Jim Brickman’s shows are always spiritual. However, he kicks it up a notch at the Fox Tucson Theatre on Saturday, Dec. 28 with two new special guests.
He has John Trones, a Broadway performer and singer, and a fan-favorite vocalist; as well as electronic violinist Tracy Silverman.
“Tracy is a classical-meets-rock electric violinist,” Brickman said. “It’s got an amazing guitar sound, but it’s a violin. The show is very special, energetic and completely different from what we’ve done before.”
Brickman looks fondly upon holidays, especially playing near New Year’s Eve, like he is at the Fox. He feels at home on the stage at the dawn of a new year.
“After 26 years of being busy on New Year’s Eve, if I didn’t do it, I don’t think I’d be very happy going to a party.
“I would think, ‘No, this doesn’t feel right.’ I don’t want to go to a party. I feel that way about a lot of holidays. It’s become a tradition in a way.”
The Grammy-nominated pianist will feature songs such as “The Gift,” “Sending You a Little Christmas,” “Angel Eyes” and “If You Believe” at the performance.
Brickman has been said to “have revived the romantic standard of the popular song and revolutionized the popularity of instrumental music, making him a driving force in modern American music.”
2025 will be fruitful for Brickman. He will roll right back into touring in January. He’s been working on new music as well. He’s particularly proud, however, of his recent single with the late Olivia Newton-John and Il Volo, “My Dream.”
“I wrote it about 25 years ago with Olivia Newton-John,” he said. “I found it in my archives. We had done a demo of the song just at her house and I found it on this cassette we had recorded it on.
“I was able to lift her vocal off this cassette tape and recreate it as a duet with Il Volo. It’s just an incredible way to honor her memory and our relationship.”
All the proceeds from the single go to Newton-John’s foundation.
“It’s a real production,” he said. “What’s really interesting about it is she’s just singing it with me and the piano. She sounds like she’s singing the master recording. It’s as good as she was every time she sang in any situation. Usually, in the demo, you just want to get the essence. For example, I would write a song in the morning, put it down on tape in the afternoon and usually it sounds like that. It doesn’t have the quality when you go in and record it on purpose.”
Brickman said it’s a bittersweet feeling every time he hears it, as he and Newton-John toured and wrote songs frequently.
“She was a gem,” he said.
