1:00 p.m. Typhanie Monique & Neal Alger will join us for an hour of music and conversation.

While many musical units are formed with a specific agenda, the jazz duo of Typhanie Monique, vocals, and Neal Alger, guitar, came about mostly by chance.  With a background that contains R&B icons Tina Turner and Lionel Richie from her mother's listening habits, Typhanie came to discover jazz in her teenage years.  After studying jazz vocal technique in college, Monique moved to Chicago and formed a successful funk/acid-jazz group Peking Turtle and performed at many venues in the midwest.  Neal too eventually embraced jazz by his late teens but came into it from a different angle; Neal grew up listening and performing hard rock/progressive rock.  Chicago became home for Alger after college as well, and he freelanced with local jazz luminaries and fronted his own trio.

In the holiday spirit of an inclusive 'musical family', YULETIDE GROOVE, the newest project from Alger and Monique, features many special guests including rising Hammond B3 organ star Tony Monaco.  Monaco brings an infectious beat, a rock-solid swing, and warm vocals to the chestnut "Baby It's Cold Outside" while Monique revels in Monaco's vitality, turning in an inspired vocal performance.  A horn trio of trumpet, sax, and trombone brings a lush but not overly sentimental flavor to Vince Guaraldi's "Christmastime is Here" and the classic "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".  The sultry sexiness of "Santa Baby" is beautifully enhanced by a cha-cha arrangement which features the contagious musical exuberance of latinos pianist Darwin Noguera and trumpeter Victor Garcia.