If you want to deck your halls with lots of jolly carols and seasonal music in general, there are plenty of options to choose from between this week and late December. Here are some of the many holiday concerts that are vying for your attendance this year, with three likely highlights previewed first.
Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show, with Ben Powell
The first edition of this truly legendary gospel-music vocal group was formed in 1939 as the Happy Land Jubilee Singers. Its members were students at what was then called the Alabama Institute for the Negro Deaf and Blind in Talladega. As the Blind Boys, they have won six Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, performed three times at the White House and collaborated with such admirers as Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Peter Gabriel, Kanye West and San Diego’s Sara and Sean Watkins.
Blind Boys’ vocal legend Clarence Fountain, dead at 88, remembered in his own inimitable words
In any musical setting, the Blind Boys consistently elevate their songs and their audiences. The group’s holiday concerts tend to be especially rousing affairs. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9. Belly Up, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. $60.80. 858-481-8140. bellyup.com
Drum ace Matt Wilson and his band will jazz up the holidays at their concert at La Jolla’s Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. (Peter Thompson)
Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O
Dapper drummer. composer and band leader Matt Wilson shines in straight-ahead and edgy jazz settings alike, as befits a musician whose collaborators have included Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, San Diego bass master Mark Dresser and many more. Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O, featuring saxophonist Jeff Lederer, exudes enough joyous holiday spirit to illuminate any setting. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. $50-$55; 858-454-5872 ljathenaeum.org/jazz
Tower of Power’s holiday shows are dance-floor favorites for fans who like to get their groove on in a big way. (Photo courtesy of Yamaha Corporation of America)
Tower of Power Holiday and Hits Tour
“Down to the Nightclub” and “The Christmas Song?” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “What is Hip?” For anyone who wants to get their groove on while getting in the spirit of the season, the brassy Oakland funk-soul band Tower of Power — now in its 57th year — is a surefire bet to please. 6:30 p.m. Dec. 16. The Magnolia, 210 East Main Street., El Cajon. $40-$170. 619-651-2004. magnoliasandiego.com
Mannheim Steamroller’s popular San Diego holiday concerts have become a nearly annual affair. (Mannheim Steamroller)
Mannheim Steamroller Christmas
Since debuting in 1974, the group Mannheim Steamroller has become a touring juggernaut and its holiday concert treks are top-sellers, year after year. The group’s blend of New Age music, progressive-rock and light neo-classical fare is proudly over-the-top. But for those who enjoy lots of pomp with their circumstance — along with lights and special effects galore — Mannheim Steamroller offers a multisensory holiday extravaganza. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Avenue., downtown. $52.25-$83. 619-615-4000. sandiegotheatres.org
Mackenzie Carpenter is Oceanside-bound for KSON’s Christmas concert at FrontWave Arena. (Jason Davis/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
KSON Country Christmas, featuring Tucker Wetmore, Ty Myers, Hudson Westbrook, Vincent Mason and Mackenzie Carpenter
Intriguingly, the two most promising artists in this five-act concert are the two opening acts. Georgia-bred songstress Mackenzie Carpenter, 25, has two promising albums to her credit and has co-written hits for Megan Moroney and Lily Rose. Fellow Georgia-bred troubadour Vincent Mason, also 25, has a rootsy style and an impressive command of understatement, a quality all too rare in country music these days. 7 p.m. Dec. 6. FrontWave Arena, 3475 Hero Drive, Oceanside. $206.50-$446.50. frontwavearena.com
Jake Shimabukuro returns to San Diego for his annual holiday concert performance, (Courtesy of Irvine Barclay Theatre)
Jake Shimabukuro’s “Holidays in Hawaii”
Honolulu-born ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro returns to San Diego for his fourth consecutive December holiday show in as many years. It will feature his four string-fueled renditions of seasonal favorites and some original compositions from his 2023 double-album, “Grateful,” which teams him with a who’s who of Hawaiian music stalwarts. Shimabukuro will be accompanied here by singer-guitarist Justin Kawika Young and bassist Jackson Waldhoff. 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Dec. 7. Belly Up, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. $66.55-$111.80. 858-481-8140. bellyup.com
Multilingual jazz singer Allison Adams Tucker will be featured in Camarada’s “Charlie Brown Jingles and Jazz” concert at La Jolla’s Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center. (Howard Lipin / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Camarada presents “Charlie Brown Jingles & Jazz”
Camarada’s annual all-star concert is a consistent crowd-pleaser, thanks to a musical lineup that features some of San Diego’s leading jazz and classical musicians. This year’s lineup features flutist and Camarada co-founder Beth Ross Buckley, guitarist Peter Sprague, multi-lingual singer Allison Adams Tucker, pianist Danny Green, flutist and saxophonist Tripp Sprague, bassist Mackenzie Leighton and percussion mainstay Duncan Moore. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19 and 20. The Baker-Baum Concert Hall, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Faye Ave., La Jolla. $28-$98. camarada.org
Vocalist Leonard Patton will bring his jazz trio to the Wu Tsai QRT.yrd in La Jolla on Friday, May 2. (La Jolla Music Society)
Christmas with Leonard Patton & Friends
San Diego vocal great Leonard Patton counts Pat Metheny and Paul Simon among his high-profile Fans. A two-decade veteran of Lamb’s Players Theatre productions, Patton has been the featured vocalist in national commercials for Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola and NASCAR. He opened his intimate jazz supper club, The Jazz Lounge in 2021 and has been steadily building momentum ever since. Patton’s holiday shows are especially uplifting showcases for consistently svelte and soulful vocals. 5:15 p.m. and 8 p.m. Dec. 21; and 6:15 p.m. and 9 p.m. Dec. 22. The Jazz Lounge, 6818 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. $60 (concert and dinner), $40 (concert only). 619-368-9374. thejazzlounge.live
Also noteworthy
Nov. 20: Jazz at the Ballroom presents “Swinging in the Holidays,” California Center for the Arts, Escondido
Nov. 29: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s “Wild and Swinging Holiday Party,” The Magnolia
Dec. 1: David Benoit, “A Christmas Tribute to Charlie Brown,” Belly Up
Dec. 8: Holiday Honky Tonk, featuring The Cowpokes and Buzz Campbell & The Heartaches, Casbah
Dec. 12: Western Standard Time Ska Orchestra Holiday Show and Album Release concert, Lou Lou’s Jungle Room at the Lafayette Hotel
Dec. 14: “How the Grouch Stole Christmas,” Belly Up
Dec. 16: The Venice Christmas Show, Belly Up
Dec. 17: David Arkenstone & Friends’ “A Winter Eve’s Concert,” Brooks Theater
Dec. 17: “Never Die Young — A James Taylor-themed Holiday Show,” withDavid Sheils and Tim Godwin, Belly Up
Dec. 17: Lou Lou’s “Peanuts Jazz Christmass,” with the JohnReynolds Sextet, Lou Lou’s Jungle Room
Dec. 19: Gary Hoey’s “Ho Ho Hoey Holiday Rockin’ Tour,” Ramona Mainstage
Dec. 21: “Merry Mex-Mas 2025,” featuring El Vez & The Centuries, with Duderella, Casbah