When Louis "Chip" Davis Jr. approached his record company in 1984 about making a Christmas album — which would be called "Mannheim Steamroller Christmas" — he got a lot of jeers.
"They told me that people make Christmas albums when they run out of ideas," Davis said during a telephone interview from his home in Omaha, Neb. "They really tried to discourage me by saying it wouldn't sell."
But Davis, who conceived the best-selling Fresh Aire instrumentals in the early '80s, had an idea. "I asked the record company if they wanted 'Fresh Aire 5,' and they said, 'Yes.' Then I said, 'OK, but you'll have to take the Christmas album first.' "
And the gamble paid off, Davis said. "The 'Mannheim Steamroller Christmas' sold nearly 200,000 copies the first year. And it sold more the year after, and year after that."
Mannheim Steamroller will make its holiday stop in Salt Lake City when the band — including a 22-member orchestra of local musicians — plays the E Center on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 29 and 30. Show time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale at all Smith'sTix outlets or the E Center box office.
"The funny thing about all this was the fact that Christmas albums in 1984 were vinyl and usually found in the discount racks and sold for about $2," Davis said. "We released ours on vinyl, and it cost nearly $19. But it outsold all the others. That took everyone by surprise."
The first Christmas album was so successful that Davis and Co. decided to make more. The most recent is the just-released "Christmas Extraordinaire." "With the new album, I did a poll on our Web site and had the fans tell me what they wanted to hear," Davis explained. "I had some songs already chosen, but I was curious of what the fans wanted. And we tallied the votes, and the album is what came out of it."
The album's songs are "Hallelujah (from Handel's 'Messiah')," "White Christmas," "Away in a Manger," "Faeries" (from 'The Nutcracker')," "Do You Hear What I Hear?" "The First Noel," "Silver Bells," "Fum, Fum, Fum," "Some Children See Him," "Winter Wonderland," "O Tannenbaum (featuring Johnny Mathis)" and "Auld Lang Syne."
Although "Christmas Extraordinaire" is the group's first holiday album in six years, Davis said he really didn't think too much about outshining the previous releases. "If you think about topping something you set yourself up. I did want to make a good album that would hold up to the others, but I didn't really worry about topping them."
Still, the new album was much anticipated. The day Davis spoke with the Deseret News, "Christmas Extraordinaire" debuted at No. 17 on Soundscan's Independent Album charts in the music-trade journal Billboard Magazine.
While making and releasing the album was important, Davis knows that most of his fan base wants to see the Steamroller in concert. "Touring is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of your fans. This year, like the other times we've toured, we're giving the audience a show full of emotional and visual elements."
And staying true to his original vision of instrumental music, Davis said there will be a lot of natural sounds and elements incorporated in the concert. "I wanted — and still want — my music to change a listener's mood of environment. In my early albums, take the piece 'Birdsong' for instance, I wanted to get the listener to think they weren't in their living room but in a spring forest."
So, during the Christmas concert, Davis promises that people will be transported to their childhood, or at least someplace other than the Sprint PCS Theatre in the E Center.
"I also don't want the concert to be a stone-cold musical session," Davis said. "I have always added elements of humor and nostalgia, so the music will hit listeners on all different emotional levels."
While Christmas music is definitely a Davis niche, he, like other artists, has many different aspects to his musical personality. He's recorded Disney tunes in "Mannheim Steamroller Meets the Mouse" and a slew of contemporary instrumental albums under the moniker Fresh Aire.
"We're actually getting ready to release 'Fresh Aire 8' soon," Davis said. "It's been 27 years since I started making albums — the first album was done because I just wanted to see if I could do it. But to tell you the truth, my approach hasn't changed a lot. I still want to make music that is inspired by natural sounds and ambiences."
E-mail: scott@desnews.com