10 not-so-traditional concerts to enjoy this holiday season

How early is too early for holiday music? Nonagenarian jazz saxophonist George Coleman couldn’t resist an impromptu “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” when he performed in Cambridge in early November. While that might be pushing it, most local venues will have holiday shows all over their calendars within the coming weeks. Some stick to the classics, but many others offer a way to create some new traditions with vintage swing, gospel, rock en español, Canadian Celtic, roots rock and much more.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, and there is no shortage of opportunities to see jazz combos play the delightful music that Vince Guaraldi wrote for the animated special. The first chance comes Dec. 2 when the Joey Nardone Trio plays City Winery. At the same venue, smooth jazz piano titan David Benoit plays the “Peanuts” classics on Dec. 15. Jeff Kazee, whose resume includes years with Jersey rockers Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes as well as work with Jon Bon Jovi, anchors a quintet with horns that plays Guaraldi’s music at Regattabar in Cambridge Dec. 14. Finally, the great Boston keyboardist Dave Limina puts his spin on “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Dec. 20 at the Burren Backroom in Somerville with his bluesy trio.

One of the most musically rewarding and fun acts to emerge during the brief swing revival of the 1990s was the Squirrel Nut Zippers. In 1998, the band released “Christmas Caravan.” The mostly original holiday songs reflected the group’s offbeat sensibility — one, “A Johnny Ace Christmas,” commemorated the ‘50s R&B singer who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound backstage at a Christmas show in 1954. (Some blamed the mysterious death on a game of Russian roulette.) Now under the direction of guitarist and original member Jimbo Mathus, a new incarnation of the band is continuing its holiday mix of early 20th-century styles. For more retro holiday fun, Storm Large, who often sings with “All Things Considered” co-host Ari Shapiro in the group Pink Martini, is performing a “Holiday Ordeal” show at The Center for Arts in Natick Dec. 20.

Longtime NPR listeners may have heard the network’s many live broadcasts of groundbreaking saxophonist and ecologist Paul Winter’s winter solstice concerts from New York. Winter’s deeply meditative blend of jazz, classical, ambient, Brazilian and natural sounds is the ideal soundtrack for the longest night of the year and the promise of renewal that it brings. Instead of performing at his usual home of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, the 86-year-old Winter is taking the solstice celebration on a Northeast tour that includes Needham as well as dates in the Berkshires, and Portland, Vermont, and Connecticut. Over the years, Winter has collaborated with George Martin, Pete Seeger, whales and wolves. For this 2025 solstice tour, the Paul Winter Consort includes longtime vocalist Theresa Thomason and several musicians with Boston connections: cellist Eugene Friesen, pianist Henrique Eisenmann and percussionist Bertram Lehmann.

During the dark days of the pandemic, National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, trombonist and bandleader Delfeayo Marsalis lifted spirits by hosting a virtual New Orleans holiday party he called the “Big Easy Holiday Bash.” Now he’s able to hold the festivities in real life during this three-night run in Cambridge. Not only is Marsalis bringing his Uptown Jazz Orchestra to play holiday classics Crescent City-style, he’s also including noted vocalist Nicole Zuraitis. The second half of the night will feature Duke Ellington’s arrangement of the “Nutcracker Suite” with movement from Boston choreographer Adrienne T. Hawkins and dancers Russell Furgerson and Tron Hunt.

The Canadian Celtic quartet Maggie’s Wake has made a lot of noise in a short amount of time, thanks to the energy and passion of co-leaders Tara Dunphy and Lindsay Schindler. Their unique and exciting sound evokes the heartbeat of the Scottish fiddle traditions of Nova Scotia and Irish jigs and reels while also drawing on everything from classic country music to Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Their new holiday EP, “Close to Home” (out Dec. 1), includes a Nick Lowe-inspired power pop original “Christmas Is Coming (For You)” and “Song for a Winter’s Night” by their fellow Canadian, Gordon Lightfoot. More acoustic holiday music options include bluegrass banjo legend Tony Trischka’s Holiday Show Dec. 4 and Irish harpist Áine Minogue Dec. 23, both at Club Passim.

Earlier this year, contemporary Black gospel superstar CeCe Winans played NPR’s Tiny Desk to celebrate the 30th anniversary of her solo career. The session showed that Winans’ music and message are just as inspirational as they were when she first topped the gospel charts as part of a duo with her brother BeBe. Over the years, Winans has released a number of holiday albums, including 2024’s “Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album.” It’s a testimony to her wide reach and influence that she was invited to represent the Black gospel tradition with an upbeat rendition of “Joy to the World” on the Country Music Association’s holiday TV special the same year. To make things even more special, her holiday tour includes her sisters Angie Winans and Debbie Winans, whose 1993 debut included background vocals by Whitney Houston.

Today, the 1955 klezmer album “TANZ!” by Dave Tarras and the Musiker Brothers is considered a landmark of Jewish American sounds thanks to its powerful mixture of traditional Eastern European melodies and jazz. But at the time it was released, the album was lost in the shuffle. Recently, the brilliant clarinetist Michael Winograd and an all-star cast mounted the first-ever live performance of the music on “Tanz!,” capturing its joy, creativity and virtuosity. The concert was recorded and is being released as “Michael Winograd plays ‘TANZ!’” Dec. 12, and five nights later, Winograd and a stellar crew will yet again play “TANZ” as part of the Boston Festival of New Jewish Music’s annual Chanukah bash. Boston Yiddish songsters Levyosn will also perform, with more surprises expected to be announced.

Boston roots rockers the Del Fuegos were major local stars in the 1980s, and while they never garnered the mainstream success they deserved, they still toured widely with the likes of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and INXS. While a 2022 reunion show was scuttled at the last moment, the group managed to get together for local shows in 2023 and 2024 despite busy individual schedules. (Member Dan Zanes is a popular children’s music artist, while his bandmate and brother Warren Zanes is an author whose 2023 Bruce Springsteen biography is now a feature film.) This year has been their busiest in a while, thanks to a show in Spain, a suburban Boston appearance, and now both matinee and evening City Winery shows. For more locally grown, globally beloved rock ‘n’ roll, there’s also A Very FUNdraising XMas, an ACLU benefit at the Burren Backroom organized by the beloved group Fuzzy and featuring Muck and the Mires, Jen Trynin, Thalia Zedek and many others.

With his rich, soulful voice and thoughtful phrasing, Gordon Michaels is one of Boston’s great singers. He’s equally adept at performing soul songs and show tunes, so it takes three different shows to capture his full holiday repertoire. On Dec. 18, he brings his “Winter Wonderland” concert to Pearl Street Station in Malden. On Dec. 21, Michaels will pay tribute to the holiday classics of Nat King Cole at the Regattabar. And if you’d like to sing one of your holiday favorites, his Dec. 28 “My Holiday Inspiration” mini-concert at the Napoleon Room at Club Cafe in Boston will be followed by an open mic.

This celebration of the holidays will feature both food and music from across Latin America. Some of the dishes available will be natilla custard, doughnut-like buñuelos, and chicharrón (fried pork skin). The music will be just as varied thanks to La Rockola, the Boston-based band that has become a staple at local events thanks to the mastery of styles that range from rock en español to pop to tropical salsa and cumbia dance numbers.