Clarion Brass blow up holiday tunes

There is so much traditional about the Christmas season. The music, the food, the events, the decorations. It’s steeped in tradition.

There’s one tradition, however, that does its best to blast away the staid. Clarion Brass, the Spokane-based brass ensemble for a quarter of a century has been mixing it up for the holidays, bringing a different vibe to the holiday classics we’ve known our whole life.

The group’s annual Christmas performances – Monday at the Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene and Tuesday at St. John’s Cathedral in Spokane – will feature 12 brass players and a percussionist doing what they always do: planting some holiday earworms for audiences to enjoy.

“Premieres for 2016 include a deep, rich reading of ‘Cantique de Noël (O Holy Night)’ as only a large brass ensemble can do it, ‘The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)’ as a virtuoso trombone solo featuring Ross Holcombe, and a truly funky Clarionized version of ‘Go Tell It on the Mountain’ which will rock your Christmas,” said William Berry, the group’s artistic director and musical arranger, in a news release.

Also on the program will be a traditional take on “Noël Nouvelet,” a “sonic tribute to hearty feasting and liquid cheer” with “A Jolly Wassail Bowl & Boar’s Head Carol.” Things will get quirky for the “A Partridge in a Pear Tree,” while “Jingle Bells,” as Berry explained, will be like a wild avalanche.