How to go
What: Jim Brickman’s Comfort & Joy Tour with Anne Cochran, Tracy Silverman, the Stivers School for the Arts Chamber Choir and the KCC Concert Choir
Where: Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16
Cost: $31.50-$63.50
More info: 937-228-3630 or www.ticketcenterstage.com
Artist info: www.jimbrickman.com
Christmas music is big business in 2015, but that wasn’t nearly as much the case when Jim Brickman’s label Windham Hill Records suggested the pianist try his hand at some holiday tunes in the mid-1990s.
The album, “The Gift,” was an immediate success, and seasonal songs have become a yearly tradition for the Cleveland native, who brings his Comfort & Joy Tour to the Victoria Theatre in Dayton on Wednesday, Dec. 16.
“My song ‘Valentine’ had just come out, and it took my career to a new level,” Brickman said. “The record company said, ‘You know, there isn’t a lot of instrumental Christmas music. We’d love for you to write a Christmas song, and, if you can, do a Christmas album.’ I love Christmas music, and there really was a lack of instrumental, peaceful Christmas music.
It sounds like the songs you know, but it isn’t singing,” he said. “You get the feeling of it, but it’s not bothersome or intrusive, so it’s creates a wonderful feeling of the holidays. Then the album was really popular. It was my best-selling record. It went platinum right way.”
Comfort & Joy is Brickman’s 19th annual holiday tour.
“This show is great,” Brickman said. “We’re not performing at people, we’re sharing an experience with them. My goal is to have people laugh and be cheerful and joyous. It’s a family show. It’s very G-rated, but it’s also very sophisticated. It doesn’t pander. It’s very entertaining, if I do say so myself.”
For his Dayton concert, he will be joined by special guests the Stivers School for the Arts Chamber Choir and the KCC Concert Choir and frequent collaborators Anne Cochran and Tracy Silverman.
“Anne Cochran is also from Ohio,” Brickman said. “We went to high school together in Cleveland. We had a band together, which is crazy, but I am very loyal and it keeps me grounded, together and honest. Over time she has become such a part of it. She’s not just a great singer but a great performer. She’s funny and charming and her dresses are insane.
“Tracy is just a genius,” Brickman said. “The electric violin is a one-of-a-kind instrument and he is just great. He is one of the top 100 graduates of Juilliard. He plays in violin symphonies. He is crazy talented. It’s a great compliment but it’s not a band. It’s intimate and personality driven. It reminds me of a nostalgic show, kind of like a contemporary version of an Andy Williams show.”
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