Jazz Combo played their annual gig for Sleeping Children Around the World on Saturday evening at St. James Cathedral downtown. They were one of many acts, ranging from middle school bands to award-winning pianists and professional singers. Sleeping Children Around the World was one of the two charities Woburn donated the proceeds from Charity Week to last year, and every penny went towards assembling bedkits for children in need.

Early in the afternoon, all four male members of the band (and Mr. Farrow) met up at school to head downtown for rehearsal and setup. After everything was in place for that evening, they headed out for sustenance. The only combo member with two X chromosomes rushed madly from her swim meet in Etobicoke to get downtown in time. The coordinator, Lynette, warmly welcomed the band dressed in her trademark Heinz Ketchup sweater, and, like last year, recognized only Adam, Alex, and Tiffany. We wonder what she’ll do next year when Adam, Alex, and Tiffany aren’t around.

Of all the performances, some of the particularly memorable ones were by Korean-rock-singer-turned-pastor (and dead-ringer for a Korean Elvis) Hamoon Cho’s renditions of “He’s Got a Whole World” and “Amazing Grace”, returning pianist Francis Li’s self-composed “Ballade”, and the Skittles Trio, which performed Mozart’s “Keglesttat Trio”.

As is the tradition, the finale for the evening was “O Holy Night”, featuring all the performers as well as the audience. Combo members made it through about half the song without laughing (much), but when “FAAAAAALL on your KNEEEES” came around, it was all over. Unfortunately, all of them were standing in the front row, and were most certainly captured on film trying not to giggle conspicuously by the cameraman filming the concert. For those who do not comprehend the significance or the hilarity of “O Holy Night”, you will soon find out, because it will be available on woburnmusic.com starting December 10 after HourOne. “O Holy Night” has never been the same since that recording was found.

Afterwards, the Combo packed up, bundled into Mr. Farrow’s van, and headed back uptown for sushi. Let it be known, for the record, that Evan cannot use chopsticks, and had to either use his hands, or spear his food like a barbarian. Alex and Adam went through a rough spot in their relationship when Tiffany took a piece of their 6-slice sushi pizza, leaving them with 5 slices to be divided unevenly and leading them into what can only be described as a “lover’s quarrel” over the last piece. Sources say they patched things up and decided to place all blame squarely on Tiffany’s shoulders.

Evan’s inability to use chopsticks meant Adam was able to snatch food away from him like one would steal candy from a baby. It also meant that when he called his parents to pick him up, everybody else took advantage of the fact that one of his hands was occupied and tried to eat Evan’s share, especially Bottomless Pit Farrow. Meanwhile, Jesse just sat back and laughed, and didn’t do anything funny enough to merit shameless teasing in this article.

All in all, it was a night well spent, full of music, laughs, and food, and all the money raised going to a worthy cause.

For more info in Sleeping Children Around the World and what they do, check out scaw.org

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