The Ornaments’ annual performances of Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas have become a Nashville Yuletide institution. The group celebrates their 20th anniversary this month with a series of area shows culminating in six nights at Eastside Bowl Dec. 17 through 22.
“It’s astonishing to me that it has been 20 years,” says pianist and group leader Jen Gunderman. “But it has been, and it’s evolved so much over time.”
If you’re one of the group’s many fans, you owe thanks to Eric Brace, who kick-started the whole thing back in 2005 by arranging the trio’s first gig. The group’s three original members — Gunderman, bassist Jim Gray and drummer Martin Lynds — were on the road backing Brace in his band Last Train Home when the idea was first raised to perform Guaraldi’s soundtrack from the beloved 1965 TV special.
“We were coming down [Interstate] 81, and somebody popped that CD in,” Lynds recalls. “We were just playing it, and somebody said, ‘Man, we should do this.’ Jen said, ‘I’ve got the sheet music,’ so I go, ‘Then we should totally do it.’”
While the rest of the band was discussing the idea, Brace took action. “Before I knew what was happening, Eric picked up the phone and called Jamie Rubin at The Family Wash and booked us a show,” Gunderman says. “Like, while we were still in the van, before I knew whether I could play this shit.”
Twenty years later, it’s well-established that Gunderman can “play this shit,” but she was understandably nervous prior to that first show on Dec. 21, 2005. Dubbing themselves The Ornaments, they were on a double bill that night with bassist James “Hags” Haggerty’s bossa nova outfit Hags-A-Nova.
“We didn’t really have a concept that we would ever do it again,” says Gunderman, “and I was scared stiff because I’m not really a jazz player.”
Despite her fears, The Ornaments were a hit. The following year, they performed eight total shows during a weekly December residency at The Family Wash, once again on a double bill with Hags-A-Nova. They played two sets before Hags and company closed out the night. They also had a guest soloist for the first time: pedal-steel player Pete Finney.
Gray left the group prior to the 2007 shows, so Gunderman and Lynds enlisted Haggerty to take over, and that’s been The Ornaments’ lineup ever since. When the Wash closed, they moved to 3rd and Lindsley for several years, before taking the show to Rubin’s new venue Eastside Bowl. In addition, they played Saturday matinees at the Belcourt, which have also moved to Eastside Bowl. The matinees and early sets at the clubs are popular among parents of young children. For many families, attending one of the group’s performances has become an annual tradition.
“There were kids that used to come when they were little who are now in college or married with their own children,” Haggerty says. “It’s become multigenerational.”
For Gunderman, the performances also are a family tradition of sorts. Although she doesn’t talk about it at the shows, they are a way to honor her late father, who passed away unexpectedly on Christmas morning in 2003.
“He was from Minnesota like Charles Schultz,” she says. “He was a fan of Peanuts. He was a fan of the Vince Guaraldi record. So it was a perfect way to pay tribute to him.”
In addition to the shows at Eastside Bowl, The Ornaments will perform locally in the Opry Country Christmas program on Dec. 7 and two performances at the Temple Theatre in Portland, Tenn., on Dec. 13. This year’s special guest soloists will include the aforementioned Finney as well as harmonica wizard Charlie McCoy, saxophonist Randy Leago, trombonist Roy Agee, guitarist Joe Pisapia and saxophonist Jimmy Bowland. Also, Michael “Supe” Granda will join the group as Santa Claus at the close of the Eastside Bowl shows for a rendition of “Run Run Rudolph,” as he’s done for the past decade.
