ARTIST BIOS 

Ray Vega – A veteran of the bands of Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, and Mongo Santamaria. He has also performed and recorded with Joe Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Mel Torme, and Paquito D’Rivera. Ray continues to build upon his extensive career as a performer here in Vermont, as well as a celebrated educator at University of Vermont, and host of Vermont Public’s “Friday Night Jazz.”

​Brian McCarthy – Vermont homegrown artist Brian McCarthy is a two-time Vermont Community Foundation and two-time Vermont Arts Council grant awardee. His latest nonet album AFTER|LIFE, was awarded 4 stars by The Times (London) critic, Chris Pearson. Pearson says, “Imagine John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme driven by science rather than spirituality…While Coltrane praised God, McCarthy muses musically on death and rebirth in a cyclical cosmos and how we are all linked, down to a molecular level.” His debut nonet project, The Better Angels of Our Nature, earned 4 ½ stars from Downbeat Magazine. Brian Zimmerman called the work “a jazz album that makes a cavernous impression for its arresting beauty and conceptual brilliance.” McCarthy is endorsed by Selmer-Paris saxophones and D’Addario Woodwinds. 

PROGRAM

Jingle Bells …………………………………………………………………………..  by John Henry Hopkins Jr. arr. McCarthy
Frosty the Snowman …………………………………………………………… by Jack Rollins & Steve Nelson arr. McCarthy
Christmas Time in Here ………………………………………………………. by Vince Guaraldi arr. Ray Vega
Winter Wonderland …………………………………………………………….  by Felix Bernard arr. McCarthy
I Have a Little Dreidel ………………………………………………………….  by S. Goldfarb arr. Brian McCarthy
We Three Kings …………………………………………………………………… by John Henry Hopkins Jr. arr. McCarthy
White Christmas ………………………………………………………………….. by Irving Berlin arr. McCarthy

PHOTOS & VIDEO

*Due to illness, Ray Vega was unable to perform, but is the featured guest artist for the project*