Clarion adds a new beat

Clarion, the Spokane brass choir, has a tradition of adding something unusual to its popular annual holiday concerts.

This year, Clarion has outdone itself.

“We’re adding a beat box,” said William Berry, music director and founder. “We’ll throw it down and see if we can make it work.”

Jacob Sampson, a human beat-box artist from Spokane, will be the guest on two numbers.

A beat-box artist, usually associated with hip-hop, makes mouth noises through a microphone to simulate percussion. An accomplished beat-boxer like Sampson can sound like “eight or 10 percussion instruments” all at once, said Berry.

And how, exactly, does this work with a brass choir known for its Christmas CDs?

“I re-did the Victor Herbert ‘March of the Toys,’ from ‘Babes in Toyland,’ ” said Berry. “It’s an old sappy tune that everybody knows. I rearranged it for brass and human beat box. We’ll change everybody’s perception of that tune.”

Sampson will also be featured in a New Orleans-style brass-band number that contains snippets of a lot of Christmas songs, arranged by Robert Spittal, the group’s conductor.

John Frankhauser, a bass vocalist from Spokane, will be the concert’s more conventional special guest. He’ll sing a pair of spirituals, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” and “Behold That Star.”

Yet nothing is ever too conventional in a Clarion concert. Frankhauser will also sing “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” arranged in a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy style, said Berry.

In addition, the group will do new arrangements, written by Clarion members, of pieces such as “Ubi Caritas,” “Born in Bethlehem,” Chet Baker’s “Grey December” and a minimalist version of “Carol of the Bells.”

One thing they won’t be doing: anything they’ve ever done before, including the material on their Christmas CDs, “A Partridge in a Pear Tree,” “Nutcracker Suite Dreams” and “American Carols.”

“Our core audience is people who really like to hear new stuff,” said Berry.