A Holly Jolly Jill Barber Christmas
Join Jill Barber and her jingly jangly jazz quartet at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, as they take you on a nostalgic musical sleigh ride through decades of beloved Christmas standards.
You’ll enjoy hot cocoa classics like “I’ll be Home for Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” seasonal favourites like “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” and heartfelt originals composed by Barber herself. Expect laughter and tears, and a cup of good cheer, as Jill shares her best Christmas stories and favourite festive songs. A contemporary cross between Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, a Holly Jolly Jill Barber Christmas is the perfect gift for family and friends, both young and old!
About Jill Barber
A cafe in Paris, a cocktail lounge in Palm Springs, a beachside bar in Rio De Janeiro, a lokanta in Istanbul. Jill Barber’s French repertoire is played around the world and has earned her a following that transcends language barriers. Her music has become the soundtrack to nostalgic cosmopolitan experiences.
It is a surprising achievement for an anglophone artist who only began her affair with the French language in her late twenties, following a moment during the Montreal Jazz Festival, where she sang a few notes of French to an enraptured crowd.
Inspired by their reaction, Jill enrolled herself in an immersive French school in the South of France, eventually emerging with her own recordings of the songs and poets that inspired her most: Piaf, Gainsbourg, Aznavour. The album “Chansons” was released in 2013 and has since become Jill’s most globally successful record to date, having been streamed over 120 million times – with more than 35 million listens in the past year alone.
A decade later, Jill reunites with Grammy Award-nominated producer Drew Jurecka and the musicians that accompanied her on “Chansons” to produce “ENCORE!”, its long-awaited sequel. “ENCORE!” is a delightfully arranged and lushly orchestrated album, featuring all new interpretations of classic songs by Edith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Blossom Dearie, Django Reinhardt, Robert Charlebois, Josephine Baker, and Barbara.
“For me, singing in French is an embodied, sensual experience… it’s a new language in which to explore and express myself artistically- and be vulnerable.”
The French have a saying for a particularly pleasurable sensation that is so unique, it’s difficult to put into words- when Jill Barber sings in French, there is a pleasing quality, a “Je ne sais quoi” that is hard to describe, but easy to enjoy. And now she’s done it again – ENCORE!