Holiday Brass

  Holiday music and brass go together like Christmas and snow: you don't need one to have the other, but the two combined are just so much better. Fortunately for me, Trinity Church hosted New Jersey's Solid Brass this afternoon (part of its ongoing free Concerts at One series), in a program that included arrangements of French, German and English carols, along with selections from Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors" and a jazzy version of "Jolly Old St. Nick," both arranged by trumpeter Jeff Holmes. With Trinity's soaring stone interior providing plenty of shiny reverb, it was like unwrapping an early present. (More pics below.)