah-wah trumpet mimics the adults in Charlie Brown’s world and Adonis Rose on drums captures the hush of falling snow. The Jazz Playhouse Revue’s “Christmas Time Is Here (Trio)” is loose, expanding on the Guaraldi piece with graceful improvisation. Each musician gets a moment to shine here.

A New Orleans Creole Christmas is not only elegant and engaging, it is also fits nicely into the pantheon of great Christmas albums. Irvin Mayfield’s arrangements, as well as his quite wonderful playing, have taken these old familiar chestnuts and added a welcome warmth and spice.

A New Orleans Creole Christmas was released on November 11 through Basin Street Records.

Tour Dates:
11/16/14: Berkeley, CA @ Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
11/18/14: Davis, CA @ Mondavi Center for the Arts, Jackson Hall
11/21/14: Lancaster, CA @ Lancaster Performing Arts Center
11/22/14: Northridge, CA @ Valley Performing Arts Center, Great Hall
11/23/14: San Diego, CA @ San Diego Symphony, Copley Symphony Hall
2/5/15: Miami, FL @ Arsht Center, Knight Concert Hall
2/7/15: Atlanta, GA @ Emory University, Cherry Logan Emerson Concert Hall
2/8/15: Opelika, AL @ Opelika Center for the Performing Arts
2/11/15: Sarasota, FL @ Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
2/12/15: Tampa, FL @ Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Ferguson Hall
2/14/15: Wilmington, NC @ University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Kenan Auditorium
2/15/15: Chapel Hill, NC @ University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Memorial Hall
2/17/15: Philadelphia, PA @ Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
2/19/15: Pittsburgh, PA @ Manchester’s Craftsmens Guild Concert Hall
2/20-21/15: New York, NY @ Jazz at Lincoln Center
2/22/15: Fairfield, CT @ Quick Center for the Arts, Kelley Theater
3/11-12/15: Baton Rouge, LA @ Shaw Center for the Arts, Manship Theater