Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the magical sounds of Mannheim Steamroller, now celebrating its 40th anniversary Christmas tour.
For Hampton Roads, that fulfillment comes Tuesday at Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center for the Arts.
Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas programs bring a sense of childhood-like wonderment to the season with their blending of familiar carols and tunes with Renaissance-inspired musical developments and upbeat rock. Add dazzling visual displays and you’ve got a captivating moment in time.
Today’s success was hard won in the earliest days, according to the legend-in-his-own-time Chip Davis, who created the New Age group in 1974 with his “Fresh Aire” album. Because no recording studio seemed interested in his unique sound, Davis created his own label, American Gramaphone. It was with the release of his first Christmas album in 1984 that things skyrocketed.
“Everyone in the music industry back in 1984 told me ‘A Christmas album? You can’t do that. Only artists who have run out of ideas ever do a Christmas album,’ ” Davis said in an interview provided by his marketing team. “When someone says, ‘It’ll never work,’ I take it as a personal challenge.”
Grammy winner Chip Davis, the creative force behind Mannheim Steamroller, has been providing Christmas cheer through a blend of traditional Christmas tunes for decades. (Bill Sitzmann/Courtesy)
It was a challenge well met, and the group has grown from its small start with a hefty personal loan from a bank in Omaha and a daring five-city tour to continually sold-out Christmas tours that Davis can now self-fund.
Mannheim Steamroller is now made up of two traveling troupes of 15 to 20 musicians each, with a stage full of electronic and synthesized instruments, string and brass players, and more drum sets and exotic percussion instruments than one might ever see on any other stage at one time.
The tour is considered the longest running tour in the entertainment business and for good reason, Davis has said — it’s all about the sound and spirit of Christmas.
“At Christmastime, people want to listen to something that is familiar in their lives. And for 40 years, millions of people have grown up listening to our music,” Davis said. “It’s comforting to hear something from your childhood — kind of like comfort food.”
Steamroller Christmas shows include such favorites as “Deck the Halls,” “Coventry Carol,” “We Three Kings,” “O Holy Night,” “White Christmas,” “Silver Bells,” “First Noel,” “Silent Night” and “Still, Still, Still,” in addition to Davis originals.
The shows, however, are about more than well-known carols.
“We will never leave you missing ‘Silent Night’ or ‘Carol of the Bells,’ etc. but, this is not a concert where you just wait until your favorite pieces,” Tom Sharpe, an award-winning composer, performer and recording artist and a collaborative member of Steamroller for 18 years, said in an email. “The entire experience is for you,” the listener.
“The catalogue is so vast, it’s really quite unbelievable, the output of music,” Sharpe continued. “I equate Chip to the great classical composers, where you wonder how on earth they even had time to create such a body of work.”
At the heart of Steamroller’s success is a distinct sound that’s a blend of neoclassical, New Age, light jazz and rock, or what Davis has called his “18th century classic rock music.”
His classic bent ultimately led to naming his band after Mannheim, Germany, where his idols Mozart and Johann Stamitz lived and made profound impacts on music — notably Stamitz, who introduced new acoustical excitement through dynamics.
“The 18th century musical phrase ‘Mannheim Valse’ literally meant ‘roller’ and people used to joke that the loud music would roll over the crowd and flatten them,” Davis said in the provided interview. To him, it was a natural fit for his ensemble, especially because, as he explained, “all the big rock groups at the time had interesting names like Jefferson Airplane or Iron Butterfly. So, I came up with the name Mannheim Steamroller.”
Although Davis can no longer play with the band because of mobility issues that resulted from a severe car crash he said occurred years ago, he is focused on recording and producing tours. And that’s no small feat. Beyond musicians, there are set design, lighting, sound systems and myriad technical aspects that merge to create Steamroller’s onstage magic.
“We are incredibly fortunate to have skilled and talented people at every position,” Sharpe wrote, with a nod to the group’s “amazing sound and lighting design technicians, managers and road crew.”
Tom Sharpe, a composer, performer and recording artist, has been with Mannheim Steamroller for 18 years. (Bill Sitzmann/Courtesy)
Although Davis’ involvement is integral to Steamroller’s popularity, his legacy is for Steamroller to continue without him, something he said he feels is now underway. “My legacy and hope, as a musician, pop culture figure and also businessman, is to keep Mannheim Steamroller rolling,” he said in the interview.
Concerning that legacy, “I like to think of Mannheim Steamroller as I would the Chicago Symphony or New York Philharmonic,” Sharpe said. “When you go to a concert, you know what to expect … the highest level of musicians, musicianship, passion and emotion. You may have your favorite musicians and look forward to the way they perform … but the music and storied tradition remain through the years.”
“We as the band are the privileged ones,” he continued, “who get to carry the torch from now, to whenever the next thing happens. We are all part of something larger, which is the point — to make what you do … bigger than you. Chip has hand-picked each one of us and it is an honor to be trusted by him to continue this legacy.”
John Shulson, johnshulson@gmail.com
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If you go
What: Mannheim Steamroller Christmas
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (doors open an hour before)
Where: CNU’s Ferguson Center for the Arts, Diamonstein Concert Hall
Tickets and info: $61-$118, fergusoncenter.org
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