A Peter White Christmas with Euge Groove, Vincent Ingala and Lindsey Webster

Every year, Stuart has a White Christmas, or at least A Peter White Christmas as the guitarist, singer and songwriter comes to town with several of his closest friends. This year, Peter White will bring along Euge Groove, Vincent Ingala and Lindsey Webster to put their own special take on the music of the season. It’s a rockin’ good time and the very best way to get the holiday season underway. For White, who has been coming to The Lyric for years, the Christmas show is personal. “When I was a kid, Christmas was a big part of my life,” he said, “My father taught me the recorder and we played Christmas music he arranged going door-to-door.”

White did his first Christmas tour in 1995 and it was so popular that it became an annual event with White and his friends.

The musician who would become synonymous with jazz and Christmas grew, up in Luton, north of London. As a child, he played several musical instruments, including the clarinet, trombone, violin and piano. With the Beatles and Rolling Stones dominating the music world, he turned to the guitar. He started on the acoustic and then bought his first electric guitar as a teen and studied Hendrix, Clapton and Jimmy Page. His electric career came to a sudden end when his brother, Danny, accidentally started a fire that destroyed the guitar. White returned to the acoustic guitar and never looked back. He loved early Fleetwood Mac and was introduced to jazz by a friend. His ability to play multiple styles caught singer/songwriter Al Stewart’s attention, first as a pianist and then as a guitarist. White played on Stewart’s Top 10 album, The Year of the Cat, in 1976 and co-wrote “Time Passages,” the hit title track on the next album. He spent 20 years as a sideman for Stewart and others, but in 1990, he set off on his own. His 1996 Caravan of Dreams sold more than 300,000 copies and he learned that jazz aficionados appreciated his musicianship. “I never thought I’d be in a position of having a career playing my instrumental music,” he noted. “When I started out, that road wasn’t opened to me. Then it worked.”

Lyric favorite Euge Groove returns with his magic saxophone artistry. Groove, whose real name is Steve Grove, began playing the piano in the second grade. He turned to the sax when he was a pre-teen and he received a classical education in the instrument. At the University of Miami, he discovered jazz. After graduation, he played with Tower of Power, and as a session or back-up musician for Joe Cocker, Huey Lewis & the News, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt and Aaron Neville. At the end of the 1990s, he developed the persona of Euge Grove and recorded a demo. A recoding contract with Warner Brothers followed and he has continued recording with other labels.

Twenty-something and with matinee idol good looks, Vincent Ingala has already been at the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz charts, garnering him four Billboard #1s and nine top 10 hits. He is a wizard instrumentally, playing everything from tenor sax to piano, drums, guitar, bass and lead vocals. He was handpicked to open for Dave Koz when he was 16 and has collaborated with or opened for Chris Botti, Jonathan Butler and Kim Waters. He is known for his consummate musicianship, fun-loving stage presence and energized and inspired performances.

Lindsey Webster, a sultry and soulful young singer and composer, has already scored two Billboard #1s on the Contemporary Jazz Chart, making her the first vocalist to garner that position since Sade. Webster holds her own in a largely male-dominated genre made up of artists often twice her age, and she has quickly become a favorite on the charts and international touring circuit.