Blue notes: Christmas jazz

Although Christmas songs started playing in Hong Kong's shopping malls around mid-November, I hadn't felt particularly in the spirit until last Saturday when I flew to Singapore for pianist Jeremy Monteiro's "Jazzy Christmas! Duets" concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall, an annual tradition returning after a two-year hiatus.

The format for the show is never the same twice, and this year Monteiro programmed it as a series of six duets, each with a different artist, bringing them all together at the end of the show. It was the first of these seasonal concerts I'd been to, and although I'd expected the odd Christmas tune he performed at least one with each guest artist - and they all worked well.

They have reminded me there are good jazz Christmas albums - mostly downloadable if you need one at the last minute - so I have a few recommendations here.

The performance prompted a few thoughts. As Monteiro observed from the stage, introducing the first of a couple of tunes dedicated to musicians who had passed on, Christmas is a time when we think of absent friends. Jazz and blues have lost a few this year, most recently Dave Brubeck and Ravi Shankar - the latter is not a jazzman per se, but a huge influence on many, particularly on John Coltrane.

Others who fell to the grim reaper in 2012 include free-jazz saxophonist John Tchicai, guitarist Pete Cosey, band leader Johnny Otis, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, singer-guitarist "Doc" Watson, singer Etta James, saxophonist James "Red" Holloway, trombonist Eddie Bert and trumpeter Ted Curson.

Monteiro and fellow pianist Michael Veerapen performed Brubeck's In Your Own Sweet Way as a tribute duet, and there was also a tune with guitarist Shun Ng in tribute to Monteiro's friend and one of Ng's influences: Malaysian guitarist Paul Ponnudorai, also lost this year.