SANTA SAXOPHONIST DELIVERS A CHRISTMAS SONG
“Mrs. Claus” fulfills fan’s request for tune for jolly elf’s wife
While much has been so different this holiday season, rest assured that 2020 won’t be The Year Without a Saxoclaus.
Saxophonist Luke Mcnamee has been a street performer for over 40 years, first performing for change in Boston’s Quincy Market before busking his way across Europe for a year. A longtime Troy resident, he’s become a familiar face on local Victorian strolls and events as Saxoclaus, the sax-playing Santa character he concocted to bring musical tidings and seasonal cheer to all he sees on the street.
“Back in 1997, I was playing in various bands and I got this crazy idea: what would happen if I dressed up as Santa Claus and performed? Well, let’s find out,” Mcnamee recalled. “I went to the Costumer and got a costume, grew a beard and used that spray stuff, but it was just awful. So I shaved and bought the fake beard.
“It was amazing the first year, and I had 10-to-15 engagements, and played the Troy and Hudson Victorian Strolls,” he continued. “It took off nicely and over the years, it grew and grew and I average over 100 appearances each year.”
Performing on the street as opposed to the stage comes with its own challenges and routines. Mcnamee notes that a “totally different mindset” and mentality is necessary to successfully play and entertain in that format. Doing that while portraying jolly old Saint Nick, well, that adds a whole extra element to keep in mind at all times.
“There’s a lot of things you have to look out for. You really need eyes in the back of your head,” Mcnamme explained. “Especially when I’m performing on a busy street, I constantly rotate my body 360 degrees to know everything going on around me.
“Saxoclaus is a whole different thing; the No. 1 thing is that when you put the suit on, you put that beard on, you ARE Santa Claus,” he stated. “You have a real obligation to uphold years and years of goodwill that the man in the red suit has brought to the world. I’m not just a saxophone player. I’m Santa with a sax and I’m very diligent and committed about upholding that goodwill and responsibility.”
But much like the big man doesn’t go it alone up in the North Pole on his quest to deliver goodies to the good boys and girls, Saxoclaus has his own helper. Josh the Elf is a key player in the Saxoclaus performances.
Josh the Elf is Josh Greenberg, a saxophonist, music educator and creator of the Mother Goose Jazz Band. Greenberg and Mcnamee have known each other for close to 20 years, and became collaborators about a decade ago after an impromptu street jam during the Troy Victorian Stroll.
“Josh was playing indoors with (the band) Hill Hollow, dressed as Bob Cratchit, and when he was on break said, ‘I’m going to go out and play with Luke,” Mcnamee recalled. “I was playing ‘Jingle Bells’ and I wasn’t turning 360 degrees, when I heard another saxophone. There was Josh, with this big smile on his face, playing with me.
“After, I said, ‘ What would happen if we both played together,’ and he came up with the idea of the elf,” he continued. “It was a perfect combination and puts it into another world. It’s a challenge to play a song solo on the saxophone. Adding Josh really changed the dynamic. He brings so much to the table.”
This year, the addition of Greenberg was crucial in helping Saxoclaus fulfill a Christmas wish.
Mcnamee was on his way to a performance at a nursing home in Malta during the massive December 2019 snowstorm that dumped a couple feet of snow across the Capital Region. Making the trek during the storm was harrowing and Mcnamee arrived late for his gig, frazzled and a little worse for wear.
He went through his typical stage rap about how he’ll be performing “a song about a red-nosed reindeer, another about a jingling bell, one about a snowman and I’m even going to play a song about Mrs. Claus.” There was just one problem: he didn’t know any songs about Mrs. Claus.
“I went, ‘I didn’t mean that. There is no song about Mrs. Claus,’” he said. “A little lady in the front went, ‘Santa, that’s not right! Think of everything she’s done for you over the years!’
“I drove home through the snow and thought about that, and I thought especially about my wife and everything she does,” Mcnamee added. “The next day I was shoveling my driveway and these lyrics came to me, so I ran into my garage, took off my gloves and texted the words to myself, two verses and a chorus.”
After finishing up his driveway, he texted Greenberg his idea and the two got to work on a song entitled “Mrs. Claus.” Much like the elves in Santa’s Workshop take Santa’s specs and get to work, Greenberg took Mcnamee’s lyrics and melody, drew up some charts, recruited a choir and top-level musicians and shepherded the song through the recording process. The product of this collaboration was released a few weeks ago and available on all streaming platforms, and Mcnamee is ecstatic to have added a composition to the holiday songbook.
He’s hopeful that eventually “Mrs. Claus” can rise to the level of a holiday standard, but in the meantime Mcnamee is just glad that he could contribute something fun and meaningful in a year where COVID -19 has necessitated fewer Saxoclaus gigs and limited the amount of in-person interactions folks can have.
“I dream big. I always have. I’m hoping this song goes international,” Mcnamee enthused. “I’ve had different levels of excitement, from the idea to the song finally coming out and the first time I heard it on the radio.
“I enjoy every new experience I have with the song,” he added. “I don’t know how much it’ll catch on, but I’d love to see other artists play our song. I’m a big dreamer. Maybe Michael Buble and Dolly Parton could do it, or maybe it’ll be on the 'TODAY Show.' Who knows?”