CAMBRIDGE - Most are aware of Santa Claus’ assortment of supernatural abilities.

Of course, he can command reindeer to fly, span the globe in about seven hours and whisk himself up and

down chimneys with a flick of his nose.

When Santa JG — otherwise known as Huron Avenue resident Jonathan Meath — first put on the red suit in

2003, he was already an accomplished jazz singer, and no stranger to children’s entertainment. In the 1990s,

he was the senior producer of the PBS smash hit “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?” He has been

in and out of jazz bands since he was 12 years old. So, when his beard and hair began to turn white, and

when children on the street began to greet him as St. Nick, Meath, 51, said he had little choice but to “go

with what presented itself.”

“I didn’t choose Santa, Santa chose me,” Meath said. “I can put a new twist on Santa, and incorporate my

love for singing into the portrayal of Santa, and in that way, create music that can be shared through

generations of people. It incorporated a lot of things I was already doing.”

Meath’s new album, “Santa JG Swings,” is a five-song jazz-tinged romp through a handful of holiday

standards, as well as a few inspirational numbers, sung from the perspective of the big man himself. Meath

calls it a natural tangent from his career in children’s programming.

“It’s all about helping, and Santa is also all about helping,” Meath said. “Santa also incorporates a message

of love, which is wonderful.”

The marriage of Christmas music with swing and Big Band jazz is certainly not uncharted territory, but

Meath said his album does present a new spin on an old note.

“I really wanted it to have a 1950s feel, which led to a bunch of horns on it, and a bunch of different

styles,” Meath said. “I didn’t want it to be just Christmas music, but to represent the feeling of Santa. We

tried to do an album that felt 21st century, but that hearkened back to the 1950s, to sort of a slower time

with a horn-band feel.”

Of the five songs on the album, Meath said his hands-down favorite is “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.”

“It’s not a Christmas tune, it’s totally a Christmas tune in attitude,” Meath said. “I found that to be a great

statement, that Santa would sing ‘Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive’ as his personal statement.” Though Meath, a card-carrying member of the Amalgamated Order of Real-Bearded Santas, doesn’t wear

his coat and boots 12 months a year, he said it has become something of a full-time job.

“You have to be ready to be Santa year-round,” Meath said. “Kids are coming up to me all year, and you

have to give them the time. The joy that you get, and the energy that you pick up off the kids and the

parents, it’s just great. It’s mythic and it’s real.”

“Fenway Park’s a little tough,” he added.

Meath’s album is available at Susanna’s Clothing and Accessories and Stella Bella Toys on Mass. Ave. in

Cambridge, as well as Davis Squared in Somerville, the Blue Bunny in Dedham and at Meath’s Web site,

www.meathmedia.com.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/archive/x739272999

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