The Halifax Jazz Festival is sending Christmas spirit this December with their annual fundraiser.
Now into its second iteration, the Swing Into The Holidays jazz spectacular will allow educational programming during the year.
The variety show features the Tuesday Night Big Band, Kitty and the Katz, Back Alley Big Band and newcomers Der Heisser, among others.
Andrew Jackson, Halifax Jazz Festival programmer, is looking forward to the event.
"We decided last year we wanted to do this variety show, and we wanted to showcase great local musicians," he said.
"This year we're back, and we're in the Spatz Theatre. It's hard to find a theatre that size downtown, and we've done our Charlie Brown concert there for years. The accommodations are perfect."
Though they've been doing fundraisers at Christmas for years, the festival wanted to do something new.
"We wanted to engage a larger number of artists, and this allows us to present the jazz bands in this city even better," he said.
"It'll be similar to last year, as far as line-up goes. We're really excited to have Der Heisser on board doing traditional yiddish music."
Adam Fine, of Der Heisser, is excited to be on board this year.
"I was involved with Jazz East for many years, and it's great to be involved performing now," he said. "It's great to see the ways the festival has progressed since I left."
Der Heisser has been running for six years, and they only play a few times a year.
"We do Jewish Eastern European dance music, which is fun, upbeat stuff. We are happy to be involved with the Christmas concert, and we may yiddify the music a bit," he said.
"People are generally enthusiastic, and we want people to jump and do their thing for this show."
For Jackson, programmer with the festival, he's hoping for a sell out this year, with the show produced by Artie Irwin.
"We want to have a full house of people who love and enjoy music. We wan to raise money for our educational programs," he said.
Tickets for the December 9th show are on sale now.
