Happy Black Friday! Did you get out at the crack of dawn today to buy Old Navy T-shirts in colors you’d never wear just because they were two for $10? I chose to stay home an surf the Web for the exact same deals. Now with online shopping making EVERYTHING more competitive, watching the bargain hunters line up days before Turkey Day at Best Buy, Walmart, and Target has become a new Thanksgiving tradition right there along with the Macy’s parade, football, and that crazy uncle who comes over once a year and gets drunk by noon.

However, I have something that I hope can both help lighten your Black Friday shopping load and enlighten your holiday season. As you know, my high school aged, saxophone-playing sons belong to many jazz bands, one of which is the Crescent Super Band, run by band director Caleb Chapman. Recall I introduced you to Caleb Chapman and the Crescent Super Band last summer when they wowed everyone at the Telluride Jazz Festival. Even though the Crescent Super Band is made up of the top high school jazz musicians in Utah, it is a professional band that has won many awards, including the 2007-2102 Best of State Awards for Best Professional Jazz Band, and several Downbeat awards for the individual musicians and the Crescent Super Band as a whole. In addition to Telluride, the Crescent Super Band has played in jazz festivals all over the world, including Umbria and Montreux, and has played with jazz greats such as Toshiko Akiyoshi and Lew Tabackin, as well as Grammy winners Gordin Goodwin, Eric Marienthal, Randy Brecker, and Jeff Coffin (of the Dave Matthews Band).

These kids are such the real deal that the Crescent Super Band has even been invited to play as a featured band at the Carnegie Hall concert series in New York next May. At which I will be sitting front and center, crying my eyes out with unfiltered pride, cheering them on.

But first they have to get there.

Crescent Super Band Fundraises to Get to the Big Apple

Last summer Gaylen Rust from Legacy Music Alliance (upon hearing about this incredible opportunity for the kids) approached Caleb Chapman about producing a fundraiser CD. His idea was to create and sell a professionally produced CD from which the kids directly receive a majority of the proceeds to help pay for their Carnegie Hall trip. The result is Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band, A Crescent Christmas, Volume 1.

I promise you, this is Christmas music like you’ve never heard before. With influences from Manheim Steamroller, Diana Krall, Glenn Miller, and even Motown I honestly think A Crescent Christmas, Volume 1 will become your favorite holiday CD for years to come (not that I’m biased, or anything). These are arrangements (and in some cases songs) that you’ve probably never heard before. It’s fresh, hip holiday music with a fun, contemporary twist.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a brief 30-second sample of a tune on the CD called Cool Yule. Trust me, you won’t believe these are high school kids performing on this CD, but THEY ARE.

So here’s the deal…

These fabulous Christmas CDs are just $20 each. For every CD sold a kid in Caleb Chapman’s band program gets $13 toward his or her Carnegie Hall trip, which by the way, I forgot to mention hovers around $2,800 per kid. To help lighten their load I’m offering you Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band, A Crescent Christmas, Volume 1 for the list price of $20, but giving you free shipping. This CD is not available on iTunes or anywhere else. It’s up to the kids and their families to sell the CDs as a fundraiser for their band trip, and I’ll admit right up front (full disclosure) that I’m doing this on behalf of my kids in Caleb Chapman’s band program. However, I want to sell enough to help other kids in the program attain their band tour fees, as well. I personally don’t profit from this (other than it helps my kids earn their band trips). Once my kids have met their quota, then we’ll continue to fundraise on behalf of other kids in the band who are coming up short. Anything beyond that (if we’re that lucky) goes directly back into the band program.

So if you’re local, just leave me a comment below that you want one of these incredible CDs (by the way, they make great gifts!), and I’ll coordinate to get it to you. If you’re far away, you can fill out an order form by clicking HERE, and I’ll mail you as many of these fabulous CDs as you want to buy…shipping is on me.

And just to give you a further little taste of the quality of musicianship you’ll hear on this CD, here is a video of my son, Derrick, playing a feature with his high school’s varsity jazz band a few weeks ago, under the direction of Chris Taylor. (Derrick is also in Caleb Chapman’s Crescent Super Band and plays on the A Crescent Christmas CD.) I’ve had a rough year this year, and he dedicated this song, entitled Pura Emocion, to me. (Good thing it’s on video, because I bawled through the entire live performance.) Since I don’t have music videos of any of the songs from A Crescent Christmas this will have to do as a teaser. Enjoy!

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Stacy Dymalski is an award winning keynote speaker and stand-up comic who gave up the glamorous life of coach travel, smokey comedy clubs, and heckling drunks for the glamourous life of raising kids (who happen to be bigger hecklers than the drunks). This blog is her new stage.

For more of Stacy’s comedy check out her hilarious book Confessions of a Band Geek Mom available in paperback and on Kindle on Amazon.com.