The Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra also known as CCJO is one of the Midwest’s most prominent jazz bands. Founded in 2013, CCJO is currently a 17-piece not-for-profit ensemble dedicated to performing, preserving and teaching jazz as a living art form. More than a decade ago, Rob Parton – the former artistic director of the CCJO – floated the idea of creating a new jazz version of “Nutcracker.”  

One might ask why, when in 1960 a couple of jazz giants named Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn created their own jazz version of the work called “The Nutcracker Suite,”which became an iconic and beloved holiday jazz standard.  

Moving to the present day, along comes the dynamic duo of CCJO’s current artistic director Eric Lechliter and Doug Lillibridge the CCJO board president who were not at all intimidated, and have now created their own jazzy take on the Nutcracker called the “Nutcracker Remix”.   This recording is a 12-track album featuring nine reimagined tracks from the Tchaikovsky ballet and three bonus Christmas-themed tracks sung by powerhouse jazz singer Mandy Gaines. 

Eric and Doug have “thrown down the gauntlet” to establish CCJO’s place as a standard-bearer for holiday recordings. Here is our conversation, along with snippets of what we are sure will become a holiday classic.