Live music review: A Charlie Brown Christmas at Parker Jazz Club evokes deep nostalgia
If there’s one thing in Austin I never want to do again, it’s the Trail of Lights. I don’t care how iconic it is; it sucks. Too many people, no parking, and you’re walking through a meat grinder of strollers and people who act like they’ve never left the house, all to look at a bunch of shit that twinkles as jolly as that asshole across the street’s house.
Given that plenty of stuff in Austin is overrated, it’s always a hunt for the hidden gems—especially now that everyone with a phone thinks they’re a TikTok Superstar yapping into their camera. So when I do find something extraordinary and not beaten into the ground by a “For You Page” suggestion, it’s something I hold close like an injured baby bird.
Recently, I had the pleasure of attending The Parker Jazz Club’s tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas, and it’s now on my must-do tradition list. Hosted every Monday in December, The Ryan Davis Trio puts on an hour-and-a-half show with a little history of the special, a few jokes, and plenty of timeless music. The experience was cozy and pleasant, full of smiles and wistful audience members diving deep into their pasts as the music played. Even Snoopy had his place on top of the doghouse—Charlie’s little tree was there, too.
In its fourth year, the show celebrated the life and work of Charles Schulz and The Peanuts rather than just Christmas. And boy, can that band swing. If you’re a jazz head, The Ryan Davis Trio had major chops, moving through the Vince Guaraldi catalog with masterful reproduction. Guaraldi was no slouch; his arrangements, his voicing of the musical world of Charlie Brown and friends, are a playful dance of memories, and these guys do his music right.
The Parker Jazz Club itself is a smaller room set up around the stage, which reminded me a lot of the Comedy Mothership: a tight room built specifically for the thing it presents. Honestly, if it were any bigger, the concept wouldn’t feel as special. As some of the other options in town deliver less than their notoriety suggests, this was one of those rare nights where I walked away genuinely pleased with how my girlfriend and I spent our time together—and that we shared something beyond me writing another review. Couple this with the Happy Hour at Vince Young Steakhouse and you’ve got a killer date night. (If you’re not hip, the Vince Young Happy Hour is actually affordable, with everything on the bar menu clocking in at $10–15.)
From what I heard, the Charlie Brown Christmas event sells out most nights—and good for Austin. It’s nice to see that Guaraldi’s musical world still resonates all these years later. Songs like “Skating,” “Linus and Lucy,” and “Christmas Time” are burned into the collective psyche, and it’s a treat to hear them live. They’re some of the best songs of the season—the anti–”Wonderful Christmas Time” by Paul McCartney, AKA the Worst Fucking Christmas Song Ever Written.
The Parker Jazz Club’s intimacy amplified the emotional hit. The music drew up memories of being a kid—not racing for the tree, but moving through the month of December, which is more fun than the actual morning of the holiday. December is like the sides at Thanksgiving, the real stars of the experiential show. As the snare brushes and piano tickles took me back to my gram’s house, I’m guessing it did the same for a lot of people, including my girlfriend, who had to keep herself from crying because she felt the performance so much.
I want to keep going to the Parker Jazz Club every year as part of our Christmas tradition. And honestly, it made me want to go back for a regular show because I liked the room so much. As Austin does its thing with people cramming into one another at the played-out Trail of Lights or the Candy Cane Express or whatever they call it out at Circuit of The Americas (that place blows, too), let this be your special date-night treat. Yeah, you can’t bring the kids. That’s OK. Not everything has to be about them. They get the presents and everything else. Let the adults have a near public meltdown amid sounds of memories of the past.
Snoopy said it’s OK.
All photos and video by Robert Dean
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