The New Standards played their annual holiday show at The Fitzgerald Theater on Saturday, December 5th. Guests included Gary Louris of The Jayhawks, Jeremy Messersmith, Adam Levy, Janey Winterbauer, Prudence Johnson, Kristen Mooney, Eric Heywood, Dan Wilson, and quite a few others. Jazz interpretations of pop hits ran the spectrum: Hey Yeah by Outkast (dated but still entertaining), Do You Realize? by the Flaming Lips, Toxic by Britney Spears (a real highlight), I Want You To Want Me by Cheap Trick. These songs were interspersed with traditional holiday songs. My highlight of the night was “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. The song made me feel like a child at Christmas, and that’s not an easy emotion to capture.

The New Standards and Friends – Pure Imagination from Chase Turner on Vimeo.