“Holiday Swing!,” the Charleston Jazz Orchestra’s (CJO) annual Christmas program, is an accessible, fun way to enjoy jazz Dec. 6 at the Charleston Music Hall. For each of the last 18 years, the CJO’s 18-piece big band has cut loose on the Music Hall stage with swing-happy versions of Christmas classics.
“The thing that I love about ‘Holiday Swing’ is that it’s the perfect opportunity to not just celebrate the holidays but celebrate the jazz approach to music,” said Artistic Director and Conductor Robert Lewis in an interview with the Charleston City Paper. “These are largely tunes that the audience is quite familiar with, and so when you hear a completely new, fresh version of it that you’ve never heard before, that’s one of the hallmarks of jazz.”
The songbook typically includes chestnuts like the Duke Ellington version of “The Nutcracker Suite,” pieces like “Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)” and “Overture,” as well as holiday favorites like “Jingle Bells” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” all arranged in brassy big band style.
“It’s one of the most anticipated shows that we do all year,” said Brent Swaney, the director of performances for Charleston Jazz in a recent interview with the Charleston City Paper.
Swaney just celebrated his 10th year in that position. He said that part of his job is to make sure “Holiday Swing!” continues to grow.
“The organization has been doing shows for 18 years,” he said. “It just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I don’t know what it is, but the audience just really tends to receive our holiday music well.”
The 2025 edition of “Holiday Swing!” has two performances on Dec. 6, one at 5 p.m. and one at 8 p.m. And as it has been doing each year for nearly two decades, the orchestra has brought something new to the table.
New collaboration
This year, the show features a collaboration with the Lowcountry Voices, a multicultural North Charleston choral group that focuses on gospel, spirituals and jazz.
Lowcountry Voices, led by conductor and founder Nathan Nelson, will join the CJO to perform stirring versions of classic spirituals like “Joyful, Joyful” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” along with a lively version of “The 12 Days of Christmas.”
“We’ve got about a dozen members of the Lowcountry Voices choir joining the Charleston Jazz Orchestra onstage,” Swaney said. “We actually worked with the Voices in 2024 in a show called ‘Lowcountry Rhythms,’ which highlighted the music and spirituals that came out of the Lowcountry.”
“I’m really excited about the collaboration that we’re doing with the Lowcountry Voices,” Lewis added. “It’s a big sound because they have some amazing singers in that group, and when you combine that together with the orchestra, it’s really something special.”
Other than the “Holiday Swing!” performance itself, Swaney said he is also excited about the Lowcountry Voices collaboration because it represents the organization’s outward-looking stance on jazz music.
“To us, jazz is a community,” he said. “We’re looking at other music organizations around the Lowcountry and joining forces with them to create a collaborative collective of different performing groups. That’s one of the ways to make a new, fresh take on this music. Jazz isn’t meant to stand still and simply repeat the past; it’s meant to keep moving forward.”
Lewis added that there isn’t a better place to hear those fresh takes than the Charleston Music Hall, which has been the CJO’s home for so long that members of the orchestra refer to it as the “House of Swing.”
“It’s got the best sound for our type of music,” he said. “The music sounds really good, both in the audience and on the stage. It’s got a really good vibe, and they’ve been incredibly generous to us over the years.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: Two Dec. 6 shows, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Doors open an hour ahead of time. Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St., Charleston. $10-$67. charlestonmusichall.com
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